In 2023, a combined share of 62% of global trademark filing – as measured by class counts – occurred at the top five trademark offices. Almost half (47.2%) of all trademark filing worldwide occurred at the office of China, the vast majority of which having come from Chinese residents filing in China. None of the remaining top four offices accounted for shares of global filing greater than 5%.
The highest volume of filing came from applicants based in China with a combined domestic and abroad application class count of around 7.4 million; followed by US applicants (849,876), those based in the Russian Federation (543,692), and applicants from India (496,293) and Germany (441,293).
Seven of the top 10 origins experienced a decline in trademark filing in 2023 compared to the previous year. The most substantial reductions were for applicants domiciled in Japan (–8.4%), Türkiye (–17.6%), and the US (–10.1%). In contrast, applicants based in Brazil (+8.5%), India (+6.1%) and the Russian Federation (+30.1%) recorded on-year growth. For India, growth was driven by increases in both resident and abroad filing, whereas for Brazil and the Russian Federation, overall growth was solely due to an increase in resident filing.
The chart above shows the total number of classes specified in trademark applications filed worldwide by applicants domiciled in a selection of middle-income origins in 2023. In 2023, eight of the top 20 origins, were middle-income countries. They included the Islamic Republic of Iran (321,463), Mexico (164,776), Indonesia (120,880), and Viet Nam (87,038). Additionally, several middle-income origins, namely, Argentina (74,487), Egypt (48,958), Pakistan (44,928), and Ukraine (44,711), recorded comparatively high volumes of trademark filing – as measured in class counts. Among the 10 origins selected from within the middle-income group, notable highlights were the high annual growth rates seen for applicants based in Egypt (+22.8%) and Ukraine (+59.2%). Conversely, there was a considerable on-year decline for applicants domiciled in the Islamic Republic of Iran (–9.4%).
For applicants of Egypt (3.2%), Indonesia (2.5%), the Islamic Republic of Iran (0.7%), Pakistan (3.1%), and the Philippines (3%), less than 5% of their total filing was directed abroad, reflecting applicants’ concentrated focus on seeking trademark protection within their domestic markets. For the trademark application class counts for every origin (where available), see statistical table 1.
Calculating application class count per unit of USD 100 billion GDP allows a comparison to be made between trademark filing in countries with different filing systems (single-class versus multi-class) and economies of varying sizes. On this measure, smaller countries, such as the Republic of Korea and Türkiye, rank higher than some larger ones with higher class counts in absolute terms, such as India and the US.
Using the Nice Classification, trademark applications can be categorized into 10 industry sectors. The chart above highlights the top three industry sectors for the five origins with the highest trademark filing in 2023. Notably, research and technology, leisure and education, and business services feature among the three sectors to attract the largest volumes of trademark applications originating from applicants domiciled in Germany and the US. Agriculture was the top sector for China and featured as the second top sector for India and the Russian Federation. In addition to Germany and the US, business services was also among the top sectors for applicants based in China. Health stood out as the top sector for applicants based in India, while clothing and accessories was the top sector for those located in the Russian Federation.