WIPO and the CJEU have recently shared data on applications and cases filed during the year 2017.

International trade marks

Source: WIPO

According to information published by WIPO on 21 March, there were 56,200 trade mark applications via the Madrid System during 2017, an increase of 5% on 2016. The top five countries for applications were the US, Germany, China, France and the UK.

Applications from China grew by 36.3% while those from the Russian Federation increased by 23.9%. Austria, Italy and the Netherlands each saw a small drop in filings.

The biggest filers were L’Oréal, Richter Gedeon, ADP Gauselmann, Novartis and Abercrombie & Fitch Europe.

WIPO also published data on patent trends in the PCT and designs in the Hague System on 21 March. Read more here.

Cybersquatting cases

A record 3,074 UDRP cases were filed at WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center in 2017. Cases relating to new gTLDs accounted for more than 12% of the caseload, with registrations in .store, .site and .online the most commonly disputed. Meanwhile, ccTLD disputes accounted for about 17% of filings (WIPO is designated as a dispute resolution service by 76 ccTLD registries).

Source: WIPO

Three industries – banking and finance, fashion and internet and IT – accounted for nearly one-third of all cases. The country where most cases originated was the US, followed by France, the UK, Germany and Switzerland. The biggest filers were Philip Morris, Michelin, AB Electrolux, Andrey Ternovskiy (Chatroulette) and Sanofi.

Since the first UDRP case in 1999, WIPO has received more than 39,000 cases covering more than 73,000 domain names.

Read more in WIPO’s announcement.

CJEU trends

On 23 March, the Court of Justice of the EU published its judicial statistics for 2017. These cover all the cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court, not just IP cases.

In total 1,656 cases were brought before the two courts. This number comprises: 533 requests for a preliminary ruling before the CJEU; 14 actions at the CJEU for failure of a member state to fulfil obligations; 141 appeals before the CJEU; and 917 cases before the General Court.

The Court of Justice completed 699 cases in 2017, with 912 cases pending at year-end. The average duration of proceedings was 15.7 months (requests for a preliminary ruling) and 17.1 months (appeal proceedings).

At the General Court, 2017 was the first full year of the new organisation, with a number of new judges installed. It completed 895 cases during the year, an increase of 18.5% on 2016. The average duration of proceedings fell to 16.3 months (a reduction of 13%). However, there were 1,508 cases still pending at the end of the year.

Find out more by reading the CJEU announcement.