China is flooding the USPTO with trademark applications

[Dana Dickson Law, 7-6-21, trademark lawyer, former USPTO worker, “Record-breaking backlog at the USPTO,” https://www.danadicksonlaw.com/post/record-breaking-backlog-at-the-uspto, 7-09-24, EP]

There are multiple reasons for this increase. The shocking December numbers can be explained, in part, by the fact that the USPTO had announced fee increases that would go into effect the following month. I saw that factor motivate a lot of people to file in December and avoid the higher fees. But one of the most important factors here is the surge in applications filed on behalf of China-based applicants. A few months ago, a USPTO IT specialist reported to the World Trademark Review that nearly 40% of the trademark applications filed with the USPTO in the fourth quarter of 2020 came from China-based applicants. In a Fortune article entitled “China is flooding the U.S. with trademark applications and no one is sure why,” the authors point out that as recently as 2010, China-based applicants filed only 1% of the trademark applications received by the USPTO. (For more details, click here.) So how did we go from 1% to nearly 40% in the span of a decade? The same article points out that some Chinese municipal governments pay locals to register trademarks in the U.S. – as much as $800 for applicants located in Shenzhen.