According to Patexia’s latest Trademark Intelligence Report, scheduled for release tomorrow, trademark application activity at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) saw significant growth in 2024, with foreign entities, especially from China, fueling the increase. The report covers trademark prosecution data from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2024. Over the five-year period, a total of 3,039,838 trademark applications were filed with the USPTO. This trend reflects an intensifying race for intellectual property protection in the global marketplace, as companies compete for brand recognition and legal coverage in a crowded commercial landscape.

As shown above, trademark filings before the USPTO showed strong year-over-year fluctuations during the past five years. Filings peaked in 2020 with 693,362 applications, followed by a slight decline of 1.31% in 2021 (684,275). A more significant drop occurred in 2022, with filings decreasing by 19.42% to 551,367, and a further 1.06% dip in 2023 brought the total to 545,543. In 2024, filings rebounded by 9.39%, reaching 596,791.

China’s Filing Rebound

In the full report, we conducted a dedicated analysis of trademark filings originating from China, revealing that the exceptionally high volume of filings in 2021 and 2022 was largely driven by Chinese applicants. The USPTO and various analyses note that much of this growth could be attributed to government-backed incentives and subsidies in China that encouraged trademark filings abroad, particularly in the United States. In response to concerns over the quality and authenticity of the applications, the USPTO introduced a series of reforms aimed specifically at reducing fraudulent or mass-produced filings from foreign entities, with a focus also on applications originating from China.

It appears that these efforts had a noticeable impact: filing activity from Chinese entities declined significantly in 2023 and 2024, contributing to the overall dip in trademark filings in those years. However, data from 2024 indicates that filings have once again increased, and China is once again leading the surge. This suggests a renewed wave of activity from Chinese applicants.

What This Means for Businesses, Law Firms, and Attorneys, and How the Report Can Help

The increase in trademark filings, particularly from foreign applicants, underscores the increasingly competitive and fast-moving trademark environment. For businesses, firms, and attorneys alike, understanding these shifts is not just informative, it’s essential to staying ahead.

For Corporations and Trademark Owners - The influx of trademark filings, especially from abroad, heightens the risk of brand conflicts and increases the urgency of timely protection. This report offers valuable insights into how your company compares to peers in terms of filing activity and success. It can also help you identify top-performing firms and attorneys for representation, while supporting a more strategic approach to renewals, cancellations, and overall trademark portfolio management.

For Law Firms - With growing foreign activity and heightened competition, law firms must adapt quickly to shifts in the trademark landscape. This report enables firms to benchmark their own performance, monitor lateral moves among top attorneys, and uncover emerging opportunities for client development, especially among international applicants in high-growth sectors like technology and e-commerce.

For Trademark Attorneys - Attorneys operating in today’s fast-paced IP environment can use this report to evaluate their performance relative to peers, track their career trajectory across firms, and identify potential firms for future opportunities. The data also offers a clearer picture of filing and registration trends, helping attorneys align their practice with the needs of an evolving client base.

About the Report

Patexia’s 2025 Trademark Intelligence Report offers a data-driven analysis of trademark prosecution activity over the past five years. It covers:

• Over 3.04 million trademark applications

• 220,061 companies, 23,104 law firms, and 31,618 attorneys

• Rankings of the top 2,000 most active and best-performing attorneys, firms, and companies

The report also includes comprehensive metrics, trends in filing, registration, abandonment, renewal, and cancellation, as well as foreign vs. domestic activity and lateral attorney moves.

Learn more about the report and download it here.