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Viewpoint | Analysis of the EU Green Trademark Report (Excerpt)

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2021-12-30

Based on the investigation and analysis of the EU trademark (European Union Trade Mark,EUTM) commodity and service specifications applied for in the EU from 1996 to 2020, the EU Intellectual Property Office (European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO) issued the Green EU trade marks report (Green EU trade marks) in September 2021. We will apply for trademarks in fields such as "photovoltaic", "solar energy", "wind energy" and "material recycling, named" Green Trademark "). Through the analysis of the report, we try to find the law and development context of trademark application and enterprise and national development for readers' reference. Background of the release of the 1. report Climate change and other related environmental issues are of relevance to everyone, both inside and outside the EU, and are increasingly common and important in politics, business and public debate. In 2019, the European Commission made action on climate change a priority, committing to a European Green Deal with the goal of making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. In addition to investing significant financial resources, intellectual property rights are also an important consideration in achieving the goals of the European Commission. Creating new technologies, bringing new products and services to market and redesigning existing products to make them more sustainable is an important step in achieving the Green Deal goal. Traditionally, the role of intellectual property rights in environmental protection has been achieved through technological reform and innovation, and the number of patent applications is the main indicator of innovative activities in this field. However, through the analysis of the data on environmental protection and sustainable development in 2 million EU trademark (European Union Trade Mark,EUTM) applications accepted by the EU Intellectual Property Office from 1996 to 2020, as shown in Figure 1, it is not difficult to see that the number of green trademark applications is increasing significantly, and sustainable development has also received continuous attention from the majority of applicants. Figure 1 As shown in Figure 2, the same green EUTM applications from outside the EU are also increasing. The data shows that among these significant growth in green trademark applications, such applications from Chinese companies have increased significantly; other non-EU countries that have seen significant growth in green EUTM applications include South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom; and in the EU Among the member states, the countries with the most green EUTM applications are Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Figure 2 2. from a national or regional perspective We focus on the contribution of trademarks to the national or regional level. The study found that in modern economic development, the importance of trademarks has become increasingly prominent. The EUIPO and the EPO in their 2019 study on the contribution of industry-level intellectual property found that industries that use trademarks intensively account for 37% of EU economic output (as measured by GDP) and 22% of employment. Belderbos, Kazimierczak and Goedhuys(2021) studied the impact of the existing patent and trademark stock owned by established companies in various regions on the establishment of new companies, and found that to a certain extent, the behavior of existing companies applying for trademark protection and expanding their own trademark stock can encourage new companies to enter their to-be-developed areas. Now, let's look at the growing trend of green trademarks at the EU level. As shown in Figure 3, part of the overall growth is due to the strong growth of green EUTM applications from outside the EU. For most of the past two decades, the number of green applications from the EU has been much higher than the number of such applications from third countries. However, in 2020, the number of non-EU green applications has caught up (about 14%) and has slightly exceeded the number of applications from within the EU (about 10%). Figure 3 Figure 4 shows the distribution of green EUTM applications submitted in the nine major product groups over the last five years. The energy-related products category dominates, with energy production and energy conservation-related trademarks accounting for more than half (54%) of green EUTM applications. Among them, energy saving accounts for 42.9 per cent, which is the largest category, while energy storage products (mainly various batteries) account for 38 per cent of all green EUTM applications, which is the most important category, dominated by Chinese enterprises. The second category is pollution control, accounting for 18 per cent. Among them, water purification products account for 11%, mainly from China and South Korea. In other categories, energy production and transportation each account for 10%. In the energy production category, solar energy products stand out, accounting for nearly 5%. Products related to climate change and reuse/recycling each account for 6%. Products and environmental awareness (ecology and sustainability) related product categories, products and waste management related categories, and agricultural alternative product categories accounted for 2-3% each. As shown in Table 1 below, in the past 2015 to 2020, although green EUTM applications were mainly in large countries such as China (16356 pieces) and Germany (12003 pieces), some smaller countries also showed greater application efforts in specific professional fields, such as Denmark's wind and hydrogen energy automobile products, Poland's fertilizer substitution products, etc. The countries with the highest proportion of green EUTM applications in their total EUTM applications are South Korea (25.4 per cent) and China (22.6 per cent). Among them, the Cayman Islands and Turkey accounted for more than 20%, but the absolute numbers were low. These countries all focused on products related to electricity storage, while South Korea appeared more diversified in solar and hydrogen vehicles. Table 1 3. analysis from the perspective of enterprises Another interesting finding from the perspective of another dimension, the enterprise, is that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significantly active in the field of green EUTM. As shown in Table 2 below, for the large companies in this sample, green EUTM applications accounted for 12.7 per cent of total applications, which is not surprising; for SMEs, the percentage is slightly lower, but even the smallest companies in this group have a share of green EUTM applications of 9 per cent of their total applications, which is somewhat surprising. Similarly, large companies are far more active in patent filings than SMEs, but SMEs play an important role in bringing environmentally-related goods and services (G & S) to the EU market. While large companies are more active in filing green EUTM applications and are more likely to bundle trademarks with patents, with 12.7 per cent of EUTM applications filed in the 2015-2020 period falling into the green category, SMEs have also played a significant role, with about 10 per cent of their EUTM applications falling into the green category. In absolute numbers, SMEs submitted more Green EUTM than large companies during this period: 11554 and 8571, respectively. This highlights the role of SMEs in the EU economy, including in the green transition. Table 2 In the field of intellectual property, patents and trademarks have different meanings for the same company. The successful authorization of patents means that the company has developed new products or new production methods, while the approved registration of trademarks indicates that the company has provided new products in the market. Or service, which helps the company's corporate marketing, sales and consumers to identify the source of the product (or service). A trademark distinguishes a company's products (or services) from those of its competitors. The trademark application must contain the design of the trademark (usually text, graphic elements, or a combination of them) and the product (or service) designated by the trademark. In 1996, EUIPO's first year of operation, it received about 46700 EUTM applications, 1588 of which were green trademarks. Since then, except for 2001 and 2011 to 2014, the number of green trademark applications has continued to increase. In 2020, the number of green EU trademark applications is close to 16000. In a series of studies conducted jointly by EUIPO and the European Patent Office (EPO), the relationship between intellectual property ownership (including trademark ownership) and firm performance was analyzed. A EUIPO-EPO(2019) study of high-growth SMEs found that trademark applications are more correlated with the likelihood of subsequent growth, especially when combined with patent application activity, and the power of this IP combo is more powerful for subsequent growth. This is especially true for the protection of intellectual property rights (trademarks and patents) at the EU level. Similarly, EUIPO-EPO(2021) found that companies with patents, trademarks, or copyrights have higher per capita income and employ more people than companies without any of the three intellectual property rights. 4. research conclusion Through the study of the above two dimensions of countries (or regions) and enterprises, we can get a little simple conclusion. In the development of modern economy, intellectual property is playing a more and more important role. The importance of intellectual property rights in the traditional sense of trademarks and patents is not different from each other. From the perspective of the country or enterprise, patent rights may represent technological innovation and change, and trademark rights represent the direction of future development. Due to the long time of trademark application, the future development direction is often protected in advance by enterprises or related subjects in the form of pre-application (trademark reserve). Therefore, from the analysis of the number of trademark applications and the category of trademark applications over a long period of time, we can get the industrial layout of the country (region) or enterprises in the future. From the above research data, it can be seen that the green industry is getting more and more attention at the current national or enterprise level. Countries led by China and the United States are all planning, and far-sighted enterprises are making relevant layouts regardless of size. I hope our analysis can give readers some tips in the future development of enterprises. The English version of the full report is derived from: https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/reports/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks_FullR_en.pdf

