Industrial Property Rights from January to July 2021

From January to July 2021, the granting of inventions recorded an increase of 46.5% (186) when compared to the same period in 2020 (127). These data include Patent, Utility Model, Supplementary Protection Certificate and International Patent applications, at national phase.

National applications for inventions registered a decrease of 29.4% (486) in the first seven months of the year, compared to the applications submitted in 2020 (688). This year, INPI received, on average 69 applications for inventions per month.

The number of International and European Patent applications filed at INPI, as Office Receptor, had a decrease of 52,8% (17) when compared to the same period of the previous year (36). Moreover, the number of European Patent Validations filed in Portugal decreased by 9% (2996) with regard to the same period of 2020 (3291).

Between January and July 2021, Trademark and other distinctive signs applications recorded a growth of 27.9% (15.733) when compared to 2020 (12.305). On average, in 2021, INPI received 2.248 applications for Trademark, Logotype, Collective Trademark and Certification or Guarantee Mark. The granting of Trademarks and other distinctive signs also increased when compared to the previous year, with a growth of 21.3% (11.946 versus 9.849).

Applications for European Union Trademark and International Trademark originating in Portugal also registered an increase of 26.5% (1.447) in the first seven months of 2021, compared to 2020 (1.144).

In accordance with the World Intellectual Property Organization data, as concerns International Trademark Designation for National Registration for International, there was a decrease of 7.7% (875) in relation to the same period of the previous year (948).

The number of Design applications had a decrease of 48.3% (742) in relation to the period between January and July 2020 (1.434). The number of granted Designs also decreased by 64.1%, when comparing the same period of 2021 (659) with 2020 (1.837). Nevertheless, the number registered in July (142) was the highest so far this year, in contrast to that registered last year, when there was the lowest number of Design grantings (69).

In accordance with the data provided by the European Union Intellectual Property Institute (EUIPO), there was also a decrease of 14.8% (432) on the number of applications for Community Design originating in Portugal, compared to the number of 2020 (507).

The increase in the number of grants and applications reflects the efforts engaged  by the Portuguese Institute for Industrial Property on accomplishing its mission, and reveals a growth in public awareness on the importance of the protection of rights and, therefore, of the Industrial Property itself.

Statistical data on Industrial Property Rights is available at the IP Observatory.