WIPO has released its latest global intellectual property report, with a focus on branding activities of organisations in the global marketplace. The report’s title is Brands: Reputation and Image in the Global Marketplace and provides new information about how global companies use their brands.
For legal practitioners, in-house counsel and employees working in the branding space, it is interesting to note that, according to the report:
Companies spent US$466 billion globally on branding in 2011.
Some other interesting points to note are that the demand for trade marks has quadrupled between 1985 and 2011, and this has led to a new problem of “trade mark cluttering” where the number of trade marks are is so high that there is very little left for new entrants into the marketplace to use.
Here at the Squire Sanders IP&T blog, we’re interested to know whether you’ve had problems with trade mark cluttering, and what your thoughts are on WIPO’s latest report. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
