In early January, the European Patent Office (EPO) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) released a new study investigating how European companies utilise intellectual property rights (IPRs) and how to identify the distinguishing features of IPR-owning firms compared to those that do not register such rights.

Key findings

The study found that firms holding IPRs, such as patents, trademarks, and designs significantly outperform companies without IPRs. For example, the study found that companies owning any IPRs were seen to have 23.79% higher revenue per employee when compared to companies without any IPRs.

More specifically, companies owning patents (28.70% higher revenue per employee) and designs (29.34% higher revenue per employee) where seen to have the highest increase in revenue per employee, whilst companies owning trademarks saw a slightly lower increase in revenue per employee (23.32% higher revenue per employee).

The study also found that employees of companies owning any IPRs had 22.07% higher wages per year. This was most significantly seen for employees of companies owning patents (43.26% higher wages) with employees of companies owning design rights (24.79% higher wages) and trademarks (20.9% higher wages) having a slightly lower increase in wages per year.

A further interesting finding of the study is that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) appear to particularly benefit from IPR ownership, as the study highlights that SMEs with IPRs generate 44% more revenue per employee than their non-IPR-holding counterparts. The difference is less significant at only 16% more revenue per employee for large companies.

The study also identifies sectors where IPR ownership is most prevalent. Notably, the information and communication sector leads, with 14.79% of companies owning IPRs. This is closely followed by manufacturing (14.21%), water supply and waste treatment (11.98%), professional, scientific and technical activities (10.68%), and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (10.6%). These findings suggest that IPRs play a crucial role across a diverse range of industries, contributing to economic growth and competitiveness.

Conclusions

The study highlights the importance of intellectual property rights in driving business success across Europe. By securing and managing IPRs, companies can enhance their market position, increase revenues, and offer better compensation to their employees.

As patent and trademark attorneys, we see the importance of business’ protecting their intellectual property to secure an advantage over their competitors. It is therefore reassuring to see studies such as this quantitively highlight the higher revenues and employee compensation that owning IPRs may bring.

Despite these benefits, protection of IPRs for SMEs still remains low with only 9% of SMEs owning IPRs and just 1% holding patents. Hopefully, studies like this help to highlight the value that investing in IPRs may provide for the long-term profitability and competitiveness of companies.

For more information on this study or for any other questions regarding to intellectual property rights, please contact one of our attorneys.