The number of trademark protection applications filed through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) rose by 12.8 per cent last year.
According to WIPO, the rise means that applications are now at the same level they were prior to the recent global economic downturn.
WIPO’s director-general Francis Gurry said that the lull in 2009 was a direct result of the turmoil experienced in the world’s financial markets.
“International trademark activity has rebounded and has nearly recovered the ground lost in 2009,” Mr. Gurry said.
WIPO noted that South Korea and China saw the biggest rise in trademark protection applications — rising by 42% each.
Overall, 85 per cent of registrations were made by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Tobacco firm Philip Morris applied for the most trademark protections — submitting 137 applications in total.
Recently, WIPO held a global online piracy conference in Paris to address the increasingly global issue of trademark protection.