European trademark applications hit a record

The EUIPO reports a serious increase in the number of applications for European trademarks in 2021 compared with 2022. The growth is 12%.

The top countries where the applications come from are China, Germany, and the USA.

The most popular Nice class in the applications is class 9 – software, apparatus, and instruments for scientific or research purposes, audiovisual and information technology equipment, as well as safety and life-saving equipment.

More than 20 000 oppositions were filed against new trademark applications in 2021 which represents an increase of 6.5%. This shows how important a preliminary trademark clearance search is in order for such oppositions to be avoided.

In general, these rising activities show the importance and attractiveness of the European Union as a place for doing business. On the other hand, all of this indicates the high level of competitiveness in branding and marketing in Europe.

Source: EUIPO

Despite the pandemic intellectual property is on the rise for 2020

WIPO has published its annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Report for 2020.

Despite the pandemic and all accompanying economic problems, the data clearly shows that the interest in intellectual property rights is rising on a global basis.

According to the report, there is a 13,7% increase in trademark applications for 2020, a 1,6% increase in patents applications, 2% for designs, and 5,1% for plant varieties.

A number of patent applications:

Trademark applications trend 2006 – 2020:

Design application trend 2006 – 2020:

Design applications by country:

Source: WIPO.

More European trademarks for the first half of the year

EUIPO published statistics about IPRs filing during the first six months of 2021. According to the data, European trademark applications have increased with 25% compared with the same period of the last year reaching 101 021. The increase in design applications is 2%.

What’s interesting but not so surprising is that this increase in the trademarks target goods and services such as data processing equipment and computers, business management, and scientific and technological services and research, reflecting the changing needs of consumers and health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WIPO 2019: A Year in Highlights

Companies rely on IPRs are more prone to growth according to a new study

EPO and EUIPO published a very interesting study called “High-growth firms
and intellectual property rights”.

This study tries to make a connection between the protection of intellectual property assets and the likelihood of a company’s growth.

According to the study:

SMEs that have filed at least one IPR are 21% more likely to experience a subsequent
growth period, and 10% more likely to become an HGF. The likelihood of experiencing a high growth period is 9% higher for SMEs that have filed at least one patent and 13% higher for those that have filed at least one trademark.

The likelihood of experiencing a high growth period is 17% higher for SMEs that have filed at least one European IPR. Filing a European IPR, therefore, provides a positive indicator of an SME’s readiness to scale up business to European level.

In high-tech industries, the likelihood of high growth is 110% higher for SMEs that have filed one or more European patents. Interestingly, the predictive power of European patents is particularly high in low-tech industries (+172%), where a patent filing can be a relatively rare event.

IP bundles involving trade marks systematically outperform other bundles and single IPR categories, thus suggesting that trademarks are the basic building block of effective IP bundles. This is likely due to the fact that a trademark registration is related to market entry and thus turnover growth.

The full text of the study can be found here.

WIPO published its Global Innovation Index for 2018

WIPO published its Global Innovation Index for 2018. According to the report, the global leaders in that regard are Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden.

In the same list, Bulgaria is placed on the 37th position. The full text of the report can be found here.

 

Some interesting infographics:

Statistics – EU trademarks and designs – May 2017

EUIPO published statistics regarding the level of European trademark and design applications and registrations on May 2017. The data is as follow: