IP-backed financing could mobilise between €30 billion and €120 billion in new financing every year, according to a new report published by EUIPO.

This equates to between 150 billion and €580 billion in financing over 10 years, with a potential cumulative impact on EU GDP of between €70 billion and €750 billion (0.4% to 4.2% of EU GDP).

Five priority areas

The report says that addressing the IP-backed finance cycle requires coordinated action across five priority areas: make IP visible, assign credible value to IP, leverage IP value for lending, build the evidence base, and reinforce coordination among the various actors.

Measures that it proposes to improve access to bank financing, strengthen IP valuation and expand financing options include:

• Businesses should develop a strong IP portfolio and enhance their IP management and business planning capabilities before seeking financing.
• IP valuation needs to be reinforced so that IP can be assessed more accurately and with greater confidence by financial institutions. 
• The entire IP financing journey should be taken into account to build a more coherent, effective and scalable financing ecosystem.

The report finds that while the EU excels in research, entrepreneurial talent and generating innovative ideas, it lags behind in commercialising them.

In particular, IP rights have become central to the value of innovative firms, but remain largely underused as a source of financing.

According to the report, the EU-US GDP gap expanded from 17% in 2002 to 30% in 2022 and only four of the world’s top 50 technology companies are European. Between 2016 and 2025, Europe consistently saw more founders’ start-ups than the US, but the constraint was the ability to finance commercialization and scale-up.

Unlocking capital 

“Given that intellectual property assets now account for a growing share of corporate value, it is imperative to ensure an appropriate financial environment for the business sector, particularly for innovative SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups, so that they can bring their ideas and IP assets to market”, said EUIPO Executive Director João Negrão in a statement.

Nathalie Berger, Director for Competitiveness Coordination at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME, added: “Policy momentum is now building: initiatives such as the Competitiveness Compass, the post-Draghi agenda and the future European Competitiveness Fund all call for mechanisms to unlock capital for technology-driven companies. Europe must ensure its financial system better recognises the latent potential in IP assets and IP-backed finance can play a decisive role in this endeavour.”

You can find the full report, executive summary, country fiches, press release, Q&A and infographics on EUIPO’s website here.

There is still time to register for the 6^th IP Case Law Conference hosted by the EUIPO Boards of Appeal on 21 and 22 May this year.

The Conference, EUIPO’s flagship legal event, will be held in hybrid format at EUIPO in Alicante, Spain and online. The theme is ‘Growing through change’ and it will focus on trade mark, design, copyright and domain name jurisprudence.

This biennial conference is a forum for IP practitioners, judges, decision-makers, academics and in-house counsel to gain practical and strategic insights into European IP law.

The 2026 edition will bring together:

• Judges of the Court of Justice of the EU and the General Court
• Representatives of IP offices, including TM5 partners from China, Japan, Korea, and the US
• Leading practitioners, in-house counsel, and academics

Programme highlights include:

• Joint session on emerging EU trade mark case law (genuine use, distinctiveness, globalisation of signs)
• Session on designs post-EU law reform
• Practical insights on proof of use, evidential requirements, and territorial scope
• Comparative panel on iconic and reputed marks with Europe, Asia, and North America perspectives
• Judicial session on further appeals to the Court of Justice
• Fireside chat on AI in IP law and decision-making
• Sessions on registration vs. infringement, names, geographical indications, and other IP rights

A number of MARQUES members will be taking part in the Conference, including Chair of the MARQUES Council Claudia Pappas, who will speak in the session ‘Fireside chat on AI in IP law and decision-making’.

You can register via the conference website here: 6th IP Case Law Conference. The registration fee is €150.

The European Union trade mark (EUTM), formerly known as the Community trade mark (CTM), marks its 30^th anniversary today, 1 April 2026.

According to EUIPO, more than 3.2 million applications have been filed since the EUTM was launched.

In 1996, EUIPO received 43,229 applications. In 2025, the number of annual filings was 196,956.

The system reached 1 million applications in 2011, 2 million in 2019 and 3 million in 2024.

Of all filings, 56.8% are word marks and 42.6% are figurative marks. Other types of marks account for less than 1% of applications.

More statistics are available on this page on the EUIPO website.

MARQUES congratulates EUIPO, its leadership and staff on this anniversary.

MARQUES has played a key role in the development of the EUTM from its planning and creation onwards and has had permanent observer status on the EUIPO Management Board since 2008 and the Budget Committee since 2010.

Today, the MARQUES European Trade Mark Law and Practice Team takes part in many meetings and consultations with EUIPO, including user Group meetings and Virtual Communities to develop Common Practices.

Other MARQUES Teams, such as the Designs Team and the GI Team, also contribute significantly to the work of EUIPO in their respective areas.

MARQUES owns three EUTMs: one for the logo in colour, one for the logo in black and white and one for HOUSE MARQUES, the title of the MARQUES newsletter.

