Global trademark applications showed signs of recovery following a two-year slowdown. Trademark filing totaled 15.2 million classes, representing a slight 0.1% decline from 2023 compared to the steeper declines of the previous two years.
The highest volume of filing activity came from applicants based in China with a combined domestic and abroad application class count of around 7.3 million; followed by US applicants (836,457), those based in the Russian Federation (559,436), and applicants from India (532,900) and Brazil (436,291). Among the top five origins, Brazil (+10.4%), India (+7.4%) and the Russian Federation (+2.9%) experienced growth in filing in 2024, while both China and the US saw declines of 1.5% each. For Brazil, growth was driven by increases in both resident and abroad filing, whereas for India and the Russian Federation, the overall growth was solely due to an increase in resident filing.
Filings from 12 of the top 20 countries of origin increased in 2024, with notable increases for Argentina (+19.7%), Brazil (+10.4%) and Indonesia (+8.4%).
In 2024, the research and technology sector attracted the largest filing volumes by applicants seeking trademark protection abroad, constituting 19.3% of global reported non-resident trademark filing. It was followed by the health (14.1%), clothing and accessories (12.2%) and leisure and education (10.4%) sectors. Trademarks relating to agriculture (10.1%), household equipment (9.3%) and business services (9.1%) accounted for the next largest shares of the total. In contrast, industries linked to chemicals (3.2%), construction (5.4%) and transportation (6.9%) received the smallest proportions of filing abroad.
