International Class 5, which includes pharmaceuticals, is one of the most active classes for trademark applications at the USPTO. This blog post looks at some interesting Class 5 filing trends (and interesting marks) for applications filed in the first quarter of 2017.

The Most Common Class 5 Products

What types of products are applicants filing for? Most applications appear to be for easy-to-produce, lightly-regulated products like supplements and vitamins. It makes sense that there would be more of these than development-intensive, highly regulated pharmaceuticals, but the degree to which applications for these goods predominated was surprising.

How are Applicants Filing?

Most applications are filed based on actual use, followed by intent-to-use claims. Foreign priority or registration claims and Madrid Protocol applications lagged well behind.

Where are Applicants Located?

Together, applications from twenty of the largest foreign filers of Class 5 applications amounted to only about 800 applications, or about 16% of all 2017 applications in Class 5. Canada and Switzerland led the way, with China, Japan, Germany, and the UK well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Some Fun Brand Names

Finding good pharmaceutical trademarks is tough work. There are a slew of pending applications and registrations, so clearance is tough, FDA name approval can be difficult, and marketing groups are torn between more suggestive names and completely coined marks. Here are a few of them we enjoyed.