Our news on intellectual property

Two days ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization published the annual World Intellectual Property Indicators report. Overall, the number of trademark applications increased by 19.2%, with 10.9 million trademark applications filed last year. This figure doubled compared to five years ago. The Chinese applications account for up 84.4% of the total trademark applications filed, which is twelve times more than the US applications. On a global scale, the trademark area is more crowded than ever. In this context, trademark searches are indispensable to identify the legal risk prior to starting any use. First, opting for a distinctive name is definitely a good means of decreasing the likelihood of potential legal IP issues.