Photo: Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria
The European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) has published the first edition of its EUIPN Trends Report 2025, which examines developments in intellectual property activities across Europe, Bulgaria’s Patent Office said. The analysis covers trademarks, industrial designs, patents, and plant variety rights, tracking trends in the context of economic and innovation developments within the European Union.
The report shows that despite a challenging economic environment in 2025, the European intellectual property system demonstrated resilience and strong activity. Trademark applications filed within the EUIPN increased by 12.9% compared with the previous year, reaching approximately 1.6 million classes under the Nice Classification. According to the report, this represents one of the strongest growth rates among the world's leading intellectual property systems.
Particularly noteworthy is that national intellectual property offices made the largest contribution to this growth. In 2025, applications for national trademarks increased by 13.4% compared with the previous year, while applications for European Union trademarks rose by 11.8%. The findings confirm the key role of national offices as the primary gateway to the industrial property protection system and as an important source of support for businesses and innovation.
The report also notes that national registrations account for around 70% of all trademark applications filed within the EUIPN, underscoring the importance of national industrial property protection systems and their complementary role alongside the European Union trademark system.
Among the report's highlights is the presence of Bulgarian companies among the active users of the European intellectual property system. The analysis states that applicants from France and Bulgaria together account for nearly 25% of all trademark applications submitted by the group of leading applicants, underscoring the strong presence of Bulgarian companies within the European intellectual property protection system.
In the field of industrial designs, Bulgaria stands out for its high level of activity in packaging and containers (Locarno Class 09), which account for approximately one-quarter of all industrial design applications filed in the country.
At the same time, Bulgaria is among the countries where the share of trademark applications related to services remained stable during the 2018-2024 period, indicating a consistent pattern of filing activity and sustained use of the trademark protection system.
According to the report's conclusions, intellectual property continues to be an important tool for promoting innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth. The findings show that businesses across Europe are making increasingly active use of trademarks, industrial designs, and patents to strengthen their market presence, protect innovation, and create added value.