Madrid, A Bit Chilly For China's International Trademark Filings

• China's international trademark filings under World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Madrid System for the Registration of Marks decreased from 1,585 in 2008 to 1,358 in 2009 (-14.3 percent).

• China is still the most designated country, with 14.766 in 2009, which was a drop of 17.2 percent from 17,829 in 2008.

• According to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC)'s statistics China's domestic trademark applications in 2008 were estimated to be around 800,000. See article ChinaIPR here.

• Novartis of Switzerland that was the largest filer in 2009 (136 international trademark applications) followed by Lidl (Germany), Henkel (Germany) and Zhejiang Medicine Company. How many this Chinese company filed WIPO did not say.

• China is both a member to the Madrid Agreement and Protocol.

Catherine Saez of Intellectual Property Watch wrote that WIPO's director general Francis Gurry said that the interest in China is not so much the infringement threat but the fact that China represents a massive market, and companies may face a lot of competitors.

Read more about the impact of the global financial crisis on the number of international trademark filings in 2009 here and Catherine Saez' article for Intellectual Property Watch, here.