Surging Trade Mark Activity Signals Innovation in Response to Turbulent Times
Intellectual Property Offices around the world are reporting rising volumes of trade mark, registered design, and patent applications. 2024 figures have surpassed previous highest levels in several jurisdictions, while others have seen a return to growth following previous declines. As the global economic and geopolitical climate continues to fluctuate in light of international trade wars and European conflict, is this rising activity a positive indicator of future growth?
International IP Applications Grow
The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) reports that registries for patents, trade marks, and designs all grew in 2024. Design applications filed under the Hague System rose 6.8%; international patent applications filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty rose 0.5% and trade mark applications via the Madrid system increased 1.2%, following two years of falling numbers. These rises indicate that – despite geopolitical tensions and increasing political nationalism – commercially, businesses recognise the value of protecting their assets in foreign markets.
USPTO sees double-digit trade mark application growth
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reported 571,000 trade mark applications in 2024, a rise of 10% compared to 2023. According to their data, the growth was driven by applicants from mainland China, who made up 27% of the number. The office also received a record number of patent applications, at 430,625.
UKIPO reports strong trade mark growth
The UKIPO also noted the impact of applications from China-based businesses, which comprised just over a fifth (21%) of the almost 144,000 received. Overall, this was an increase of 9.1% on 2023. Domestic applications accounted for 63% of the total, with a further 5.7% coming from the US and 4.5% from the EU.
EUIPO trade mark filings record 4% increase compared to 2023
At the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), just over 149,500 trade mark applications made it their second busiest year ever, while Registered Community Designs (RCDs) jumped to 105,221 in 2024 – an increase of 6,703 on 2023. New filing forms and fast-track options are no doubt encouraging more organisations to file for rapid protection.
IP Australia sees surge in applications from China
IP Australia, which marked its 120-year anniversary in 2024, saw trade mark applications increase by 5.4% from the previous year. Again, this was driven by China*. Discounting Chinese applications, the filing volume in Australia would have fallen marginally, by 0.2%.
The above is just a snapshot of the prevailing IP filing environment and, while some regions, including Japan and Malaysia, saw drops in local filing levels in 2024, the overall trend is positive.
IP Applications and Economic Shifts
Intellectual Property rights application numbers can be a useful indicator of resilience across economies and international markets and, interestingly, there is often an uptick in activity during times of volatility and uncertainty.
Research by IP Australia published in February 2025 has shown a positive correlation between the rate of trade mark applications and changes in the Australian business cycle, estimating that “a 10% increase in the number of trade marks filed in a given quarter predicts a 2.7% increase in real GDP two quarters after.”
The researchers compared the use of trade mark filing numbers as an indicator of turning points in the business cycle with 24 other leading economic indicators and found that trade marks rank sixth in their ability to predict recessionary phases of Australia’s business cycle.
Interestingly, world trade mark activity soared during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising 13.7% in 2020, according to WIPO figures. EU IPO studies mirror this finding, showing that trade mark filings also rose rapidly in 2021, before falling back in 2022. This rise in filings corresponded with a strong COVID-induced contraction in the EU economy with an 11.4 % GDP decline occurring in Q2 2020, before a rebound in 2021 with the EU area’s GDP growing by 5.3 % in that year and maintaining growth thereafter.
Innovation During Disruption: Examples from History
Looking back, we can see that some of the most successful and innovative companies were born during periods of economic or social turbulence, often deriving their advantage through challenging a status quo ripe for disruption.
The 2008 financial crisis prompted a shift in how we perceive ownership and a change to the “buy or hire?” mindset. Examples of companies that capitalised on this include AirBnB and Uber.
The crisis, alongside the proliferation of mobile technology driven by the rollout of 4G, also prompted a focus on financial literacy and mobility, with companies like Stripe, CreditKarma and NerdWallet emerging to fill demand for personal finance support and mobile payments.
This was not a new phenomenon. In fact, a significant percentage (some estimates say half) of Fortune 500 companies can trace their roots to economic crises or depression. Examples include Costco, from the 1970s recession; General Motors, from the 1907 panic; and LinkedIn – emerging post the dotcom bubble of 2000.
COVID-19 also prompted a boom in sectors such as online meeting platforms (Zoom) and food delivery services (Deliveroo and JustEat). While these may have been in development prior to the crisis, it took a paradigm-shifting catalyst to stimulate behaviour change and launch the companies towards success.
Why Hard Times Prompt Creativity
There are several reasons why difficult economic, political and social conditions spark innovation.
First, a downturn may force companies to become more efficient, prompting them to explore adopting new technologies and productivity-enhancing tools that can in turn free up time for innovation. The introduction of generative AI, for example, will have a disruptive effect on job roles, which may allow for more focus on novel ideas.
Customer behaviour, expectations, and expenditure naturally change during economic slumps, and businesses need to respond. By being creative and diversifying their offerings, they can attract a wider customer base, deepen relationships with existing customers, and develop new revenue streams. In turn, this helps to insulate the business against future economic turbulence.
While cash-strapped companies may be tempted to postpone filing for the relevant IP rights to protect their innovations, this is a false economy. Companies that innovate during recessions tend to emerge from them more strongly than their peers – but only if they have the IP portfolio they need to back up their novel ideas. Given the current buoyant activity in IP rights applications, it seems companies worldwide are solidly on this bandwagon.
It will be fascinating to see which of the hundreds of thousands of trademarks applied for in the past year will go on to become global brand powerhouses.
*We could write an entire blog post about the ins and outs of China’s aggressive trade mark application activity. Certainly, the Chinese government is encouraging (even financially incentivising) domestic businesses to file for mark registration in foreign territories. Ostensibly this is to help boost the – arguably slowing – Chinese economy and build global presence, which aligns with our hypothesis. However, claims of bad faith filings are also prevalent, and some IPOs are acting to clamp down on these.