Register Tracker Latin America: January-April 2023

• Latest Register Tracker analysis uncovers growth in filings at Mexican and Brazilian trademark offices
• Meanwhile, filings decline significantly in Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela
• Latin American businesses continue to make comparatively little use of the Madrid System

Inbound filings at the Mexican and Brazilian trademark offices rose between 1 January and 30 April 2023, despite declining elsewhere in Latin America, WTR analysis uncovers.

According to Fovea IP’s data platform, the Mexican trademark office received 24.5% more filings in the first four months of 2023 than it did at the end of last year (1 September-31 December 2022). The Brazilian office also saw a rise in filings, although a much more modest 0.2%.

Meanwhile, filings fell across other major Latin American registers – namely, Colombia (-58.5%), Venezuela (-38.6%) and Argentina (-22.3%).

This marks a significant change from the previous period, when Mexico and Brazil both suffered a decline, of 25.8% and 13.3%, respectively, Argentina enjoyed a small (0.5%) rise in filings, Colombia saw a significant growth (+51.6%) and Venezuela suffered a more minor decline (-13.6%).

Table 1. Change in inbound filings

SOURCE: Fovea IP

As you might expect, the Brazilian office received the highest number of filings between 1 January and 30 April 2023, with 119,743 filings submitted in total. The Mexican office followed with 60,349, trailed by Argentina (32,839). The Colombian office received 7,605 filings and the Venezuelan office received just 752.

Top filers

As is typically seen globally, local applicants were the top filers at each national register studied.

In Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, domestic filers were responsible for the majority of applications submitted – 85%, 77% and 54%, respectively.

That said, with the exception of Mexican applicants – who filed 27% more filings at home this period than in the last – domestic filings declined across the board, by 64% in Colombia and 47% in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, US applicants continued their dominance as the second top filers in the region. Between 1 January and 30 April 2023, US applicants filed 4,212 applications in Mexico (7% of all filings in the country) 432 trademark applications in Colombia (roughly 5.7% of total filings), and 62 in Venezuela (8.2%).

Both Venezuela and Colombia saw a drop in foreign filings overall this trimester. Venezuela received roughly 25% fewer foreign filings, while Colombia saw roughly 15% fewer. The Mexican register, meanwhile, enjoyed a boost of 13%.

We are unable to provide a similar breakdown for Argentina and Brazil, due to a lack of detail in the available data.

Outbound filings

When it came to filings abroad, applicants from all three of the countries analysed submitted more applications locally than they did abroad.

Venezuelan businesses only filed 17.6%. of all their filings abroad. For Colombian businesses this figure was 14.4%. For Mexican businesses it was a mere 4.6%.

By comparison in North America and Europe, Canadian, German and UK businesses filed roughly 40%, 38% and 36% of all their trademark filings abroad. This ratio was less for US (29%) and French (21%) applicants, but nonetheless, still a greater proportion than that of the Latin American average.

Top filing destinations

When it came to filings abroad, the most popular foreign jurisdictions for Latin American applicants varied. However, these jurisdictions were predominately in South America.

Argentinian and Brazilian applicants favoured Paraguay, Colombian and Venezuelan applicants favoured Peru, and Mexican applicants favoured the United States. The second most popular filing destinations were Chile, Peru, the United States and Uruguay.

Compared to previous periods, Paraguay and Peru gained the most in popularity as a top foreign filing destination, while Argentina, Chile and Mexico declined in popularity.

Table 2. Top foreign filing destinations

SOURCE: Fovea IP

Use of the Madrid System

Turning to outbound filings via WIPO, it was Brazilian and Colombian applicants that most frequently used the Madrid System to submit applications abroad – filing 1.7% and 0.9% of foreign filings via this route, respectively. This figure was a smaller 0.4% for Mexican applicants, suggesting a strong preference across the region for direct applications at national level.

The United States was the most claimed country for WIPO filings and the top claimed country for both Brazilian and Colombian applicants. Canada was the top claimed country for Mexican applicants.

As Argentina and Venezuela are not yet signatories to the Madrid Protocol, neither Argentinian nor Venezuelan applicants used this route for their filings abroad. They filed all of their foreign filings to either national or regional registers.

Key takeaways

Overall, the findings from the beginning of 2023 differ considerably to those from the end of 2022. The most notable change is a growth in filings at the Mexican and Brazilian offices, where both saw a decline in the previous period (1 September-31 December 2022).

Filing levels at the Colombian office have also changed significantly in recent periods. Last period the office saw a roughly 52% growth in filings. This period it saw a nearly 60% decline.