Crisis undermined international trademark applications

The number of applications to register international trademarks fell by 16 percent in 2009 according to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, which administers the Madrid system under which a total of 84 countries cooperate on trademark registrations.

“Companies launch fewer new products in uncertain economic times,” explains WIPO Director General, Francis Gurry, in a comment on the figures. “In view of the unprecedented interest we witnessed prior to the onset of the economic crisis, we have every reason to believe that applications will begin to pick up again once growth starts to accelerate.”

Increase in Japan
The decline was most evident in applications from the Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, Spain and Denmark. However, not all the figures were negative. 2009 saw slight increases in the numbers of applications for international trademarks filed both with the EU’s Trademark Office and in Japan.

More than half of the total number of applications were filed in Europe, either via national patent offices or with the EU Trademark Office. The most popular countries for trademark designations were China, Russia and the USA.