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The Australian IP Report 2025 – what’s happening with our trade marks?
IP Australia have been promoting their 2025 report on intellectual property filings – a mixture of data, headlines from research, and a few foundational messages to help a non-IP expert get the gist.
It’s 69 pages, and we’re grateful for it, but what insights does it offer someone working in the field? We're starting with Trade Marks, ‘a very good place to start’.
What do the numbers say? More trade marks were filed, again
- In 2024, the number of trade mark filings was surpassed only by the record level observed in 2021, showing an increase of 2.8% compared to their level in 2023.
- The growth in trade mark filings in 2024 was entirely attributed to non-residents, who filed 8.2% more trade marks in 2024 than 2023. As a result, non-resident filings reached their highest level on record (37,363 in total).
- In 2024, Madrid filings in Australia fell for the third consecutive year, down 7.0% from their level in 2023 (to 16,420). 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.
- The last 2 years has seen a reversal in the long-term trend toward increased usage of the Madrid system to file trade marks in Australia. The share of new trade marks in Australia filed via the Madrid system fell has fallen below 20% for the first time since 2016.
Why might businesses be choosing direct filing into AU instead of the Madrid System?
- Is the Madrid System for the international protection of trade marks too slow?
- Are your odds of acceptance are higher if you filing direct to IP Australia?
You tell us, and we’ll follow up. We are strong advocates for users of the AU and NZ IP systems, and champions of robust, timely and effective IP rights.
What we wish the report included:
- The immediate acceptance rate – as a proportion of filings, how many are accepted (rather than receiving a report) as an outcome of the first examination?
- For those applications receiving a report, what’s the breakdown of objections? Are more applications (proportionately, or in real terms) being asked for evidence of use?
- Of those applications, how many are being accepted based on use? How many prima facie? And, how many are being abandoned?
- How do these numbers differ when comparing outcomes of applications filed directly through IP Australia with those filed via the Madrid System? Is this influencing some filers to choose one over the other?
IP Australia and WIPO promote both filing methods as simple, and cost-effective but if one is more likely to incur costs (of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars) to get the examination outcome your filing fee covered – maybe frequent filers are being more strategic than most.
Whatever the case, we’ve got you
If you’d like assistance turning a refusal into an acceptance with IP Australia, or you’d like some advice ahead of filing an application – speak to our experienced team.
Whether you’re concerned about registering an IP right, resolving a dispute, or creating an IP strategy to suit your timeline – we’ve got you covered, in Australia & New Zealand.
Tanya Carter - September 2025
Read the full Australian IP report here.
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