Trade marks more valuable than patents, new US research suggests, with median value per ® of $20m

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While much of the value of 21st century companies comes from their intangible assets, the authors of this paper, The Value of Trade Marks, argue that valuing these assets, particularly trade marks, is a challenge – and one that they believe they have a solution to.

To address this issue, the researchers started by building a dataset linking 1.2 million trade marks, of which 764,641 (or 62%) are registered, to 21,456 unique listed US companied.  

They then measured the stock-market reaction (in terms of share price change) to the publication of the granting of individual registered trade marks, so allowing them to “quantify the dollar value of individual trade marks” by measuring the changes in share prices. 

They concluded that “trade marks have significant value. According to our estimates, the median trade mark is worth $19.8 million (in 2021 USD). Aggregating all annual trade marking activity by firm-year, we estimate that the annual firm-level trade mark output is worth $120.0 million, which corresponds to 3.7% of total assets, on average.” 

The paper on the research, titled “The Value of Trade Marks” is about to be published in the November 2026 issue of Journal of Financial Economics and can currently be viewed here. Authors are Pranav Desai, Ekaterina Gavrilova, Rui C. Silva, and Margarida Soares 

Previous research into the contribution of intangible assets to company performance has tended either to focus on patents or to value ‘brands’. The researchers note that valuing trade marks on their own has taken a back seat, due to the challenges in doing so.  

However, the report’s authors argue that “while patents are commonly used to protect innovative materials, product features, or production techniques, trade marks are better suited to protect brands, design elements of products and services, and novel business models. Since commercial success depends not only on technical dimensions of products, but also on marketing, design, and ingenious business models, studying trade marks is crucial for understanding the performance of modern corporations.” 

Additionally, “trade marks cover nearly all industries with a broad class of assets being trade markable. In contrast, other types of IP tend to be concentrated in a few industries.” 

Furthermore, “trade marks are valid while in use and are thereby closely linked to product commercialisation and product design. The absence of an expiration date for trade marks also allows firms to protect their intangible assets beyond what is possible with other forms of intellectual property.” 

The research also differentiates between products which are actually being used (in commerce), and those that have been filed as ‘intent to use’ marks. 

“In-commerce trade marks are associated with an increase in sales driven by higher prices and higher quantities sold, consistent with gains from product differentiation. In contrast, intent-to-use trade marks are associated with an increase in new products, but do not lead to increases in prices of existing products. The fact that both types of trade marks are associated with subsequent changes in firm and product dynamics suggests that our estimates of trade mark value capture both the reaction to the launches of new products and services (i.e., product innovation), and also the value of the legal protection conferred by those marks (i.e., product differentiation).” 

In their conclusion, the authors list key factors about the value of trade marks and why monitoring that value is important: 

• Trade mark use has increased exponentially in the last few decades.  

• Trade marks are used broadly in the US economy. “Most industries, including those where patenting is uncommon, feature intense trade marking activity.” 

• Trade marks can be very valuable. 

• Firms’ future performance is positively related to trade marking activity. “In the five years following the publication of a trade mark, firms experience increases in sales, profitability, production output, markups, market share, physical capital, and employment.” 

• Trade marking is an important element in the innovation process. “Following the publication of valuable trade marks, firms tend to increase the rate at which they introduce new products in the market.” 

• Firms which get new registered trade marks trade mark tend to subsequently increase their patenting activity, and vice-versa. 

• Trade marks appear to help firms differentiate their products and reduce consumer search costs by making goods and services more easily recognisable.