Background of the release of the 1. report

Climate change and other related environmental issues are of relevance to everyone, both inside and outside the EU, and are increasingly common and important in politics, business and public debate. In 2019, the European Commission made action on climate change a priority, committing to a European Green Deal with the goal of making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

In addition to investing significant financial resources, intellectual property rights are also an important consideration in achieving the goals of the European Commission. Creating new technologies, bringing new products and services to market and redesigning existing products to make them more sustainable is an important step in achieving the Green Deal goal.

Traditionally, the role of intellectual property rights in environmental protection has been achieved through technological reform and innovation, and the number of patent applications is the main indicator of innovative activities in this field. However, through the analysis of the data on environmental protection and sustainable development in 2 million EU trademark (European Union Trade Mark,EUTM) applications accepted by the EU Intellectual Property Office from 1996 to 2020, as shown in Figure 1, it is not difficult to see that the number of green trademark applications is increasing significantly, and sustainable development has also received continuous attention from the majority of applicants.

Figure 1

As shown in Figure 2, the same green EUTM applications from outside the EU are also increasing. The data shows that among these significant growth in green trademark applications, such applications from Chinese companies have increased significantly; other non-EU countries that have seen significant growth in green EUTM applications include South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom; and in the EU Among the member states, the countries with the most green EUTM applications are Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Figure 2

2. from a national or regional perspective

We focus on the contribution of trademarks to the national or regional level. The study found that in modern economic development, the importance of trademarks has become increasingly prominent. The EUIPO and the EPO in their 2019 study on the contribution of industry-level intellectual property found that industries that use trademarks intensively account for 37% of EU economic output (as measured by GDP) and 22% of employment. Belderbos, Kazimierczak and Goedhuys(2021) studied the impact of the existing patent and trademark stock owned by established companies in various regions on the establishment of new companies, and found that to a certain extent, the behavior of existing companies applying for trademark protection and expanding their own trademark stock can encourage new companies to enter their to-be-developed areas.

Now, let's look at the growing trend of green trademarks at the EU level. As shown in Figure 3, part of the overall growth is due to the strong growth of green EUTM applications from outside the EU. For most of the past two decades, the number of green applications from the EU has been much higher than the number of such applications from third countries. However, in 2020, the number of non-EU green applications has caught up (about 14%) and has slightly exceeded the number of applications from within the EU (about 10%).

