Applications saw a minor decline of 1.3% in 2023
An estimated 11.6 million trademark applications were filed worldwide in 2023. This is about 157,000 fewer than in 2022. This represents a moderate decrease of 1.3% and is the second consecutive year of reduced filing (figure 2.1). This decline is modest compared to the substantial drop of 15.7% seen in 2022, which had largely reversed much of the growth recorded in 2020 and 2021. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased demand for protecting new goods and services saw trademark applications surge by 16.6% in 2020, followed by a more modest growth of 4.6% in 2021. The number of applications in 2023 is slightly less than filed in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic. The declines in 2022 and 2023 end a 12-year growth streak that began after the global financial crisis ended in 2009, when annual growth fell by just 1.5%. Although the past two years have seen applications decline, the number of applications filed in 2023 remains almost three and a half times more than filed in 2009. This significant growth can be attributed to the double-digit increases observed in seven of the last 15 years.
When differences between filing systems across national and regional offices are harmonized based on application class count, the 2023 on-year decrease in trademark filing was slightly more pronounced at 2%. The total number of classes specified in applications – known as the application class count – declined from almost 15.6 million in 2022 to an estimated 15.2 million in 2023 (figure 2.2). Similarly to trademark applications, the global application class count experienced a second consecutive annual decrease, following a steep fall of 14.4% in 2022, and only the second annual decline since 2009.
A trademark application can refer to different classes of goods or services. Many offices use the Nice Classification. This is an international classification of goods and services used for registering trademarks and service marks. Applications received at these offices are classified according to one or more of 45 Nice classes (see www.wipo.int/classifications/nice). Some offices allow only single-class filing, meaning applicants have to file a separate application for each class. Others permit multi-class filing, enabling applicants to file a single application in which a number of classes are specified. To improve international comparison of the number of applications received, it helps to compare class counts across offices. Class counts are also used to make trademark registration internationally comparable. This method for comparing offices began in 2004, the first year for which complete class count data are available.
Offices with the most trademark filing
Despite a drop of 4.4% in filing on the previous year, Chinese applicants remained the world’s most active filers in 2023. China's class count of about 7.2 million was substantially higher than that of the United States of America (US), which had a class count of 739,395 (figure 2.3). These two offices have held the top two positions in trademark filing since the early 2000s. Notably, China's class count has undergone remarkable growth over this period, increasing from just over twice that of the US in 2009 to almost 10 times the volume by 2023. This increase can be mostly attributed to the substantial number of trademark applications filed domestically by residents in China. Following these two top ranking offices were those of the Russian Federation (546,455), India (520,862) and the European Union Intellectual Office (EUIPO) (436,720). Together, these five offices accounted for almost 62% of global trademark filing based on application class counts in 2023. This represents a significant increase of about 17 percentage points over the 45% held by the top five offices a decade earlier in 2013, which then comprised the EUIPO, together with China, France, the Russian Federation and the US.
Among the top 20 offices, 13 experienced a decline in trademark filing in 2023 compared to the previous year (figure B10). The most sizeable reductions were at the offices of Türkiye (–17.9%) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (–10%). They were followed by the offices of Switzerland (–9%), Canada (–6.9%) and France (–5.3%). The reduction in trademark filing at the offices of France, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Türkiye was primarily due to a lower demand from residents in seeking protection for marks domestically. The same was the case in China and the US, where on-year declines were mostly attributable to a decrease in filing by residents at their respective home offices. In contrast, reduced filing at the offices of Canada and Switzerland can be attributed primarily to a fall in non-resident filing. Unlike the 13 that saw lower volumes of trademark filing in 2023 than the previous year, the remaining seven top offices recorded an on-year increase. Among these, the highest growth rates were at the offices of the Russian Federation (+29.8%), Indonesia (+8.6%), Mexico (+5.9%), Brazil (+5.7%) and India (+4.1%). In all top offices that saw on-year growth, bar Indonesia and Viet Nam, an increase in resident filing effectively offset a drop in non-resident filing, resulting in an overall net annual increase for these offices. Interestingly, Indonesia and Viet Nam stood out among the top 20 as the only two offices to see an increase in both resident and non-resident filing. In the case of the office of the Russian Federation, an increase in resident filing accounted for 30.8 percentage points of a high total growth rate, which was slightly reduced to 29.8% by the –1 percentage point attributable to a decrease in non-resident filing. It is also noteworthy that the offices of Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) saw an increase in resident filing; but that this growth was more than negated by a drop in non-resident filing, leading to an overall annual fall in total filing.
