Key points

• Filing statistics into Australia
• Filing statistics out of Australia
• Sector growth

IP Australia’s Annual Report 2024

If you are an Australian business developing your brands for the Australian or overseas markets, the recently issued IP Australia annual report may be encouraging. It would be worth considering a filing and searching strategy if you are developing trade marks for Australia and foreign jurisdictions.

The report examines trends in trade mark filings into and out of Australia in the 2023 calendar year.

Australian trade mark filings were up from the previous year (as were design filings), reflecting an enthusiastic approach by businesses toward creating and investing in non-tangible assets.

There was a 51% increase in trade mark filings into Australia from China. Local resident filings were up by nearly 10%, which represented the majority of the trade mark filings in 2023. SMEs accounted for over 70% of resident filings in 2023. Not surprisingly, NSW and Victoria had the most filings.

Statistics for trade mark owners filing overseas from Australia showed that the main overseas destinations were the USA, New Zealand, China, UK and the EU.

Sectors with higher filings were broadly shown to be (i) technological/electrical apparatus (ii) advertising (iii) education/training (iv) scientific and technological and (v) clothing/footwear/headgear.

Categories with the highest level of growth in applications included (i) clothing/footwear/headgear (ii) food/drink/accommodation (iii) household and kitchen utensils (iv) pharmaceutical and veterinary preparations and (v) sporting goods/games/toys.

The trade mark chapter of IP Australia’s annual report can be viewed here: Chapter 4: Trade marks | IP Australia.

For a confidential discussion about your local or overseas branding strategy, please feel free to contact Dentons Australia.