Asian industry is helping to drive innovation, the UN's intellectual property agency said on Sept. 15 after a recovery in global trademark applications this year.
International trademark applications "have gone up by about 11%, which takes them back to 2008 levels," said Francis Gurry, the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Trademark applications managed by WIPO recorded their biggest fall ever last year in the grip of the economic crisis, dropping by 16%to 35,195.
WIPO expects international patent applications to grow by about 2.8% in 2010, remaining well below peak 2008 levels after tailing off sharply last year.
Nonetheless, Asian countries, especially China, have accounted for a growing share of intellectual property requests in recent years, helping to stem the decline.
"The post crisis landscape will invariably look different form that of a decade ago," said Gurry.
"While the strength of the recovery remains uncertain, there will likely be a continuing geographic shift of innovative activity towards middle income countries, especially East Asia and India," he added.
Western firms led by those from Germany, France and the United States filed the most applications for trademark protection in 2009.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
