Mexico's Trademark Applications Grow by 5.9% in 2023 Amid Global Decline

By Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados

An estimated 11.6 million trademark applications were filed worldwide in 2023. This is about 157,000 fewer than in 2022. This represents a moderate decrease of 1.3% and is the second consecutive year of reduced filing, according to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

Despite a drop of 4.4% in filing on the previous year, Chinese applicants remained the world’s most active filers in 2023. China's class count of about 7.2 million was substantially higher than  that of the United States of America (US), which had a class count of 739,395.

High growth rates were recorded in Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil. Among the top 20 offices, the highest growth rates were at the offices of the Russian  Federation (+29.8%), Indonesia (+8.6%), Mexico (+5.9%), Brazil (+5.7%) and India (+4.1%). Mexico had 205,867 trademark applications in 2023, 152,891 of them from residents and 52,976 from non residents.

In all top offices that saw on-year growth, an increase in resident filing effectively offset a drop in non-resident filing, resulting in an overall net annual increase for these offices. At most offices, the majority of applications originated from residents aiming to secure trademark protection within their domestic jurisdicción. In 2023, filing by residents at their  home or regional office constituted 84.2% of the global total, with the remaining 15.8% attributable to non-resident filing.

Also, in 2023, the 11 classes associated with services accounted for 30.3% of all Nice classes specified in applications filed abroad. Across a selection of offices, services classes accounted for between about 29% and 36% of all filing in China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation and Viet Nam. This share increases to between about 38% and 40% for the EUIPO and the offices of Canada, the UK and the US. However, at offices in countries that include Brazil (66.6%), France (51.4%), Mexico (50.9%) and Türkiye (50.1%), services classes represented over half the total.