Index Reflects Trademark Development on The Right Track in China

The China Trademark and Brand Development Index 2021 (Index 2021), authored by the China Trademark Association (CTA) under the guidance of IP use and promotion department of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), assessed the quality of trademark and brand development of all provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) in 2020 and came to a conclusion, the general health of trademark and brand development in China is good.

Debuting in 2020, the index is the first indexing tool in the country quantifying overall quality and results of trademark and brand development by region. The 2021 version integrates the requirements under the IP plan covering the 14th Five-Year period, serving a compass for local governments to formulate their own policies and KPIs, guiding them to generate wealth from brands by taking advantage of trademarks and eventually uplifting their economy.

27 experts,42 quantified indexes

The key in drafting Index 2021 is to create indexes and their weights. In a bid to assess trademark and brand development stages of various regions in the country in an objective, authentic and effective fashion, the editors followed four principles, namely policy-oriented, scientific and normalized, systematic and tiered, objective and predictable with policy-oriented being the leading one.

Are there any changes compared with Index 2020? According to Qian Minghui, deputy dean of Renmin University's Information Resources Management School and executive editor of Index 2021, he and his colleagues deleted those indexes unable to reflect the high-caliber development of trademark and brand, introduce new indexes including degree of quality of trademark and brand use, degree of supply of trademark and brand representation service, degree of satisfaction on trademark and brand protection service. The old index structure and algorithms of some indexes were also tweaked. There are a total of 42 indexes in the eventual 2021 system, which is made up of 5 tier-one, 11 tier-two and 26 tier-three indexes.

Index 2021 boasts multiple qualities and distinctive identities. Qian said that Index 2021 uses clearly-defined, quantifiable, objective indexes. All the data is sourced from published data and big data, effectively ensuring assessment results to be objective, scientific, stable. The index system is state-of-the-art and scientific. The logic of the index structure is tight and self-consistent. The nexus among the indexes is consistent and relevant. All the assessment results can be interpreted and verified. The index design stays true to the running policies. The contents of all the indexes are rooted from the latest party decisions, which is convincing for guiding and supporting local governments' efforts in trademark and brand development.

Eight features,guidance from multiple angles

The assessment results of Index 2021 can be condensed into eight points for illustrating trademark and brand development in China. Eastern region scores high while central and western regions are trailing. Southern region is stronger than northern. The provinces' index rankings are consistent with their GDP rankings, proving there exists a positive correlation between trademark and brand development and social/economic development, and growth of trademark and brand value may boost local economy. The wealthiest provinces have a clear edge in using trademarks and brands while the quality of their trademarks and brands grows steadily. Potential of the trademarks and brands from central and western regions is getting bigger. Southern provinces have become more friendly for leveraging trademarks and brands. Gaps between provinces in gaining benefits from trademarks and brands are narrowed. Measures in promoting trademark and brand use among provinces fluctuate.

According to Xu Shengquan, a vice professor with Nanjing University of Science and Technology's IP School, Index 2021 offers guidance to local governments in trademark and brand work, supply data for them to constantly modify their work plan, help them stay on the right course and build up their unique local brands.

As the unit directly responsible for drafting Index 2021, CTA made it own contribution as a think tank. CTA Vice Secretary General Nan Ping said, with two years' practice and refinement, the assessment results of Index 2021 are highly consistent with economy development stages of the respective provinces, proving there exists a positive correlation between trademark and brand development and social/economic development, and Index 2021 can preliminarily quantify the quality and efficiency of trademark and brand development, and may play a bigger role in serving as a reference and compass for future work.

Source:China IP News