Mexico leads Latin America in latest intellectual property indicators ranking

By Dumont

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched its World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019, a report that analyzes IP activity around the globe drawing on 2018 filing, registration and renewals statistics from national and regional IP offices and WIPO. The report covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications, and concludes that global intellectual property filing activity continues to grow at a rapid pace, setting new records in 2018.

Patent filings around the world exceeded 3.3 million, representing a 5.2% growth on 2017 figures. Trademark filing activity totaled 14.3 million, up 15.5% on 2017. Industrial design filing activity amounted to 1.3 million. Applications for utility models grew by 21.8% to reach 2.1 million applications, while plant varieties filings reached 20,210 in 2018.

Counting on all IP filing activity, Mexico is positioned 2º in Latin America and the Caribbean -behind Brazil- and 26º worldwide. The country had 16,424 patent applications in 2018. “Among the large middle-income countries in the period from 2015 to 2018, applicants residing in India (16.8% of total applications) and Mexico (10%) filed most heavily in pharmaceuticals”, the report states. The flow of non-resident applications between origins and offices shows U.S. applicants accounting for a high proportion of non-resident filings in Mexico (48.2%).

Taking into account trademark applications, reporting between 1 and 1.4 million trademark registrations in force, the EUIPO and each of the offices of Brazil, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and Turkey recorded high numbers of trademarks applications. Mexico had 155,823 applications and a positive review of its work with the Madrid System.

“In 2018, the Madrid System offered trademark holders the ability to obtain protection for their branded products and services in an area covering a total of 119 countries. Combined, Madrid members represent about 60% of all countries, home to over 70% of the world’s population, and in which just over 80% of global GDP occurs, with the potential to increase these shares as membership grows. Applicants filed a record-setting estimated 61,200 international trademark applications under the WIPO- administered Madrid System in 2018. The resultant 6.4% increase represents a ninth year of uninterrupted expansion”.