Trademark Registrations Trend

The trademark office of China was the largest recipient of trademark applications in 2008 with 669,088 applications, followed by the IP offices of the US (294,070), the Republic of Korea (137,461), India (130,172) and Brazil (119,841). In other words, three of the four so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China) are among the top five offices, with the Russian Federation being in fifteenth place. The combined share of the BRIC countries was around 30% of all trademark applications worldwide. The top 10 offices in 2008 accounted for just over half (55%) of all trademark applications, whereas the remaining 10 offices comprised just 16% of trademark applications worldwide. In total, the top 20 offices received over two-thirds (71%) of all applications.

From 2007 to 2008, the number of registrations issued by the IP office of China jumped by approximately 141,000 to 389,115 representing an increase of nearly 57% and more than doubling the number of registrations issued in the US.

While, on average, IP offices issued 33% of total trademark registrations to non-residents in 2008, some offices, such as those of Australia, Canada, Malaysia, the Russian Federation and Switzerland, issued between 40% and 68% of registrations to non-residents, meaning that these offices’ percent shares of non-resident registrations are higher than their shares of resident applications.

Together, the offices of China, the US, India, Japan and the OHIM issued almost one-third of total estimated trademark registrations worldwide in 2008. These offices, along with the remaining top 10 offices, issued about half of total registrations. The top 20 trademark registration by IP offices of 2008:

1. China 389,115 (majority from China)
2. USA 184,306 (majority from USA)
3. India 102,257 (majority from non-resident)
4. Japan 97,525 (majority from Japan)
5. OHIM 82,998 (resident more than non-resident)
6. Italy 80,307 (majority from Italy)
7. Mexico 63,063 (resident more than non-resident)
8. Republic of Korea 62,443 (majority from Korea)
9. Spain 60,992 (majority from Spain)
10. Brazil 60,086 (resident more than non-resident)
11. Germany 56,103 (majority from Germany)
12. Turkey 48,001 (majority from Turkey)
13. Australia 46,206 (resident more than non-resident)
14. Russian Federation 40,520 (almost equal)
15. United Kingdom 39,500 (majority from UK)
16. Chile 34,161 (resident more than non-resident)
17. Switzerland 28,695 (resident less than non-resident)
18. Malaysia 27,847 (resident less than non-resident)
19. Canada 27,743 (resident less than non-resident)
20. Ukraine 25,516 (resident less than non-resident)