A new study released in February 2021 by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) shows that companies which own at least one patent, registered design or trade mark generate on average 20% higher revenues per employee than companies which do not own any of those intellectual property rights (IPRs). Moreover, these IPR-owning companies were found to be paying 19% higher wages on average than other companies.
The study, entitled Intellectual property rights and firm performance in the EU, confirms the strong, positive relationship between a company's ownership of different types of IPRs and its economic performance. In terms of individual IPRs, patent ownership, with 36% higher revenue per employee and 53% higher wages, shows the strongest link with a company's performance when compared with businesses that do not own any IPRs, followed by the ownership of registered designs (at 32% higher revenue and 30% higher wages) and trade marks (21% higher revenue and 17% higher wages).