The first EVER image search for design patents
From the moment we created the world’s first visual search for trademarks we’ve heard time and time again the plea, “what about designs?”. Logo’s are one thing, but if we wanted to conquer the design space, which can be anything from a tyre, children’s toy or a piece of furniture. The complex pictures from photos to sketches with varying quality have baffled attorneys and creators for years.
Today, in partnership with the EUIPO, we answer your call!
As one of the most visual of all IP rights, industrial designs has always been a problem we’ve wanted to solve. The complexity set a challenge, but it was a perfect case for our image recognition and artificial intelligence to bring simplicity to millions around the world.
So, how BIG is the problem?
The EUIPO register close to 85,000 designs a year. Before today, if you wanted to register your rubber ducky design and protect it in the EU you would have sift through an outdated coding system, which like trademarks, is subjective and time consuming. The categories are broad and attorneys spend countless hours flicking through registrations eye-balling for similarities. The industry needed help.
How does our solution work?
Now that you can imagine the frustration users are facing, you can probably imagine the wide variety of designs as well. Applications could be anything from a series of photos, a line drawing or even a scribble on a napkin. We have tailored our computer vision and machine learning algorithms to overcome these challenges and offered a solution that integrates into a search system like it is in eSearch.
What’s next?
TrademarkVision is changing the landscape of visual brand protection. With trademarks and designs now able to be visually searched, brand owners will have more comfort and security than ever before. We will continue to work with other IP offices to bring this technology to all corners of the world and harmonise the IP industry. We thank leaders like the EUIPO for being such innovative partners to make this happen.
We have also begun working in the brand licensing space and will continue our journey across other segments of brand protection to solve all visual search problems.
Visit TrademarkVision’s LinkedIn to share the news!
