International · NZ
Trademark refusal rate in New Zealand: Madrid System filings
69,945 international registrations on record designate New Zealand. Among the 19,303 designations registered 2019–2022 (the resolved cohort we measure outcomes on), 37.4% received a provisional refusal, 366 (1.9%) are still refused outright, 75 partially, and 18,328 (94.9%) 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 New Zealand compared with 60+ other offices: where U.S. trademark owners get refused abroad.
48% of the registrations designating New Zealand 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 New Zealand
| Class | Goods / services | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| Class 9 | Computers & Electronics | 20,845 |
| Class 35 | Advertising & Business | 12,947 |
| Class 42 | Computer & Scientific | 12,455 |
| Class 5 | Pharmaceuticals | 9,161 |
| Class 41 | Education & Entertainment | 8,648 |
| Class 25 | Clothing | 7,902 |
| Class 3 | Cosmetics & Cleaning | 7,564 |
| Class 7 | Machinery | 4,950 |
| Class 12 | Vehicles | 4,711 |
| Class 16 | Paper Goods | 4,607 |
Who files into New Zealand
Office of origin of the registrations designating New Zealand, where the filers are based.
| Office of origin | Registrations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States (US) | 15,038 | 21.5% |
| European Union (EM) | 9,387 | 13.4% |
| China (CN) | 8,060 | 11.5% |
| Australia (AU) | 5,864 | 8.4% |
| United Kingdom (GB) | 5,351 | 7.7% |
| Switzerland (CH) | 3,616 | 5.2% |
| France (FR) | 3,412 | 4.9% |
| Germany (DE) | 3,265 | 4.7% |
International registrations designating New Zealand, 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 | 3,887 | |
| 2018 | 4,067 | |
| 2019 | 4,361 | |
| 2020 | 4,435 | |
| 2021 | 5,000 | |
| 2022 | 5,507 | |
| 2023 | 6,730 | |
| 2024 | 7,952 | |
| 2025 | 7,826 | |
| 2026 | 4,142 |
Planning to designate New Zealand? 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.