Trade Mark Filings at Record Highs: Why brand protection strategy matters more than ever
With nearly 86,000 applications filed in 2024 alone, the register is filling fast...
The Australian IP Report 2025 confirms what many brand owners are beginning to feel on the ground: competition for trademark territory has never been more intense. With nearly 86,000 applications filed in 2024 alone, the register is filling fast. For Australian businesses, that means the window to secure your brand is narrower than it has ever been.
In this article, we unpack the latest data, explain what is driving the surge in filings, and set out what a smart brand protection strategy looks like in 2025 and beyond.
What the Data Tells Us
The Australian IP Report 2025, published by IP Australia, provides the most comprehensive snapshot of intellectual property activity in the country. The trade mark numbers are striking.
In 2024, 85,945 trade mark applications were received by IP Australia, a 2.8% increase from 2023. The total for 2024 is exceeded only by the record filing volume in 2021. Registrations grew even faster, increasing by 6.6% to 66,981 in total, correcting from a slight decline in 2023, and remaining elevated above pre-pandemic levels.
Direct filings to IP Australia increased for the second consecutive year, up 5.5% to 69,525, the highest level of direct filings on record. More businesses than ever are going directly to IP Australia, rather than routing applications through the international Madrid system.
Perhaps most significant for Australian brand owners is the international dimension. China has overtaken the United States to become the leading overseas origin for trade mark filings in Australia. Trade mark applications naming Chinese residents nearly doubled in 2024, increasing by 45.4% on their 2023 level.
More than half of new trade mark applications, described by IP Australia as a leading indicator of economic growth, were made by Australian residents. The number of Australian small and medium enterprises that hold a trade mark also increased by 12,000 to over 188,000 in 2024.
What Is Driving the Surge?
The record filing volumes are not happening in a vacuum. Several intersecting trends are compressing the available space on the register and raising the stakes for businesses that delay filing.
The key drivers
Every application filed by a competitor, a foreign e-commerce brand, or an opportunistic filer is a potential conflict with your mark. The more crowded the register becomes, the harder it is to find clear space for new marks, and the more likely that a mark you have been building for years will face a challenge from someone who filed first.
Delay is no longer a neutral decision. It is a risk.
Why Brand Protection Strategy Matters More Than Ever
In a less contested environment, many businesses could get away with registering a mark when it was convenient, often after launch, sometimes years into trading. That approach is increasingly dangerous in 2025.
With nearly 86,000 applications filed annually and international brands aggressively staking out territory on the Australian register, a reactive approach to brand protection leaves your business exposed in several ways.
The risks of delay
- Someone else files first. Australia operates on a first-to-file system. If a competitor, or a foreign brand entering the market, files for a mark similar to yours before you do, they may have priority over your right to use it - even if you have been trading under that name for years.
- Your application faces more conflicts. The more applications on the register, the harder it becomes for a new application to pass examination without conflicting with an earlier mark. Marks that might have sailed through registration five years ago are now far more likely to attract objections.
- You may be building on borrowed ground. If you are investing in brand equity, marketing, and customer relationships under an unregistered name, you are doing so without any guarantee that you have the right to keep using it.
- Opposition risk increases. As the register fills, so do the number of parties monitoring it for conflicting applications. The window between filing and registration is a period of real vulnerability.
What a Smart Brand Protection Strategy Looks Like in 2025
Reacting to problems after they arise is the most expensive form of brand management. A proactive strategy, built around registration, monitoring, and ongoing review, is both more effective and more cost-efficient.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
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1
Search before you commit Before investing in a name, logo, or brand campaign, conduct comprehensive searches across the IP Australia register, common law uses, business names, and domain names. This is the single most valuable step you can take and the one most businesses skip.
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File early - ideally before launch The best time to file is before your brand enters the public domain. Filing establishes your priority date from the moment of application, not from registration. Waiting until after launch means every week of trading without a filed application is a week of unnecessary risk.
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Cover the right classes Registration in the wrong classes, or too few, leaves gaps that competitors can exploit. With international brands increasingly filing across multiple adjacent classes, strategic class selection is more important than ever. Protect where you trade today and where you plan to grow.
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Register both your name and your logo A word mark and a device (logo) mark provide different and complementary layers of protection. A word mark covers the name regardless of how it is presented. A device mark covers the specific visual combination. Many brands need both.
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Monitor the register continuously Registration is not a one-time event. New applications are filed every day that could conflict with your mark. Monitoring the register means you can act quickly - filing an opposition, sending a letter, or negotiating - before a competing mark becomes registered and your options narrow.
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Think internationally if you trade internationally With Chinese brands filing aggressively in Australia, and Australian businesses expanding into markets like New Zealand, the US, and the UK, a domestic registration alone may not be sufficient. The Madrid Protocol provides a streamlined route to protection in multiple countries from a single application.
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7
Renew on time, every time A registered trade mark in Australia lasts 10 years, but it must be renewed to remain in force. A lapsed mark loses its registered status, meaning all the legal protection you have built up disappears. A missed renewal can also open the door for someone else to file for your name.
The Business Case for Trade Mark Registration
Beyond the defensive argument, the data makes a compelling commercial case for trade mark registration.
After filing for a trade mark, Australian businesses employ 7% more people on average, and spend 5% more on R&D compared to firms with no trade marks. These are not coincidental correlations. Businesses that protect their IP are businesses that invest in growth, and the protection creates the confidence to do so.
When businesses launch new products, each additional trade mark is linked to an 8% revenue increase per employee above the revenue generated by the launch. A trade mark is not just a legal instrument - it is a commercial multiplier.
IP rights are a versatile set of tools that can help buffer against uncertainty and increase business resilience to shocks. International studies suggest that businesses can use IP rights as a store of value when facing uncertainty, since when IP rights can be licensed or sold, businesses can later recoup their investments in knowledge.
A registered trade mark is a form of property. It can be licensed to generate royalty income, used as security for lending, and sold as part of a business transaction. In an increasingly competitive market, it is also one of the clearest signals to investors, acquirers, and partners that your brand is professionally managed and legally secure.
What to Do Now
If you are an Australian business owner who has not yet registered your trade mark, the data is unambiguous: the register is more crowded than at almost any point in history, international competition for brand territory is intensifying, and the cost of delay is rising.
The good news is that registration, done correctly, is more accessible and straightforward than most business owners expect. The key word is "correctly." With nearly 86,000 applications being filed each year, the quality of your application - the searches conducted beforehand, the classes chosen, the descriptions drafted - matters more than ever.
IP Wealth® has been protecting Australian brands since 2004. We conduct comprehensive pre-filing searches, advise on strategic class coverage, draft your goods and services descriptions for maximum protection, and handle examination and any opposition proceedings that arise.
Our Trade Mark Hero monitoring system keeps watch over the register on your behalf, alerting you to new filings that could conflict with your mark - so you are never caught off guard by a competitor's application.
With filing volumes at near-record levels, now is exactly the right time to act. Book a free discovery session and find out what it takes to secure your brand in today's competitive landscape.
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This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Statistics cited are drawn from the Australian IP Report 2025, published by IP Australia. Please contact IP Wealth® for advice tailored to your situation.
