Intellectual Property (IP) in India: A Decade of Progress Part 1

This post gives trade mark statistics for the last decade.

Trademark applications are filed to register a trademark with a national or regional Intellectual Property (IP) office.A 2011 report showed that the five countries filing the most trademarks were China, USA, India, Brazil and South Korea. The statistics revealed a major shift in the preference of multinational brand owners towards emerging markets, evidenced by the change in the composition of the top 10 countries with the most number of published trademarks, from 2012 to 2013 . The 2013 list was led by China, and the top echelon consisting of United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada was replaced this year by India, Mexico, and Taiwan for number of trademarks published.

India is a fast-growing trademark environment, as brand owners from around the world are drawn to the opportunities in this rapidly expanding marketplace. Since India has a common law legal system, unregistered trademarks may be entitled to protection, as well. Nevertheless, trademark registration is a critical priority for any brand considering entering the Indian market.

In India, during 2004-05, a total of 78,996 applications were filed; by 2008-2009, that number had risen to 130,172. The substantial increase came in 2007-08, when applications rose by more than 20,000 over the previous year—a nearly 20% increase in one year alone. Registrations on the rise  also indicates that the trademarks accepted and registered has also risen—from less than 57% of applications (45,015) in 2004-05 to nearly 79% of applications in 2008-09.

In the year, 2012-13, 194216 applications were filed. When compared with the previous year, there is an increase of about 5.79% in the filing. In the year 2013-14, 2,00,005 trademark applications were filed and only 67,876 applications were granted registration that same year.

According to a report released by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), in the last decade, trademarks relating to the service class that is associated with advertising, business management and administration amongst other things have continued to be the most sought after. They are followed by marks relating to the goods in certain categories like clothing, scientific, photographic, measuring instruments, recording equipment, computers and software.

Below is a table indicating the number of trademarks applications filed and registered in India in the last decade:

YEAR TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS FILED TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS REGISTERED
2003-04 94120 11190
2004-05 92251 39762
2005-06 85699 184325
2006-07 103419 109361
2007-08 123514 100857
2008-09 130172 102257
2009-10 141943 67490
2010-11 179317 115472
2011-12 183588 51735
2012-13 194216 44361
2013-14 200005 67876

Read Dr. Kalyan’s note on The Case of Indian Intellectual Property

Sources here, here and here

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