Marks & Clerk tops CTM filings
Marks & Clerk LLP filed more Community trademark (CTM) applications than any other European law firm or IP owner last year, according to an industry report.
Corsearch showed that Marks & Clerk applied for 1,047 CTMs – up from 919 in 2011 – ahead of British consultancy Novagraaf (950) and Belgian law firm Gevers (668)
The report, which focused mainly on British CTM filers, showed that Marks & Clerk’s 2012 filings represented a 13.9 percent jump from the previous year, compared with a 4.3 percent overall rise of British-filed CTMs in 2011.
Though 56 of Marks & Clerk’s applications were filed through the firm’s Luxembourg office, the remainder came from its UK offices, including London, Manchester and Glasgow.
“The figures are a testament to the strength in depth and quality of service provided,” said Matt Sammon, partner at Marks & Clerk LLP. “It is not our aim to stack them [applications] high – it’s more about providing well-rounded advice, and this is very much appreciated by our clients.”
Sammon said typically applicants from the US, Japan, South Korea and China represent a large number of filings, while in the EU companies from the UK, Germany and France continue to account for significant numbers of applications.
While Sammon did not have specific figures on which industries accounted for the most CTMs filed by the firm, he said businesses in general are becoming more confident in the economy.
Elsewhere, the report showed, trademark agent Trade Mark Direct, with 101 applications last year, filed 1,162 percent more CTMs than in 2011 (when it filed eight).
British firms filed more applications than their European counterparts, accounting for about 35 percent of filings overall. Germany (about 16 percent) and Spain (about 12 percent) were second and third on the list.
Commenting on the wider European trademark framework, Sammon said: “The CTM system has become cheaper in the past 15 years and it has become more efficient, so more appealing.”
The report also revealed the top 10 UK trademark filers. While London-based law firms did well, there was a strong regional performance from firms including Appleyard Lees, based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, which filed 285 last year.
