Official Statistics

Facts and figures: patent, trade mark, design and hearing data: 2019

Updated 2 June 2020

Main points

Subject	Comments
Applications to the IPO	The number of patent applications to the IPO has decreased between 2018 and 2019, by 8%, while trade mark applications have increased by 12.9%. Following a growth of 304% between 2015 and 2018, designs applications are now levelling off, decreasing 2.4% between 2018 and 2019.
Registering rights	A record number of trade marks were registered in 2019, increasing 16.7% from 2018.
Application origins	Across all intellectual property rights, the highest number of non-UK applications came from the USA, with China taking second place.
Hearings	A total of 4,117 oppositions were filed in relation to trade marks in 2019, forming the majority of disputes dealt with by the Intellectual Property Office.

Table 1: Summary of all registered rights United Kingdom, 2011 to 2019

Intellectual Property Right	Type	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Patents	Applications	22,256	23,229	22,936	23,040	22,801	22,055	22,072	20,931	19,250
Patents	Publications	10,043	10,653	11,021	12,227	11,939	12,065	11,768	12,061	11,125
Patents	Grants	7,173	6,864	5,235	4,986	5,464	5,602	6,311	5,982	5,948
Trade Marks	Applications	41,044	43,873	50,331	54,498	58,627	65,710	83,984	95,203	107,527
Trade Marks	Registrations	33,172	36,755	43,548	45,123	50,079	54,222	70,362	81,556	95,162
Designs	Applications	4,730	5,231	5,210	5,084	6,472	10,030	19,269	26,164	25,545
Designs	Registrations	3,423	5,144	4,671	4,901	5,690	8,481	17,195	24,425	24,426

Source: Intellectual Property Office.

Notes:

1. Patents filed directly at the IPO and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications.
   

2. Domestic trade mark applications and International Registrations (excluding additional classes).

Things you need to know about this release

The statistics in this release are intended to provide factual information relating to the annual business activity of the IPO.

Intellectual property (IP) statistics should not be used alone to describe the level of innovation in the UK, or as a measure of inventorship. If you have questions about using our data, or wish to do so for research purposes, please contact us at statistics@ipo.gov.uk and we will be happy to assist you.

The IPO has published detailed guides relating to the use of patent and trade mark data which can be found on our website ^{[footnote 1]}; ^{[footnote 2]}.

For patents, trade marks, and designs, snapshots of administrative databases for the calendar year 2019 were taken in March 2020. The data covers various aspects of IPO business. Data relating to hearings activity are provided directly by the relevant teams within the IPO.

The data snapshot for 2018 was captured in April 2019.

Further information relating to the data in this release can be found in Technical information. More general information relating to patents, trade marks, and designs can be found in the Annex sheets of the data download which accompanies this report.

Intellectual property protection in the UK can also be obtained from the European Patent Office (EPO) and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Statistics relating to the EPO and the EUIPO are not covered in this publication and as such, the statistics in this publication do not represent all intellectual property activity in the UK.

We are seeking feedback

We are always looking to improve our release for these statistics and datasets. Feedback on this release is welcomed at statistics@ipo.gov.uk

Patents

Between 2018 and 2019, the number of patent applications to the IPO decreased by 8.0%. While the number of patent applications has generally decreased in recent years, the more notable drop in 2018 may be partially attributed to a number of factors, including a change in the application fee structure which was designed to discourage trivial applications^{[footnote 3]}; Further research is required to determine the reasons behind the trend.

The number of patents published decreased 7.8% from 2018 to 2019 and the number of patents granted decreased by 0.6% from 2018 to 2019.

Figure 1: Patent applications have gradually decreased.

Total patent applications, publications and grants, 2011 to 2019

Source: Intellectual Property Office.

Notes:

1. Patents filed directly at the IPO and PCT applications.

The majority of applications to the IPO are from UK-based applicants. In 2019 there were 12,002 domestic applications, representing 62% of the all applications received. The highest number of non-UK based applications came from the USA (2,151), China (775), and Japan (563).

The Green Channel for patent applications was introduced in 2009 and allows applicants to request accelerated processing of their patent application if the invention has an environmental benefit. The IPO received 286 applications through the Green Channel in 2019, down from a record 382 in 2017.

Trade Marks

In 2019, the IPO received a record 107,527 trade mark applications, a 12.9% increase from 2018. Both the number of applications and trade marks registered have increased year-on-year since 2011.

Figure 2: Trade mark applications and registrations continue to increase.

Total trade mark applications and registrations, 2011 to 2019

Source: Intellectual Property Office.

Notes:

1. Domestic trade mark applications and International Registrations (excluding additional classes)

There were 68,687 domestic trade mark applications from UK-based applications to the IPO in 2019 and 21,764 domestic applications from non-UK-based applicants. In addition, there were 17,076 trade mark applications through the International Registration (IR) route. The highest number of non-UK based applications (domestic and IR) came from China (15,182), the USA (11,020), and Germany (1,758).

