In March 2024, the Taiwan IP Office launches a new trademark search engine. As an AI-powered tool, this image-based system enables users to easily and quickly search for identical or similar trademarks by uploading an image. Taking avail of this system, the applicant may evaluate the potential risks of rejection to a new application due to confusing similarity to the senior trademarks. It is dedicated to helping users assess the success rate of applications for trademark registrations.

  In the new search system, the users are able to find out figurative marks that are pending applications, rejected applications, and registrations in Taiwan. With the launch of this facility, the TIPO is becoming one of the IP authorities equipped with image-to-image search capability after the EUIPO, the IP Australia, the IPOS, and WIPO Global Brand Database.

  TIPO stressed that this new public and free system has demonstrated high accuracy in identifying identical and highly similar trademarks after three years of development. Users can upload images and receive preliminary results across all classes. To better find similar trademarks in the database, when operating this system, the user is advised to specifically delineate the scope of the uploaded image before performing a search. Also, the TIPO calls upon trademark applicants to attach a copy of the search results produced from this AI-based tool along with the trademark applications to hopefully shorten the examination time.

  The IP Office will continue to collect feedback from users to further optimize the system and assist more companies in their strategic brand protection and trademark management. The system’s interface is currently shown in Chinese only.

  The traditional word-based trademark search system remains operational parallel to the new one.

Fig. 1: Interface of the search platform

Fig. 2: Search result example