Evolution of national Industrial Property applications in 2019 (provisional data)

Statistics are very important when making decisions and analyzing what has happened and to be able to foresee future actions. That is why we have made a summary of the data that we have for now of the year 2019, and that are still provisional.

The data reflected are those available to the SPTO at this time. The international data are those of which the SPTO has proof either because it has been designated as a Depository Office or because the Supranational Registration Offices offer them in open. That is why, at the international level, it would be necessary to add those international demands of the different IP modalities presented directly in those Offices by applicants of Spanish origin.

Trademarks

The applications for national trademarks filed in the year 2019, 50,686, have suffered a 3.1% decrease compared to the previous year, but continue to exceed the 50,000 barrier, reached in 2014.

Consulting public sources of the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), on its statistical data, the presentation of European Union marks by applicants of Spanish origin continues to grow, following the upward trend of recent years. In 2019, 10,705 applications were filed compared to 10,349 the previous year, representing an increase of 3.4%.

In view of the above data, we can affirm that the presentation of brands as a whole by applicants of Spanish origin has decreased by 2% during 2019. We can see that in 2019 3.4% more than applicants of origin Spanish have sought the protection of their trademarks in the European Union to obtain an international law that covers all EU Member States.

The Autonomous Communities that lead the presentation of applications for national brands are Madrid (11,838), followed by Catalonia (8,305), Andalusia (7,186) and Comunidad Valenciana (5,193).

Tradenames

The commercial names have suffered a decrease, like the trademarks, with respect to the previous year, of 5% but in absolute terms they reach 11,616 applications. In 2018 and in this 2019 alone, 10,000 applications have been exceeded.

Madrid (2,649) is the Autonomous Community at the top of the ranking of submission of applications followed by Andalusia (1,950), Catalonia (1,661) and Comunidad Valenciana (1,202).

Patents

The number of national patent applications in 2019 was 1,356 compared to 1,578 filed in 2018, representing a relative decrease of 14.1%.

The number of European patent applications of Spanish origin filed with the SPTO has been 1,251 applications in 2019 compared to 1,032 filed in 2018. This represents an increase of 21% in relative terms.

In addition, as regards the PCT international applications presented in the SPTO, the total number amounts to 959 applications in 2019, increasing by 3% compared to the year 2018, in which 931 applications were submitted. These data contrast with those of the previous year in which PCT applications decreased by 8%.

The evolution of the presentation of patent applications at European and international level denotes a commitment by Spanish applicants towards the internationalization of their business activities. Overall, patent applications, both national, European or international of Spanish origin have experienced a slight increase compared to the previous year.

In view of the above data we can conclude that the applicant for patents of Spanish origin is tending to the international protection of his inventions instead of wanting a registration valid only in the national territory.

It should be noted that 98% of European patent applications and 92% of international applications via PCT filed in the SPTO were made electronically. Thanks to the technical and dissemination efforts carried out by the Office, these percentages are increasing every year and are a reflection of the SPTO's commitment to being a “paperless” office.

By CC. AA, Madrid (278), Cataluña (202), Andalucía (182) and Comunidad Valenciana (180), are the regions in which more national patent applications have been filed. On the other hand, Castilla y León, Murcia, La Rioja Ceuta and Melilla and Extremadura have maintained or increased the number of applications, highlighting Extremadura that has gone from 9 to 15 applications (+ 66.6%)

Utility Models

The number of utility model requests submitted in 2019 has reached 2,731, experiencing a slight increase of 1.1% compared to the previous year in which 2,700 were submitted.

The CC AA that have used this type of protection the most have been Catalonia (449) Valencian Community (421), with an increase of 8% compared to 2018, Madrid (417) and Andalusia (369).

Industrial designs

Industrial design applications (files) have suffered a 6% decline, from 1,685 to 1,585. As for the number of designs (there can be up to 50 in each file) the decrease reaches 14%, from 18,346 to 15,768.

In relation to CC. AA., Again is Madrid, the region from which more national design applications have been submitted (332) ahead of Catalonia (273), Valencian Community (254) and Andalusia (186).

According to EUIPO public sources, the Community Design requests of Spanish origin have decreased by 7.4% from 3,653 designs in 2018 to 3,383 in this 2019.

As we have said before, all the data is provisional until the SPTO receives the statistical data of Spanish origin that is held by the Supranational IP Registry Offices and the data is cleared.

More information