The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched image search functionality on its Global Brand Database at this year’s INTA meeting. Users can drag and drop or upload an image into the tool, and search WIPO’s database based on the shape, colour, texture, or the composite makeup of that image.
Searching for similar devices is a notoriously difficult task. WIPO’s new tool should help to reduce the uncertainty associated with developing and registering new marks, in turn leading to a lower degree of risk for brand owners.
WIPO’s database includes trade mark information from the Madrid System, appellations of origin under the Lisbon System, national offices including the USA, Australia, Switzerland and Canada, and armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems and government departments. Unfortunately, information from the UK’s Intellectual Property Office is not yet on the WIPO database.
The new functionality supplements WIPO’s already extensive search functionality, which includes the ability to search by the source, origin, and application date of the registration.