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22 January 2018Trademarks

Nearly 75% of brands experienced TM infringement in 2017

Nearly three-quarters of brands have experienced trademark infringement over the past year, according to research by CompuMark.

The provider of trademark research and brand protection services announced the findings of its research into global trademark infringement on Thursday, January 18, in a report called “ The Trademark Ecosystem: Insights from Intellectual Property Professionals around the World”.

Of the brands surveyed, 74% had experienced trademark infringement in 2017 and 40% believe that the levels of infringement have increased over the past two years.

One-third of companies have had to change the name of a brand as a result of infringement, according to the report, and 56% have taken legal action against the perpetrators of the infringement.

The biggest impact of trademark infringement is customer confusion, according to 44% of the respondents, followed by loss of revenue (40%), reduced customer loyalty (34%), and reputational damage (33%).

Research company Vitreous World was commissioned to conduct the study, which surveyed 300 trademark professionals across the US, UK, Germany, and France.

Brexit was identified as having an effect on the trademark market by 70% of participants; 22% claimed to have filed for more UK trademarks in 2017, and nearly a third (31%) filed for more EU trademarks. However, 24% said they were filing fewer UK trademarks, compared to just 7% filing fewer EU marks.

Comparatively, trademark professionals in Germany filed for more colour and smell trademarks than those in other countries. Those in France indicated a higher interest in trademarks for hashtags and sounds than elsewhere.

Jeff Roy, president of CompuMark, said that while the report indicates an increase in trademark filing, the emergence of new additions to the market and the additional channels (like social media) available to organisations mean that “finding a unique mark to register is harder than ever before”.

Roy added that brands will have to work harder than ever to combat infringement, and that “the process of searching and watching trademarks is becoming increasingly important”.

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