SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's intellectual property rights deficit hit a record low in the first half of this year thanks to spreading popularity for local computer and mobile games, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The intellectual property account posted a deficit of 550 million U.S. dollars in the January-June period, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It was the lowest deficit since the bank began compiling the data in 2010.
The country exported 6.67 billion dollars in intellectual property rights, while importing 7.22 billion dollars of the rights in the first half.
The record-low deficit came as domestic online game companies increased export of franchise rights and computer software copyrights, while local tech firms raised import of patent use relevant to electrical and electronic products.
Trade in copyrights logged a surplus of 370 million dollars in the first half, while the industrial property rights trade was a deficit of 1.05 billion dollars.
The figure for franchise and brand rights recorded the second-biggest surplus of 70 million dollars in the first half.
