Trademarks hit one million

International trademark registrations have hit the one million mark, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced this week.  Coming on the eve of the International Trademark Association (INTA) annual meeting, which is being held in Seattle from 16-20 May, the news should give delegates a reason to celebrate as they meet to discuss the opportunities and challenges for trademarks.

WIPO director general Francis Gurry said that the millionth mark – awarded to an Austrian ethical goods manufacturer – demonstrates the ongoing success of the Madrid system for international registration. Agreed in 1891, the system took until 1986 to register its half-millionth mark. Since then, registrations have accelerated as awareness of IP value has grown among brand managers.  

WIPO has welcomed the ethical stance of the mark’s recipient, Grüne Erde, which makes and sells around 5,000 furniture, textile and cosmetic products sourced from natural materials. According to WIPO, ‘Trademark registrations often mirror evolving consumer tastes as companies work to strengthen their market positions. In this case, the millionth trademark registration is a green brand, reflecting a growing environmental awareness among the general public and the business community.’

Reinforcing the point is December’s announcement by the European Patent Office (EPO) that the two-millionth patent application to hit its examination desk described an eco-friendly fuel cell. The EPO and WIPO milestones suggest that growing markets for green products and services are having palpable effects on the major branches of IP. Meanwhile, Grüne Erde founder and director Reinhard Kepplinger said in a statement that the Madrid system had helped his firm by offering it ‘an easy and inexpensive way’ to register its trademark internationally.

‘Trademarks and the branding efforts they support,’ added Francis Gurry, ‘help consumers make informed choices about the products they buy. They are extremely valuable commercial assets. WIPO’s international trademark registration system is a cost-effective, user-friendly and streamlined means by which businesses operating internationally can protect and manage their trademark portfolios.’

In a recent interview with IP Review magazine, Brigitta Best – director and head of trademarks at leading IP services company CPA Global – said that managers are recognising a need ‘to manage trademark assets in a more efficient, productive and measurable way’ as those assets take on greater economic significance. In Best’s view, this trend ‘reflects a wider move towards value and return’.

The history of the Madrid system is one of exponential growth, spurred on by the increasingly rapid pace of global trade. While 95 years elapsed between the initial agreement and the 1986 debut of its 500,000th mark, the system managed to chalk up another quarter-of-a-million entries by 2001. A Chinese porcelain manufacturer registered the 900,000th mark in 2006, with the millionth only three years away. In WIPO’s words, the system’s growth in the last three decades reflects an ‘increased internationalisation of trade and broader recognition of the commercial importance of trademarks’.

Updated by the Madrid Protocol of 1989, the system allows trademark applicants in its member states to register marks in all those countries via one registration in their own. In addition, changes or renewals can be effected across all territories in one simple step.

In other trademark news, German media company Premiere AG has surprised the IP community by announcing that it will write off the value of its flagship mark in the wake of a rebranding decision. From July onwards, the company is set to discontinue its Premiere brand for use in television broadcasts and rename itself Sky Deutschland AG. The Premiere trademark’s value has been put at €331.6 million. A series of deferred tax liabilities will soften the write-off’s impact to a negative €256.1 million.