Activities related to filing international trademarks have recorded a growth of 5.3% in 2008, with 42,075 applications filed during the year, UN agency World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) said on Tuesday.
However, trademark filing activity has been affected by the economic slowdown and grew a mere 3.9% in the second half of 2008, compared with 6.9% in the first half of 2008, the Geneva-based WIPO said in a statement. “The continued growth in the use of the international trademark system underlines the pivotal importance of trademarks to business, particularly within challenging economic times,” WIPO director general Francis Gurry said. The member countries, under WIPO’s Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks, had filed a total of 39,945 trademark applications in 2007. “Even in economically difficult times, businesses continue to recognise that a trademark is a smart investment in a company’s reputation and long-term sustainability,” Gurry added. “Trademarks play a key role in engendering consumer confidence, an important factor for businesses facing the challenges of the current economic slowdown,” he added. Applicants from Germany topped the list of filers in 2008 for the 16th consecutive year, followed by users in France and the US, WIPO said.
India is not a member of the Madrid system, which offers a trademark owner the possibility to have his trademark protected in several countries by simply filing one application directly with his own national or regional trademark office. Lidl, a discount supermarket chain from Germany, was the largest filer in 2008, WIPO said. Nestle (Switzerland), Henkel (Germany), Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany), Novartis (Switzerland), Janssen Pharmaceutica (Belgium) and BSH Bosch und Siemens (Germany), were other top applicants.
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