G7 Executive Talk Series Branded Story / International Trademark Association
Governments and Business Need to Work Together to Support Trademarks
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rademarks play a crucial role in today’s globalized economy, as businesses increasingly trade across borders, marketers become more sophisticated in the ways in which they communicate, and consumers grow more aware of brands. In fact, trademarks are the most popular form of intellectual property (IP) rights worldwide: According to the most recent figures compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and published in World Intellectual Property Indicators 2017, there were an estimated seven million trademark applications filed worldwide in 2016, an increase of 16.3 percent compared to the previous year and 300 percent more than the number filed in 2001 The total number of active trademark registrations around the world exceeded 39 million in 2016.
Readers will readily bring to mind global brands, owned by large corporations that depend on trademarks to protect their names, logos, product configurations, or packaging shapes, but it is worth remembering that many trademarks are owned by small and medium-sized enterprises that do not yet have the same global reach. Moreover, trademarks can be tools for companies in established markets as well as those in emerging markets. For example, each year since 2010, China has accounted for between 50 percent and 85 percent of annual growth in trademark applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators report. China leads the list of the top 20 trademark offices based on trademark class applications— a list that also includes India, Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey.
THE VALUE OF TRADEMARKS: ASEAN REGION Trademark-Intensive Industries Significantly Impact Economies Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand
Exports
Gross Domestic Product
Trademark-intensive industries generate
The direct contribution of trademark-intensive industries equals
27%–60% of exports
17%–50% of GDP
Employment
13%–29%
of workers are employed in trademark-intensive industries
Trademarks promote freedom of choice and enable consumers to make quick, confident, and safe purchasing decisions. Source: © 2017 International Trademark Association, The Economic Contribution of Trademark-Intensive Industries. The figures are based on national survey data, national accounts data, and World Bank and OECD sources calculated by Frontier Economics. The International Trademark Association (INTA) is the global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related IP in order to protect consumers and to promote fair and effective commerce. Members include more than 7,000 trademark owners, professionals, and academics from more than 190 countries. Founded in 1878, INTA is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Singapore, and Washington, D.C., and representatives in Geneva and New Delhi. www.inta.org
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Vital role of trademark rights As these figures indicate, trademarks are playing a progressively more critical role in business. A trademark represents a guarantee to consumers that they are going to receive the goods or services they expect and that the customer experience will be familiar. This is increasingly important in a world where people trade and travel across borders, and order goods and services online. The owners of trademark rights bear the primary responsibility for registering, maintaining, and upholding these important rights. But in today’s globalized world, trademarks face new or growing threats— dilution, counterfeits, online abuse, and brand restrictions, to name a few. In this environment, government officials and legislators have an important role to play in providing a clear legislative and regulatory framework, making available appropriate remedies against trademark abuse, and promoting common legal standards— harmonization—between different jurisdictions. There are many welcome initiatives in this regard. For example, WIPO offers centralized registration systems for trademarks, industrial designs, and patents. For trademarks, the Madrid System allows protection in one jurisdiction to be extended to up to 116 countries, including many of the world’s biggest markets, with relatively minimal cost and administrative burden. In 2017, the number of applications under the Madrid System grew for the eighth successive year, reaching 56,400—an annual increase of five percent. On a practical level, there are many examples of cooperation between trademark offices. The world’s five largest trademark and design offices (covering China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and the United States) regularly exchange information, hold joint meetings, and collaborate on research projects under what is known as the TM5 framework. Organizations such as Europol and the World Customs Organization promote cooperation in enforcement, while the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has developed tools to tackle the serious challenges arising from cybersquatting and domain name abuse. But there is room for much more to be done, particularly as the business world faces new and accelerating challenges.
