Benefits of protecting your IP rights (IPR)

The analysis showed that less than 10% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have IPR protection, while almost 50% of larger companies have at least one type of IP right.

For a company like Chas. Hude, which has been advising on IPR for many, many years - since 1896 in fact - we are not surprised as this is the picture we see. It's also no surprise to us that only around 1.1% of SMEs have patent protection, while for larger companies it's 12.3%. The percentages are somewhat higher for trademark protection, which is often the first and often only focus of companies.

The analysis shows that companies with IPR have on average 23.8% higher revenue per employee than companies without IPR, and companies with patent rights have higher revenue per employee than companies with only trademarks or designs. Furthermore, salary levels are also higher in companies with IPR.

Although the results of the analysis are not clear-cut, as it is not investigated whether the companies with IPR are already in industries with higher turnover per employee and higher salary levels, the analysis unsurprisingly shows that it is important to focus on IPR protection, especially from an economic perspective.

A summary of the analyses can be read here.