Earlier this year the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered search technology that makes it faster and easier to establish the distinctiveness of a trademark in progress.
Earlier-generation image search tools primarily determine trademark image similarity by identifying shapes and colours in marks. WIPO’s new AI-based technology improves on this technology by using deep machine learning to identify combinations of concepts – such as an apple, an eagle, a tree, a crown, a car, a star – within an image to find similar marks that have previously been registered.
The new technology results in a narrower and more precise group of potentially similar marks, facilitating greater certainty in strategic planning for brand expansion into new markets. With fewer results to scrutinize, this also translates into labour-cost savings for trademark examiners, attorneys and paralegals, industry practitioners and researchers.
All users can access the AI search technology for free through WIPO’s Global Brand Database, where it has been fully integrated into the database search engine.
Original article published on WIPO press releases 01.04.2019 here
