Trade mark applications up 25 per cent in past year

Campbell Newell

Intellectual property specialist Marks & Clerk said that data from the Intellectual Property Office showed trade mark applications rose by 24.8 per cent last year to 3,417 and that registrations had gone up by 26 per cent to 2,883.

Scottish patent applications also increased, by 13.5 per cent to 855. In total, 157 Scottish patents were granted in 2017, a 21.7 per cent increase on the previous year.

Campbell Newell, a partner in Marks & Clerk’s Edinburgh office, said: “Scotland has always punched above its weight when it has come to producing ambitious entrepreneurs making their mark both nationally and internationally and our food and drink and tourism sectors are the envy of the world.

“These sectors have been carefully grown through hard work and innovation, however, and protecting this is crucial.

“The Scottish brewery sector has grown massively since 2010 thanks to an explosion in the popularity of craft beers with 115 breweries operating in 2018, compared to just 35 eight years ago.

“Likewise, there are now 128 malt and grain distilleries in Scotland, giving the country the largest concentration of whisky producers in the world, and buy local initiatives are reaping dividends.”