Registered trade marks provide protection within different classes of goods and services. For example, in the UK, the word ‘Polo®’ is protected simultaneously by different applicants in relation to different goods: a type of mint, a clothing brand and a model of car. The total number of classes in all applications in 2019 was 223,684, an increase of 12.7% from 2018^{[footnote 4]}.

Designs

Design applications to the IPO have seen a dramatic increase since 2015, with the number of applications growing 304% between 2015 and 2018. The process of applying for registered design protection with the IPO has changed in recent years, with a new fee structure^{[footnote 5]} coming into force in October 2016 and an online application form going live in October 2017. These changes were intended to make the process more straightforward and cost-effective for applicants and are likely to have contributed to increased filing activity. Design applications have since levelled off, decreasing by 2.4% between 2018 and 2019.

Figure 3: Design applications and registrations are levelling off.

Total design applications and registrations, 2011 to 2019.

Source: Intellectual Property Office.

Most design applications to the IPO are from UK-based applicants; there were 21,510 in 2019, comprising 84.2% of total applications. Almost three quarters of applications from other countries in 2019 were from China and the USA alone (1,360 and 1,351 respectively).

Hearings

In addition to processing and examining applications for intellectual property rights, the IPO also facilitates the resolution of IP disputes through hearings and tribunals. The IPO’s facilitation of hearings means that cases can be processed faster and gives businesses a more affordable dispute option. Cases relating to trade marks make up the largest proportion of hearings activity at the IPO. There was a total of 4,117 oppositions filed in relation to trade marks in 2019 (including Fast Track oppositions) and 523 ex parte hearings taken to challenge examiners’ objections to trade marks.

Technical information

The statistics in this release are produced using administrative data from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), covering various aspects of IPO business. For patents, trade marks, and designs, snapshots of administrative databases for the calendar year 2019 were taken in March 2020 (the data snapshot for 2018 was captured in April 2019). Please note that data relating to designs refers to domestic applications only, and does not include international design applications designating protection in the UK. We are looking to include international designs statistics in future publications. Data relating to hearings activity are provided directly by the relevant teams within the IPO.

Administrative data at the IPO is generated through receipt of forms to the office, which can be filed online or in paper format. To compile statistics on the three registered intellectual property rights (patents, trade marks and designs), data is extracted from the relevant databases using SQL. The extraction of data is not performed immediately at the close of the calendar year but is delayed to allow for any necessary retrospective amendments to be made in the databases. This ensures that the statistics presented in this release have a higher level of accuracy.

It is important to note that the IPO’s data is collected for business purposes, not statistical purposes, and it is therefore subject to a number of limitations from a statistical perspective.

Subject	Comments
Name consistency	Applicants are free to write their name as they choose, which can lead to variation over multiple applications. For example, one individual may write “Limited” as part of the company name on whose behalf they are applying, while another individual may use the abbreviation “Ltd.” on a later application for the same company. We therefore use probabilistic matching to produce the “Top 50” and “Top 10” tables in this release, aiming to group all variations of a company name together.
Address consistency	Applicants are free to write their address as they choose, which can lead to variation over multiple applications in a similar manner to names (please see above). The address listed on application may not represent the location of where the IP was generated. For example, a patent for a product invented in one location may be filed under a company headquarters address in a completely different location (which could be in a different country). Address data on trade mark and design applications represents the current address the rights owner wishes to use for correspondence. This may not be the address that the application was originally filed under.
“Rejected” patent applications	The IPO does not formally issue decisions rejecting patent applications. Furthermore, we do not associate withdrawals or abandonment with specific decisions. Applications that do not become granted patents include applications which had outstanding objections at expiry of the compliance period, applications withdrawn, and applications abandoned.
IP timelines	The applications granted/registered in a given calendar year often refer to applications filed in a previous year. It is therefore not possible to use the number of applications filed in 2018 and the number of grants/registrations in 2018 to calculate the proportion of “successful” applications.
Applicants’ characteristics	It is not a requirement for applicants to provide information such as sex, ethnicity, or disability status in order to obtain intellectual property rights, and these questions are not asked on our forms. We cannot provide statistics on the diversity of applicants; however, the IPO has published research into the gender of patent applicants using name-gender inference[footnote 6];

More general information relating to patents, trade marks, and designs can be found in the Annex sheets of the data download which accompanies this report.

The IPO is responsible for copyright legislation in the UK but does not produce statistics on this intellectual property right. For further information, access the copyright page.

Further information

Release date: 27 May 2020.
Next release: Spring 2021.
Data used in this release: Intellectual Property Office administrative data.

Contact:

Responsible Statistician; Pauline Beck


Intellectual Property Office
Concept House
Cardiff Rd
South Wales
Newport
NP10 8QQ

Statistical enquiries; statistics@ipo.gov.uk

Media enquiries; mediarelations@ipo.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 303 4300

1. Patents guide ↩

2. Trade Mark guide ↩

3. Trivial filings occur when an application is filed, but the applicant does not request a search of their application ↩

4. Prior to 1994, applicants wishing to protect their trade mark in multiple classes needed to submit applications for each class, whereas it is now possible to specify multiple classes in a single application. ↩

5. Changes to registered design fees ↩

6. Gender profiles analysis of female inventorship ↩