Economic recession has an impact in protecting IP rights

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September 22, 2009

The number of patent and trademark applications is expected to decrease this year. According to the “World Intellectual Property Indicators” report issued by WIPO, applications seeking to protect intellectual property increased moderately in the year 2008, but the declining trend in the world economy could already be seen in the figures.

Patenting continues in Asia

The declining trend does not appear to concern all countries. According to WIPO’s report, protecting of innovations is in the increase especially in Asian countries. For example, patent filings in China grew by 23.9 % a year between 1995 and 2007. The number of patent applications in the Republic of Korea is continuously increasing. In the majority of cases the applicant was a foreign non-resident. However, according to WIPO e.g. patent applications of Chinese applicants are growing.

In 2007 approximately 6.3 million patents were in force in the world. Residents of United States and Japan owned some 47 % of the patents.

Fewer Trademark applications

In 2007 a total of 3.3 million trademark applications were filed in the world. 20.6 % of the applications were filed before the Trademark Office in China, and 9.2 % in the United States PTO. The largest numbers of registrations were likewise issued to Chinese and US applicants. However, only a small fraction of trademarks registered to Chinese applicants were protected in other jurisdictions, whereas 43.5 % of trademarks registered by US applicants were protected in foreign jurisdictions.

However, the figures from the year 2008 show a zero growth rate in the number of trademark filings.

In 2007, approximately 16.4 million trademarks were in force in the world, out of which nearly fifth were in Japan and in the United States.

Protecting IP is important even during economic turmoil

According to the WIPO, protection of IP decreased also during previous economic crises. However, one should never be oblivious of the importance of protecting intellectual property. WIPO Director General Dr. Francis Gurry reminds in the foreword of the report that history has shown that companies and countries which continue to invest in new products and innovation during times of economic recession will be those that will be best positioned to take advantage of the recovery when it arrives. IP rights are important tools for stimulating and rewarding creativity.

For more information on IP rights and related processes, please contact our patent and trademark attorneys.