In 2023, 12 of the top 20 offices were located in high-income economies. Six were in upper middle-income countries (Brazil, China, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico and Türkiye) and two in lower middle-income countries (India and Viet Nam). Additionally, certain offices located within selected low- and middle-income countries not to appear in the top 20 list – specifically, Argentina (83,891), Thailand (65,266), the Philippines (65,219), Egypt (62,511) and Ukraine (55,681) – recorded comparatively high levels of trademark filing. Among the 20 selected offices within the low- and middle-income groups, notable double-digit annual growth rates were observed at the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) (+17.3%) and at the offices of Costa Rica (+30.3%), Egypt (+14.5%) and Ukraine (+29.2%). Conversely, there were declines of above 20% at the offices of Colombia (–30.3%) and Samoa (–21.7%).
At most offices, the majority of applications originated from residents aiming to secure trademark protection within their domestic jurisdiction. In 2023, filing by residents at their home or regional office constituted 84.2% of the global total, with the remaining 15.8% attributable to non-resident filing. Historically, up until 2020, year-on-year growth in domestic filing generally outpaced non-resident filing. Breaking with this trend, the growth in filing by non-residents surpassed that of residents in 2021, resulting in a remarkable 21.5% increase in the global non-resident application class count that year. But a decrease in demand from both residents and non-residents alike contributed to the overall decline in trademark filing in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the percentage decline in resident filing exceeded that for non-resident filing. In 2023, the opposite was the case, with non-resident filing contracting by more than resident filing. Among the 10 top offices to experience a decrease in both resident and non-resident filing in 2023, four experienced a more substantial decline in non-resident as opposed to resident filing, namely, the EUIPO, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea. In contrast, for top offices China, France, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Türkiye, over 90% of the reduction in total filing for 2023 was the result of a decline in resident filing.
The proportion of non-resident filing within the global total has contracted by nearly 12 percentage points, dropping from 27.7% in 2009 to 15.8% in 2023. This is due primarily to the large volume of resident trademark applications filed in China. However, if China is excluded from the overall count, the decline in the non-resident share is no more than about four percentage points over this period.
Six of the top 20 offices attracted 34% or more of total filing from non-residents, largely in excess of the global non-resident share. The EUIPO (34%) and the offices of Australia (42.7%), Canada (62.5%), Switzerland (58.6%), the UK (44.2%) and the US (35.4%) stand out with the largest shares in this regard (figure B9). Conversely, the top offices with the lowest non-resident shares were China (2.7%), France (5.1%), the Islamic Republic of Iran (2.5%), the Russian Federation (7.5%) and Türkiye (8.2%). The relatively low non-resident shares for France and several other EU member state offices, including Germany (9.9%) and Italy (9%), are due to the fact that many non-resident applicants seek trademark protection within EU countries through the EUIPO. In addition to the Russian Federation, the other BRICS countries to feature among the top 20 offices for trademark filing – namely, Brazil (9.4%) and India (9.1%) – also had relatively lower non-resident shares.
In 2023, the composition of the top 20 offices remained consistent with the year before. However, there were some notable shifts within the ranking. A surge in domestic filing caused the Russian Federation to climb from the top sixth spot in 2022 to third position in 2023, ahead of India. This was despite a slight decrease in non-resident filing in the Russian Federation. Conversely, Türkiye fell three spots from the fourth top office in 2022 to seventh position in 2023 due largely to a sharp fall in resident filing. The office of Brazil moved up one spot from seventh top office in 2022 to sixth in 2023. The Islamic Republic of Iran dropped two spots from eighth to 10th over the same period. Growth in both resident and non-resident filing shifted Indonesia up from the 17th top office in 2022 to 15th spot in 2023. Due mostly to a decrease in non-resident filing, Canada dropped from 15th top office in 2022 to 17th spot a year on in 2023.
