South Africa - Trademark applications, total

The value for Trademark applications, total in South Africa was 37,371 as of 2019. As the graph below shows, over the past 39 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 38,362 in 2018 and a minimum value of 8,290 in 1983.

Definition: Trademark applications filed are applications to register a trademark with a national or regional Intellectual Property (IP) office. A trademark is a distinctive sign which identifies certain goods or services as those produced or provided by a specific person or enterprise. A trademark provides protection to the owner of the mark by ensuring the exclusive right to use it to identify goods or services, or to authorize another to use it in return for payment. The period of protection varies, but a trademark can be renewed indefinitely beyond the time limit on payment of additional fees.

Source: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Intellectual Property Indicators and www.wipo.int/econ_stat. The International Bureau of WIPO assumes no responsibility with respect to the transformation of these data.

See also:

Year Value
1980 8,582
1981 9,891
1982 10,008
1983 8,290
1984 9,206
1986 8,659
1987 10,583
1988 10,457
1989 9,661
1990 10,873
1991 10,600
1992 10,991
1993 14,179
1994 14,063
1995 17,087
1996 18,504
1997 20,336
1998 23,600
1999 23,938
2000 25,678
2001 21,901
2002 20,367
2003 22,768
2004 23,826
2005 27,835
2006 31,795
2007 35,001
2008 29,907
2009 26,621
2010 30,549
2011 33,484
2012 34,604
2013 36,070
2014 35,418
2015 36,920
2016 37,788
2017 37,718
2018 38,362
2019 37,371

Development Relevance: A trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services as those produced or provided by a specific person or enterprise. The holder of a registered trademark has the legal right to exclusive use of the mark in relation to the products or services for which it is registered. The owner can prevent unauthorized use of the trademark, or a confusingly similar mark, so as to prevent consumers and the public in general from being misled. Unlike patents, trademarks can be maintained indefinitely by paying renewal fees. The procedures for registering trademarks are governed by the rules and regulations of national and regional IP offices. Trademark rights are limited to the jurisdiction of the authority that registers the trademark. Trademarks can be registered by filing an application at the relevant national or regional office(s), or by filing an international application through the Madrid system. Many offices in middle- and low-income economies have considerably high numbers of trademark applications compared to other forms of IP, showing the emphasis placed on trademark rights in these markets.

Limitations and Exceptions: Detailed components of trademark filings are available at the World Bank at http://data.worldbank.org. Data includes applications filed by direct residents (domestic applicants filing directly at a given national or regional intellectual property [IP] office); direct nonresident (foreign applicants filing directly at a given national or regional IP office); aggregate direct (applicants not identified as direct resident or direct nonresident by the national or regional office); and Madrid (designations received by the national or regional IP office based on international applications filed via the World Intellectual Property Organization-administered Madrid System). Data are based on information supplied to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) by IP offices in annual surveys, supplemented by data in national IP office reports. Data may be missing for some offices or periods. Trademark registrations are exclusive rights, issued to an applicant by an IP office. For example, registrations are issued to applicants to make use of and exploit their trademark or industrial design for a limited period of time and can, in some cases, particularly in the case of trademarks, be renewed indefinitely.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: A trademark is a distinctive sign identifying goods or services as produced or provided by a specific person or enterprise. A trademark protects the owner of the mark by ensuring exclusive right to use it to identify goods or services or to authorize another to use it. The period of protection varies, but a trademark can be renewed indefinitely for an additional fee.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Infrastructure Indicators

Sub-Topic: Technology