International Trademark Registrations on the Rise

According to a February 15, 2005 press release from WIPO, Germans were the biggest users of the "Madrid" international trademark systems for the twelfth consecutive year with 5,393 international applications (18.3%), followed by France with 3,503 (11.9%), Italy 2,499 (8.5%), Benelux 2,482 (8.4%) and Switzerland 2,133 (7.2%).

Within 12 months of signing up to the Madrid Protocol - one of two treaties that govern the system - the United States of America filed 1,734 (5.9%) international applications to rank sixth among the biggest users of the Madrid System system.and representing a 109% increase in use of the system as compared to the previous year.

Statistics for 2004 also show a marked increase in the number of international trademark applications originating from countries such as China (+115%), Australia (+100.9%), Republic of Korea (+86.8%), Bulgaria (+82.5%), Japan (+75.6%), Slovenia (64.8%), Latvia (62.7%), Hungary (+47.4%), Austria (+36.8%), Turkey (+36.4%), United Kingdom (+36.1%), Italy (+30.5%), Norway (+29.8%), Slovakia (+27.7%), Singapore (+25.7%), Czech Republic (+24.7%), Sweden (+24.3%), Denmark (+17.9%) and Croatia (+15.4%).