Worldwide Trademark Filing Cost Estimate Report Available

Each year, The Economist magazine publishes a "Big Mac Index" based on the theory of purchasing-power parity, under which exchange rates should adjust to equalise the cost of a basket of goods and services, wherever it is bought around the world. To make it simple, their basket includes just one McDonalds "Big Mac" hamburger. The cheapest burger in their chart for January 2006 was made in China, where it costs $1.30, compared with an average American price of $3.15 The highest price was in Switzerland at $4.93.

In the spirit of identifying purchasing power parity for trademark applications, please feel free to contact me for a report of worlwide trademark filing cost estimates by country for an application including three goods, in a single class, claiming one convention priority. According to the Global IP Estimator software, these costs range from a low of $527 for Afghanistan, to a high of $4,030 in the United Arab Emirates. Total worlwide costs add up to $281,596, with $177,572 for official/associate fees, $5,300 translation fees, and $98,722 in- house/miscellaneous.

By the way, a trademark application in China goes for $1134, compared to $975 in the U.S, and $2032 in Switzerland. It therefore appears that "Penn effect," where equivalent things tend to cost more in high income countries, might also true for trademark applications.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like copies.

A Worldwide Patent Filing Cost Report is also available here.