A major research study commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office has found that companies with trade marks are more productive, innovative and show higher employment and turnover than those without. Of the 6,500 trade marking companies in the sample, over half (57%) had only UK trade marks, while 16% had only CTMs and 27% had both. The study, “Trade Mark Incentives”, looked at company data for 2000-2006 drawn from the UK Office for National Statistics. It covered all large firms and a sample of smaller firms, with added data on both UK and Community Trade Marks (CTMs) and patents drawn from official records. While fewer than 3% of the 222,000 companies examined were found to have trade marks, the study showed that they were used in every sector of the UK economy, with manufacturing, wholesale/retail services, and business services the biggest users. The report authors found large firms were much more likely to trade mark (12.9%) than smaller firms, with micro firms the least likely (0.4%). Just 1.7% of small and 5.2% of medium-sized firms trade marked their products and services.