During recent years, the EUIPO, European Union Intellectual Property Office has published several studies highlighting the virtuous cycle between IP and economic performance, with a special focus on SMEs.
There is a new study that contributes to this narrative by examining the revenues that SMEs can derive from their EU Trade Marks by licensing them to other companies. The owner of an EUTM can use it to identify the goods or services produced, or it can grant permission to another company (licensee) to use the trade mark in exchange for an economic benefit. Trade mark licensing is thus one way to derive the economic benefit from the IPR.
The report values a firm’s stock of EUTMs based on observable characteristics of a sample of SMEs that own EUTMs and license them to others.
This survey addressed to SME owners of EUTMs reveals that 7.5 % of SMEs owning EUTMs licensed them to others during the period 2013-2017. Additionally, the annual average revenue from licensing EUTMs is estimated at EUR 64 924 per firm, equivalent to 5.7 % of the average turnover of European SMEs.
To read the full report please click here.