Among top 20 offices in 2023, Asia was home to eight, Europe to seven. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Northern America each had two, and Oceania one. Offices located in Asia led global trademark filing, constituting 66.7% of the total. This is a sizeable increase from that region’s 49% share a decade earlier in 2013. This trend contributed to a decline in the overall shares of the other five geographical regions over the same period (figure 2.4). Offices located in Europe accounted for 17.2% of the world total in 2023, followed by LAC offices at 7.1% and Northern American offices at 5.8%. The remaining shares were distributed between Africa (1.9%) and Oceania (1.3%).
Trademark applications maintained a relatively steady but modest trajectory until the mid-1980s. A surge in applications at the China office began in the 1990s. They surpassed those received by the US office in 2001 establishing China as the largest office in terms of applications received. Even so, applications at the US office have increased two and a half times since 2001, despite decreases in 2022 and 2023 and earlier declines during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and at end of the dot-com era in 2001 and 2002. India’s annual trademark applications – which had remained below 100,000 up until 2006 – exceeded 500,000 for the first time in 2023. Brazil, with almost 413,000 applications, and India stand out as the only two offices among the top five to have received more applications in 2023 than in 2022. Following behind Brazil, the Republic of Korea recorded approximately 253,100 applications.
Filing an application at a regional IP office is equivalent to filing an application in every member country of the organization that established that particular regional office. In the case of the EUIPO, for example, each application is multiplied by the corresponding number of EU member states. Thus, an application filed at the EUIPO in 2023 by an applicant residing outside the EU is counted as 27 applications abroad – equal to the number of EU member countries, whereas an application filed by an EU resident results in a count of 1 resident application and 26 applications abroad. This same multiplier is applied to the classes specified in such an application. The concept of equivalent application class count is employed for reporting data based on an applicant’s origin.
Applicants from Germany remain the top filers of applications in foreign jurisdictions
Trademark applications received by offices both from applicants residing within the country and those outside are classified as office data. In contrast, applications filed by applicants at their national or regional office (resident applications) or at foreign offices (applications abroad) fall into the category of origin data. In this context, trademark statistics are presented based on an applicant's place of residence, so as to complement the picture of trademark filing worldwide.
When considering filing abroad based on equivalent class count, more applicants from Germany sought protection for their trademarks abroad than did applicants from any other origin. Germany has maintained its leading position since 2006. In 2023, filing abroad by German applicants reached an equivalent application class count of 2.04 million. They were followed by applicants from China, with an abroad equivalent application class count of almost 1.37 million, who moved ahead of applicants from the US, whose nearly 1.29 million made the US the third most active origin status for filing abroad. These top three countries of origin – Germany, China and the US – were followed by Italy (1.02 million), France (837,548) and the UK (790,327). The high equivalent class counts for applications filed abroad from these six origins can be attributed not only to high application class counts at numerous foreign offices, but also to the frequent use of the EUIPO – and its multiplier effect – for seeking protection within the European Union (EU) as a whole.
When looking at absolute counts – and in so doing removing the EUIPO’s multiplier effect – a significant majority (94.2%) of filing (based on application class counts) undertaken by applicants based in China was destined solely for protection within China in 2023. This mean that only 5.8% of trademark filing by China-based applicants was directed toward seeking protection abroad. In fact, this highly domestically-oriented trend has persisted for the past two and a half decades, with no less than 93% of China-based applicants filing within their home country each year during this period. Likewise, residents of many other middle-income countries with a substantial volume of trademark filing – among them Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico, Türkiye and Viet Nam – directed no more than 8% or less of trademark filing toward seeking protection abroad. Notably, the lowest share was attributed to applicants based in the Islamic Republic of Iran, with a mere 0.7% of total filing directed abroad. Brazil (2%), India (4.6%) and Indonesia (2.5%) also registered relatively modest shares of filing abroad.
