Hashtag trademarking jumps 64% in one year, says CompuMark

The global trademarking of hashtags in 2016 jumped 64% from the previous year, according to CompuMark, a trademark research and protection company.

CompuMark released its findings yesterday, May 3, reporting that 2,200 trademark applications for hashtags were made in 2016.

According to the research, since the first application for a hashtag was made in 2010, there have been more than 5,000 applications globally.

The US remains the leader for the number of these marks applied for—33% of all applications since 2010.

However, the country’s total share of applications in 2016 was down to 28%, compared with 35% in 2015.

The US registered the most hashtag trademarks in 2016 (608), followed by Brazil (226) and India (141) in second and third place, respectively.

Colombian-based broadcaster RCN Television filed the most hashtag trademark applications last year, with 50 related to football programming.

The three classes that attracted the majority of applications were: class 41 (education and entertainment services), with 594; class 35 (advertising and recruitment), with 587; and class 25 (clothing and footwear), with 512 .

The hashtag symbol is perhaps most recognised on social media site Twitter.

In 2014 Twitter first began using the symbol—namely, #YesAllWomen—to raise awareness about personal experiences of sexism.

Notable registrations include: #lovetravels (Marriott), #getthanked (T-Mobile), and #gofor2 (Hershey).

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