TM-intensive industries contribute 22% of GDP in LatAm countries
Trademark-intensive industries contribute on average 22% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin American countries, according to a newly-released study.
Yesterday, October 28, the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI) launched the report at ASIPI’s XXI Journadas de Trabajo in Lima, Peru. INTA president David Lossignol and ASIPI president Elisabeth Siemsen formally released the study, presenting a copy on stage to Ivo Gagliuffi, head of Peru’s IP office, INDECOPI.
Gagliuffi welcomed the report, noting that there needs to be a focus on education around IP, and warning that although high numbers of trademarks may have positive benefits for an economy, the quality of trademarks is also critical to the success of a country.
Titled “ Trademarks in Latin America: Economic Impact in 10 Latin America and Caribbean Countries”, the report focuses on the economic impact of trademarks in Latin America and the Caribbean, looking at ten countries in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.
While the contribution of trademark intensive industries to GDP is 22% on average in the countries analysed, this ranges in countries between 10% (Peru) to 42% (Costa Rica).
On average, the economic sectors that register and use trademarks intensively, contribute 18% of employment (equal to 35 million jobs) and pay higher wages than the rest of the economy.
The employment average varies between 3% (Guatemala) and 36% (Costa Rica) of total employment.
And critically, In the latest study, the associations found that salaries in trademark-intensive industries averaged 19% higher than in non-intensive industries, with that premium varying between 5% and 57% in the ten countries.
Speaking to WIPR at the event, INTA’s CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo, explained the purpose of the study: “We want to have data to be able to go to the policy makers and legislators and to say IP is important for your countries – it’s important for your economies, it’s important for GDP, for employment, for social welfare, for foreign direct investment - please pay attention to IP”
Three years ago, INTA and ASIPI published a study covering Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru, which concluded that trademark-intensive economic activities in the five countries contributed 15% of GDP on average and generated up to 18.5 million jobs.
Juan Berton Moreno, partner at Berton Moreno Ojam in Argentina and member of the project team for the report, explained in a press conference yesterday that the countries that had been added to the study greatly increased its scope.
Also, he said, one of the challenges with putting together the report was obtaining accurate information on filings from IP offices in the region, but that the ten countries chosen were all now able to supply reliable data.
The big picture
The contribution of trademark-intensive sectors to international trade is 31% for exports and 34% for imports on average, with highly varying participation depending on the country, according to the study.
Trademark applications grew overall by 3.3% per year in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2007 and 2017, lower than the average trademark registrations worldwide (8.3% per year).
In 2017, trademark applications in Latin America and the Caribbean represented 5.8% of the world total, compared to 66% from Asian region.
The picture is similar in terms of the registrations, although Latin American and Caribbean growth between 2007 and 2017 is even lower, at 1.7% per year, compared with 6.6% worldwide.
US/EU comparison
The INTA/ASIPI report also compared the results of the study with the results available for the US and EU.
The average share of trademark-intensive sectors of Latin America and Caribbean countries in total value added (22%) is generally lower than the corresponding ones in the US and the EU (around 35% for both cases).
INTA and ASIPI attributed this to the fact commodities are relatively important for Latin America and Caribbean countries and these products are not intensive in trademark use, and that these economies have a significant share of services in their GDP, and services are less frequent users of trademarks than manufacturing industries.
When it comes to employment, the picture is more similar: trademark intensive industries account for 18% of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean, 15.5% for the US, and 21.2% for the EU.
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