Among top 20 origins, 72.6% of filing by Switzerland-based applicants occurred outside the country, the largest share of absolute application class counts abroad as a proportion of total filing. Switzerland was followed by top origins the UK (46%), the US (43.8%), Canada (42.1%) and Germany (36.8%).
Trademark filing abroad behavior among applicants of selected low- and middle-income countries displayed a variety of patterns. For instance, filing abroad accounted for between 11% and 17% of total filing by applicants residing in lower and upper middle-income countries Colombia (12.3%), Morocco (15.2%), South Africa (11.1%), Thailand (16.8%) and Ukraine (13.8%). Conversely, filing abroad as a proportion of total filing was relatively high for applicants based in Jordan (30.1%), Samoa (94.3%) and Serbia (58.7%). For low- and middle-income countries Cuba, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines and Zimbabwe, the share was around 4% or less.
When deciding where to pursue trademark protection, applicants weigh several factors. They include the attractiveness of a foreign market for the selling of goods and services, the geographical proximity to that market and any historical ties between the trademark holder's country of residence and the destination country. In 2023, about a fifth (19.9%) of all non-resident trademark filing in China came from US applicants, followed by 16.9% from the UK and 10% from Japan. Collectively, applicants from these three origins accounted for 46.8% of all non-resident trademark filing in China for the year (figure 2.5). Conversely, non-resident filing in the US came primarily from China-based applicants, accounting for 45.4% of foreign filing. This was trailed by comparatively smaller volumes from applicants based in the UK (7.8%) and Canada (6.2%), for a combined share of over half (59.4%) of all filing received by the US office from abroad. In Japan, the three origins with the largest shares of total non-resident filing were China (25.7%), followed by the US (20.7%) and the Republic of Korea (8.3%). Applicants from these three origins collectively accounted for over half (54.7%) of all non-resident filing in Japan. In the case of the EUIPO, a sizable 62.8% of its non-resident filing came from applicants based in just three countries: China (23.6%), the US (23.2%) and the UK (16%).
In 2023, China-based applicants were the most active non-residents filing at 11 of the other 19 top offices, up from eight in 2022. They accounted for between about 15% of the total at the office of France to almost 36% at the office of Germany and, as previously mentioned, 45.4% of application class counts in filings received from abroad by the US. Applicants from the US were the primary source of non-resident filing at seven of the other 19 top offices, down from 10 in 2022. They accounted for between the aforementioned 19.9% of the total at the office of China to over 35% at the offices of neighboring Canada (37.9%) and Mexico (35.8%). Applicants residing in Germany played a significant role in non-resident filing at the Switzerland office, accounting for the largest volume at 33.1%, and at the office of Türkiye, where their non-resident share amounted to 14.6%. Beyond having a sizeable presence in foreign filing in China and the US, applicants located in the UK were the third largest origin of foreign filing at the EUIPO and at the offices of Australia and Canada.
Adjusting for GDP and population
Variations in trademark filing across countries reflect differences in the size and structure of economies. It is therefore informative to examine resident application class counts with regard to gross domestic product (GDP) and population size.
When resident trademark applications are viewed as class counts and adjusted according to GDP, countries with a relatively lower number of classes specified in resident applications, like Brazil and Türkiye, may rank above countries such as India and the US, which record higher class counts. Among selected origins, China (22,381), Türkiye (12,466), the Republic of Korea (10,125), Brazil (9,642), the Russian Federation (8,692) and Chile (8,029) exhibited some of the highest ratios of resident application class counts to GDP in 2023 (figure 2.6). Between 2013 and 2023, China (+12,470), Brazil (+6,177), the Russian Federation (+5,497), Argentina (+2,439) and the Republic of Korea (+2,407) all experienced considerable increases in resident application class counts per unit of GDP.
