NIGERIA AND AFRICA IS ANONYMOUS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS’ REGISTER

U.S.-based applicants (8,825) filed the largest number of international trademark applications using WIPO’s Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks in 2018, followed by those located in Germany (7,495), China (6,900), France (4,490) and Switzerland (3,364) (Annex 5 ).

Among the top 15 origins, the Republic of Korea (+26.2%), Japan (+22.8%), the U.S. (+11.9%) and Turkey (+10.2%) recorded double-digit growth. In contrast, Australia (-2.4%) and Austria (-0.1%) are the only two top origins from which fewer applications were filed in 2018 than in 2017.

Novartis AG of Switzerland with 174 applications headed the list of top filers, followed by L’Oréal of France (169), Daimler AG of Germany (129), Apple Inc. of the U.S. (87) and Henkel AG of Germany (86). Novartis AG filed 78 more applications in 2018 than in 2017, elevating it from fourth position to the top spot.

The top 10 applicants list is comprised of six companies from Europe, three from Asia and one from the U.S. (Annex 6 ).

The most-specified class in international applications – computers and electronics – accounted for 10.1% of the total, followed by services for business (8%) and technological services (6.7%). Among the top 10 classes, technological services (+13.8%) and cleaning preparations (+12.9%) saw the fastest growth.

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