International · AU
Trademark refusal rate in Australia: Madrid System filings
150,062 international registrations on record designate Australia. Among the 33,198 designations registered 2019–2022 (the resolved cohort we measure outcomes on), 30.8% received a provisional refusal, 122 (0.4%) are still refused outright, 49 partially, and 30,391 (91.5%) hold a grant of protection. That refusal rate is below the 4.4% median across the 60 most-designated offices.
How U.S. companies fare in Australia compared with 60+ other offices: where U.S. trademark owners get refused abroad.
48% of the registrations designating Australia also designate the United States. Those appear in USPTO data as well, so a USPTO clearance check catches them; the rest are invisible to a U.S.-only search.
Most-designated Nice classes in Australia
| Class | Goods / services | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| Class 9 | Computers & Electronics | 44,419 |
| Class 42 | Computer & Scientific | 28,000 |
| Class 35 | Advertising & Business | 25,306 |
| Class 5 | Pharmaceuticals | 17,964 |
| Class 41 | Education & Entertainment | 17,659 |
| Class 25 | Clothing | 16,256 |
| Class 3 | Cosmetics & Cleaning | 15,396 |
| Class 7 | Machinery | 12,150 |
| Class 10 | Medical Apparatus | 10,868 |
| Class 16 | Paper Goods | 9,910 |
Who files into Australia
Office of origin of the registrations designating Australia, where the filers are based.
| Office of origin | Registrations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States (US) | 33,955 | 22.6% |
| European Union (EM) | 23,498 | 15.7% |
| China (CN) | 12,609 | 8.4% |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 11,717 | 7.8% |
| Germany (DE) | 10,088 | 6.7% |
| France (FR) | 8,649 | 5.8% |
| Switzerland (CH) | 8,359 | 5.6% |
| Japan (JP) | 7,147 | 4.8% |
International registrations designating Australia, by registration year
Registrations on record by the year they were registered internationally. Our copy covers registrations with activity since July 2025, so older years reflect renewals and decisions, not original volume.
| Year | Registrations | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 7,162 | |
| 2018 | 6,918 | |
| 2019 | 7,509 | |
| 2020 | 7,543 | |
| 2021 | 8,388 | |
| 2022 | 9,758 | |
| 2023 | 12,923 | |
| 2024 | 15,569 | |
| 2025 | 15,756 | |
| 2026 | 8,610 |
Planning to designate Australia? Run your mark through the free clearance risk check. It searches the international register in your classes and shows where similar marks were refused. If your mark has a logo, screen it with logo similarity search.