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows the distribution of green EUTM applications submitted in the nine major product groups over the last five years. The energy-related products category dominates, with energy production and energy conservation-related trademarks accounting for more than half (54%) of green EUTM applications. Among them, energy saving accounts for 42.9 per cent, which is the largest category, while energy storage products (mainly various batteries) account for 38 per cent of all green EUTM applications, which is the most important category, dominated by Chinese enterprises. The second category is pollution control, accounting for 18 per cent. Among them, water purification products account for 11%, mainly from China and South Korea. In other categories, energy production and transportation each account for 10%. In the energy production category, solar energy products stand out, accounting for nearly 5%. Products related to climate change and reuse/recycling each account for 6%. Products and environmental awareness (ecology and sustainability) related product categories, products and waste management related categories, and agricultural alternative product categories accounted for 2-3% each.

As shown in Table 1 below, in the past 2015 to 2020, although green EUTM applications were mainly in large countries such as China (16356 pieces) and Germany (12003 pieces), some smaller countries also showed greater application efforts in specific professional fields, such as Denmark's wind and hydrogen energy automobile products, Poland's fertilizer substitution products, etc. The countries with the highest proportion of green EUTM applications in their total EUTM applications are South Korea (25.4 per cent) and China (22.6 per cent). Among them, the Cayman Islands and Turkey accounted for more than 20%, but the absolute numbers were low. These countries all focused on products related to electricity storage, while South Korea appeared more diversified in solar and hydrogen vehicles.

Table 1

3. analysis from the perspective of enterprises

Another interesting finding from the perspective of another dimension, the enterprise, is that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significantly active in the field of green EUTM.

As shown in Table 2 below, for the large companies in this sample, green EUTM applications accounted for 12.7 per cent of total applications, which is not surprising; for SMEs, the percentage is slightly lower, but even the smallest companies in this group have a share of green EUTM applications of 9 per cent of their total applications, which is somewhat surprising. Similarly, large companies are far more active in patent filings than SMEs, but SMEs play an important role in bringing environmentally-related goods and services (G & S) to the EU market.

While large companies are more active in filing green EUTM applications and are more likely to bundle trademarks with patents, with 12.7 per cent of EUTM applications filed in the 2015-2020 period falling into the green category, SMEs have also played a significant role, with about 10 per cent of their EUTM applications falling into the green category. In absolute numbers, SMEs submitted more Green EUTM than large companies during this period: 11554 and 8571, respectively. This highlights the role of SMEs in the EU economy, including in the green transition.

Table 2

In the field of intellectual property, patents and trademarks have different meanings for the same company. The successful authorization of patents means that the company has developed new products or new production methods, while the approved registration of trademarks indicates that the company has provided new products in the market. Or service, which helps the company's corporate marketing, sales and consumers to identify the source of the product (or service). A trademark distinguishes a company's products (or services) from those of its competitors. The trademark application must contain the design of the trademark (usually text, graphic elements, or a combination of them) and the product (or service) designated by the trademark.

In 1996, EUIPO's first year of operation, it received about 46700 EUTM applications, 1588 of which were green trademarks. Since then, except for 2001 and 2011 to 2014, the number of green trademark applications has continued to increase. In 2020, the number of green EU trademark applications is close to 16000.

In a series of studies conducted jointly by EUIPO and the European Patent Office (EPO), the relationship between intellectual property ownership (including trademark ownership) and firm performance was analyzed. A EUIPO-EPO(2019) study of high-growth SMEs found that trademark applications are more correlated with the likelihood of subsequent growth, especially when combined with patent application activity, and the power of this IP combo is more powerful for subsequent growth. This is especially true for the protection of intellectual property rights (trademarks and patents) at the EU level. Similarly, EUIPO-EPO(2021) found that companies with patents, trademarks, or copyrights have higher per capita income and employ more people than companies without any of the three intellectual property rights.

4. research conclusion

Through the study of the above two dimensions of countries (or regions) and enterprises, we can get a little simple conclusion. In the development of modern economy, intellectual property is playing a more and more important role. The importance of intellectual property rights in the traditional sense of trademarks and patents is not different from each other. From the perspective of the country or enterprise, patent rights may represent technological innovation and change, and trademark rights represent the direction of future development. Due to the long time of trademark application, the future development direction is often protected in advance by enterprises or related subjects in the form of pre-application (trademark reserve). Therefore, from the analysis of the number of trademark applications and the category of trademark applications over a long period of time, we can get the industrial layout of the country (region) or enterprises in the future.

From the above research data, it can be seen that the green industry is getting more and more attention at the current national or enterprise level. Countries led by China and the United States are all planning, and far-sighted enterprises are making relevant layouts regardless of size. I hope our analysis can give readers some tips in the future development of enterprises.

The English version of the full report is derived from:

https:// euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/reports/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks/2021_Green_EU_trade_marks_FullR_en.pdf

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