To trademark or not to trademark: The case of the creative and cultural industries

Research on the use of trademarks by innovating companies is growing. Yet, large research gaps exist in our understanding of the use of trademarks beyond manufacturing and beyond specific service sectors. This study focuses on the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) and argues that these industries represent a salient case to advance research on trademarks. After reviewing the main characteristics of CCIs, a conceptual framework is developed to classify motives to trademark and motives not to trademark for firms in these industries. The paper offers original empirical evidence on the relevance of these motives from survey results on a sample of 486 European firms in five selected CCIs. Results from principal component analysis are used to propose a taxonomy of firms with specific attitudes and strategies towards trademarking. All results are discussed in terms of their implications for using trademarks as the basis for novel economic indicators of product variety and innovation.