At the turn of the 21st century, less than 7% of the world was connected to the Internet;1 Google was a fledging technology company, only launching its self-service online advertising program, Adwords in the fall of 2000;2 and online advertising was still a nascent industry. Today, we live in the digital, hyper-connected age, where almost 60% of the global population are active Internet users3 – technology has undoubtedly transformed business, government and society.
In this paper, we look at what the latest developments in the virtual world mean for brand creation and protection. We also examine how global trademark activity fared in 2021, what are the notable trends in key countries and regions, and the likely direction of future activity – and how IP, brand and trademark professionals can harness IP insight to inform strategic business and brand decisions.