China most active trademark nation according to 2012 report
In Thomson Reuters 2012 Trademark Report, the top trademark trends are explored, painting a picture of the evolving trademark landscape. Topics covered are for example; the importance brand owners place on brand protection, what are the leading countries in terms of trademark activity, and which class was the most active worldwide in 2012.
China led the top five countries with published trademarks based on total class activity for 2012, followed by the United States, France, Turkey and Japan. Of all the classes, class 35 (advertising & business management), was by far the most active in 2012, with nearly 393,000 published trademarks filed across the 186 authorities studied. The two European countries showing the sharpest year-over-year growth in published trademarks were the U.K., which saw 10 percent growth and Turkey, which saw 8 percent growth in 2012. Following class 35, the next most active class was 25 (clothing, footwear, headgear), with nearly 270,000 published trademarks.
On a global scale, trademark growth hit a plateau in 2012 as the world economy continues to slowly recover from financial crisis. Focusing on the leading trademark countries, the report establishes that China was the most active country in terms of trademark activity (in class 25) with 69 percent overall, followed by the United States with 15 percent.