Analyzing application class count per million population data reveals that in 2023, the Republic of Korea, with a population of about 51.7 million, recorded a particularly intensive resident application class count of 5,120 per million population – the highest ratio across all selected countries of origin. China, home to 1.4 billion people, also had a relatively high class count per million population ratio of 4,954. Despite having a significantly smaller population of around 8.8 million in 2023, Switzerland displayed a comparatively high ratio of resident application class count per million population at 4,526. Within other selected countries of origin, this ratio spanned from 3,195 to 4,290 for Australia (3,195), France (4,068), Germany (3,303), the Russian Federation (3,515) and Türkiye (4,290). Chile (2,369), Italy (2,186), Japan (2,061), Singapore (2,244) and the UK (2,818) had ratios ranging from about 2,060 to 2,820. Meanwhile, the range was between 1,190 and 1,789 for Brazil (1,789), Canada (1,337), Mexico (1,190) and the US (1,425). India, Jamaica and South Africa had ratios of between about 330 and 940.
Which specific classes and industries attracted the most intensive filing from applicants seeking protection abroad?
Trademarks are registered in relation to particular classes of goods or services. The Nice Classification of goods and services is used in the international trademark system and at certain national and regional offices. Nice classification statistics provide insights into the relative importance of different goods and services. In 2023, goods class 9 – including scientific, photographic, measuring instruments, recording equipment, computers, and software – featured in 11.4% of all reported non-resident trademark filing by class. Nice class 9 was followed by services class 35 (7.7%), which covers advertising, business management, business administration and office functions, and by services class 42 (6.1%) and goods classes 5 (5.4%) and 25 (4.8%). Services class 42 includes scientific and technological services, as well as the design and development of computer hardware and software. Goods class 5 relates to pharmaceutical preparations, baby food, dietary supplements for humans and animals, disinfectants, fungicides and herbicides, and goods class 25 covers clothing. Of 45 Nice classes, the top five (9, 35, 42, 5 and 25) were specified in over one-third (35.4%) of non-resident trademark filing worldwide.
In 2023, the 11 classes associated with services accounted for 30.3% of all Nice classes specified in applications filed abroad. Across a selection of offices, services classes accounted for between about 29% and 36% of all filing in China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation and Viet Nam. This share increases to between about 38% and 40% for the EUIPO and the offices of Canada, the UK and the US. However, at offices in countries that include Brazil (66.6%), France (51.4%), Mexico (50.9%) and Türkiye (50.1%), services classes represented over half the total .
Grouping the 45 Nice classes into 10 distinct industry sectors offers valuable insights. In 2023, the research and technology sector attracted the largest filing volumes by applicants seeking trademark protection abroad, constituting 20.1% of global reported non-resident trademark filing. It was followed by the health (13.7%), clothing and accessories (12.4%) and leisure and education (10.1%) sectors. Trademarks relating to agriculture (10.1%), business services (9.7%) and household equipment (8.7%) accounted for the next largest shares of the total. In contrast, industries linked to chemicals (3.1%), construction (5.5%) and transportation (6.6%) received the smallest proportions of filing abroad.
Research and technology was the sector that attracted the biggest proportion of total filing at the EUIPO (22%), as well as at the offices of Japan (19%), the UK (20.9%) and the US (17.9%) (figure B26). In China (27.6%), the agricultural sector was the predominant choice, while also accounting for the second largest proportion in India (15.3%), the Russian Federation (13.4%) and Türkiye (13.9%), and ranking third in the Islamic Republic of Iran (17.4%). Clothing and accessories was the sector that garnered the largest share of filing in the Russian Federation (15%), whereas it was the third largest sector in India (12.8%), the UK (12.5%) and the US (14.9%). Filing for trademarks associated with the health sector constituted the largest proportion of filing in India (21.9%) and the third largest in China (11.8%). Business services topped the list of industry sectors in Brazil (26.2%), the Islamic Republic of Iran (22.5%) and Türkiye (24%), accounting for the largest share of total trademark filing. Filing related to leisure and education featured as the second top sector at the offices of Brazil, Japan, the UK and the US, and as third top sector at the EUIPO.