Image from EUIPO website

WIPO is conducting a survey to gather insights on whether Offices of designated Madrid System members should be required to issue a national or regional certificate when granting protection or renewing an international trademark registration – and what the practical advantages might be.

You can access the survey on WIPO’s website here. It is open until 24 April 2026. MARQUES encourages all members to respond.

The survey was requested at the 23^rd session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System in September 2025.

Chair of the MARQUES International Trade Mark Law and Practice Team Gavin Stenton (Penningtons Manches Cooper, UK) said:

MARQUES welcomes the proposal to provide registration and renewal certificates that are equivalent in all respects and aspects to those provided for national registrations, and to expedite the implementation of this change by allowing a short transitional period. MARQUES notes, however, that specifically for renewals, it is only the International Bureau that presently issues renewal certificates and not the IP Offices of the Contracting Parties.

MARQUES confirms that electronic registration and renewal certificates are of great value to its members, as they are easily and cost-effectively transmitted, stored and retrieved, but recognises that where a Contracting Party does not already provide national registration certificates in this format, it might not be possible, nor desirable, to treat International Registrations differently.

MARQUES would encourage Contracting Parties to consider, during the implementation period proposed by the International Bureau, whether electronic registration certificates could be provided and/or whether the foundation could be laid for this in any amended legislation or regulation required to implement the proposed change for International Registrations. Evidently, in order for this welcome proposal to succeed, it remains imperative that Grants of Protection (to which the proposed registration certificates would be attached) are being issued (without fail) by IP Offices of all Contracting Parties for all International Registrations.

A total of 1,878 cases were brought before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the General Court in 2025, according to statistics published by the Court. The two courts closed 1,898 cases during the year.

The number of cases pending before the courts was 2,489 down from 2,509 in 2024.

General Court trends

The General Court hears certain types of cases, including appeals from EUIPO relating to EUTMs and REUDs.

The total number of cases brought before the General Court increased by 26% to 989 – the highest number in its history. However, the number of IP cases fell 4% to 257.

The General Court closed 1,527 cases in 2025. Even if 404 essentially identical cases are counted as one case, the total closures of 1,124 represents an increase of 22% and the highest level in the history of the Court.

The CJEU said the actual duration of proceedings before the General Court is now 16 months, compared with18.5 months in 2024.

The data was published by the CJEU on 20 March and is available in all EU official languages.

Photo © European Union 2020

WIPO and the European Commission’s International IP SME Helpdesks are running a new series of webinars aimed at helping SMEs protect brands in key export markets.

The first webinar in the series will take place on 26 March at 10:00 Geneva time. It will be in English and will focus on protecting trade marks in China and the ASEAN region with the Madrid System.

WIPO says the webinar will provide:

• Market intelligence: An overview of the trademark landscape in China and South-East Asia
• Strategic essentials: Key considerations for protecting your trademark in the region
• Practical pathways: Main trademark registration routes available to businesses
• Smart solutions: How WIPO's Madrid System supports efficient trademark protection across multiple export markets.

Further webinars in this series will cover: regional deep dives on India and Latin America, an introduction to WIPO’s Madrid System for SMEs and how to protect designs internationally using the Hague System.

You can find out more and register for the webinar on WIPO’s website here.

About 200 MARQUES Council and Team members attended the Spring Team Meeting in Frankfurt last week.

During the dinner on Thursday evening, MARQUES members Claire Lehr (Edwin Coe LLP, UK) and Gabriele Engels (D Young & CO LLP, Germany) - pictured right - gave the annual Kay Uwe Jonas Memorial Lecture. Claire is Chair of the Programming Team and Gabriele is Chair of the Cyberspace Team, and both knew Kay Uwe, who died suddenly in 2012.

Claire and Gabriele paid tribute to Kay Uwe’s legacy and how his work influenced MARQUES as it is today, including through fostering young people, mentoring, and building an inclusive, collegiate community.

They added that today MARQUES is fulfilling Kay Uwe’s instincts of staying calm, acting professionally and remaining curious. “We are now the inspiration for future members,” they said.

Also during the dinner, MARQUES Chair Claudia Pappas presented the David Goldring Volunteer Award to three MARQUES members who have contributed to the association in many ways, notably by organising the German Judges Meeting every two years.

They are Till Lampel (Harmsen Utescher), Andreas Lubberger (Nordemann Czychowski & Partner Rechtsanwältinnen und Rechtsanwälte mbB) and Martin Viefhues (Jonas Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH).

Claudia described them as the “Three musketeers”. You can read a report of the 2025 German Judges Meeting in the November 2025 HouseMARQUES newsletter.

During the Spring Meeting, all the MARQUES Teams met and discussed current and future projects and representatives of each Team presented them to the whole Meeting. There was also a Council Meeting, Leadership Meeting of Team Chairs and a workshop on investigating with AI (see Class 46 report here).

The next Spring Team Meeting will be held in Barcelona, Spain in March 2027.

All photos taken by MARQUES staff