CITMA 2017: UKIPO reports ‘record-breaking’ month for TM applications

Steve Rowan, the director of trademarks and designs directorate at the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), told an industry conference that the office has already had a “record-breaking” month for trademark filings.

Rowan was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) spring conference in London yesterday, March 16.

He told delegates that February was a “record-breaking” month for trademark filings in the history of the registry, but did not provide exact figures.

Rowan added that the IPO has just passed 60,000 trademark filings in this financial year, which ends on March 31, and that the office expects to have 63,000 filings by then.

The top five direct filing countries were the US, with 2,456, an increase from 1,221 last year. Second was China with 1,421, up from 741.

Australia’s filings were down from 363 to 269 and Ireland’s up from 233 to 265. Hong Kong also increased its filings, from 222 to 250.

Rowan also said that examiners at the office have “noticed a change” in the countries which are filing applications, with “lots of applications” coming from Korea.

Due to the uncertainty around Brexit, the office is working hard to collaborate and co-operate with stakeholders, something which is “more important than ever”.

Rowan added that the IPO international policy team has held training courses with “nearly” every Caribbean country.

The team also visited the Chinese and Indian IP offices to “learn from them” and for those offices to learn from the IPO.The

CITMA spring conference ends today.

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