In 2023, an estimated 7.6 million trademark registrations were recorded globally
After concluding the examination process, an office may decide to register a trademark. The number of registrations issued can fluctuate greatly from year to year, due in part not only to a rise or fall in the volume of applications received in any given year, but also to the amount of resources an office is able to dedicate to examining trademark applications. For this reason, it is not possible to accurately compare the number of applications filed at a particular office in any given year with the number of registrations issued by that office in the same year.
The estimated 7.6 million trademark registrations recorded worldwide in 2023 marks a second consecutive year of decline. At 18.7%, the decline is equivalent to over 1.7 million fewer registrations compared to the previous year. This downward shift is in stark contrast to the substantial 29% growth seen in 2021.
Just as class counts make application filing activity internationally comparable, they also enable a more meaningful comparison of registrations. In 2023, an estimated 10.3 million classes were specified in the above-mentioned 7.6 million trademark registrations, reflecting a 16.9% reduction compared to the previous year’s total. Notably, registrations measured in class counts at the office of China underwent a second consecutive year of steep decline. At 29.1%, the decline equates to about 1.8 million fewer registrations from 2022 to 2023. This decrease contributed most to the overall reduction in global registration activity. Moreover, large drops in registration class counts, ranging from about 19,500 to 54,575, occurred at many top offices. The EUIPO recorded a decline of 19,512, while the offices of Australia (–21,528), Germany (–19,494), India (–27,143), Türkiye (–40,462) and the UK (–54,575) also contributed to a global decline in trademark registrations.
China’s office registered trademarks in which about 4.4 million classes were specified, with that office accounting for a sizable 42.8% of all trademark registrations recorded worldwide in 2023. Following China were the office of the US (445,684), the EUIPO (407,474) and the offices of Türkiye (326,414) and the UK (316,049). Combined, these four offices accounted for 14.5% of all registration activity.
Apart from China, eight additional offices among the top 20 in terms of registration activity experienced declines of about 10% or more in 2023. After China, the most significant decrease of 14.7% was observed at the offices of both Australia and the UK, followed by the offices of the Islamic Republic of Iran (–14.2%), Germany (–11.5%), Switzerland (–11.2%) and Türkiye (–11%). Also, India and Viet Nam each saw a decline of 9.7% in registration class counts. In marked contrast, four top offices achieved double-digit growth compared to the previous year. This group comprised Argentina (+54.3%), Brazil (+19.8%), Mexico (+17.4%) and the Republic of Korea (+21.9%).
The number of active trademark registrations in 2023 increased by 6.4%
Unlike most forms of intellectual property (IP), trademarks can be maintained indefinitely through the payment of a renewal fee at defined intervals. In 2023, there were an estimated 88.2 million active trademark registrations across 155 IP offices globally, representing an increase of 6.4% compared to 2022. This growth occurred despite an annual decline in trademark registrations at a number of offices. This suggests that the increase in active registrations in 2023 resulted, in part, from examination decisions on trademark applications filed prior to that year.
Once again, the office of China had by far the highest number of trademark registrations in force in 2023, with a total of 46.1 million. It was followed by the offices of India and the US, each with a count of nearly 3.2 million registrations in force, and by the offices of the UK and Brazil with approximately 2.5 million each. The EUIPO and the offices of France, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and Türkiye reported figures ranging from between 1.3 to 2.2 million active trademark registrations. The offices of Argentina (983,314) and Germany (999,107) reported comparable stocks of trademark registrations in force, while Australia (854,081), the Russian Federation (861,148) and Spain (847,676) recorded similar counts.
The around 24.3 million trademark registrations in force at 88 offices lend themselves to be distributed according to the year they were initially registered. They represent about 63% of a total of approximately 38.7 million trademark registrations recorded at these offices between 1999 and 2023. Almost a quarter (24.8%) of the trademarks registered in 1999 remained in force in 2023, showcasing the enduring value of marks. For trademarks registered in 2016 or later, the percentage surpasses 80%. More than half (55.4%) of the 24.3 million registrations in force were registered relatively recently, dating back only so far as 2017.