Inside the filing behaviour of the world’s most valuable brands

• WTR analyses filing activity data of world’s 10 most valuable brands
• One-in-five Apple and Walmart marks are filed in-house
• China leading destination, but Apple outlier for filing 75% of marks via Madrid 

WTR has analysed IP Pilot filing data from the past five years to reveal the law firms responsible for protecting the world’s 10 most valuable brands: Amazon, Apple, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Microsoft, Samsung, TikTok and Walmart. In a Long Read released tomorrow, we will reveal the top 30 agents filing trademarks on behalf of each company. In advance of that analysis, it is important to examine their filing behaviour.

One-in-five Apple, Walmart marks filed in-house

Walmart and Apple have filed the biggest proportion of trademarks in-house over the past five years, the data reveals. Since 2019, around one-in-five Apple and Walmart marks (23.3% of Walmart’s filings and 18.3% of Apple’s filings) were applied for by their in-house teams. 

The Google in-house team has filed 200 Google marks in the past five years, but this is only 3.2% of its total filings; nine external agents have filed more trademarks on behalf of the company.

Other companies in the group outsource almost all their trademark prosecution work. Deutsche Telekom has only filed one trademark in-house in the past five years. Microsoft has filed an incredible 11,288 patents in-house since 2019, but only one trademark. And Facebook/Meta has filed 337 patents in-house, but no trademarks. 

China is leading destination for almost all companies

China is the number-one destination for trademark filings for eight of our 10 companies. Only Deutsche Telekom and Samsung differ, filing their highest proportion of trademarks at home (in Germany and South Korea, respectively). 

China-based ICBC has the most heavily China-weighted portfolio. Over 87% of its filings in the past five years were filed in China. The only other Chinese company in the group, TikTok/Douyin, follows suit, with 61.8% of filings in the past five years filed in its home country.

Almost a third (31.6%) of Walmart filings in the past five years were filed in China. As were a quarter (25%) of Amazon filings.

The figures below show how filing activity in the overall top three jurisdictions has fluctuated over the years.

Filing activity in top three jurisdictions by company – 2019-2023

Source: IP Pilot

75% of Apple filings use Madrid; Walmart, ICBC, Amazon, TikTok go direct

Apple files far more trademarks via the Madrid route than any other company analysed. With over 18,000 WIPO filings since 2019, three-quarters (75.5%) of Apple marks in the past five years have been international filings. 

Only two other companies have shown a preference for the Madrid System over direct filings, and in both cases, only by a small margin. Around 54% of Deutsche Telekom filings in the past five years were international. For Microsoft, the proportion was around 52%.

In contrast, Walmart has filed the smallest proportion of international applications; 98.5% of Walmart filings in the past five years have been filed directly. ICBC is similar, with 97.7% of filings going direct, followed by Amazon (96%) and TikTok/Douyin (94.4%). 

Direct versus international filings – 2019-2023 

Source: IP Pilot

Leading representatives

Unsurprisingly, the breakdown of agents filing these marks varies significantly by company. Tomorrow, we reveal those names to WTR subscribers.