13 - Eye, Robot: Artificial Intelligence and Trade Mark Registers

Summary

The edifice of trade mark registration exists primarily to provide useful information. Registers tell us who owns what. They signal the existence of exclusive property rights associated with commercial signs, thereby allowing other traders to plan around that information. These signals exist in ever increasing numbers. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an estimated 9.11 million new trade mark applications were filed worldwide in 2017, while in the same year there were an estimated 43.2 million active trade mark registrations at 138 offices worldwide.² Until recently, it was axiomatic that registers for marks were directed at human readers – an applicant for a trade mark, trade mark registry examiners, vigilant competitors, employees of search and watching agencies as well as the occasional judge. This list now has a new entrant. What are the implications for the registered trade mark ecosystem, when algorithms begin to efficiently and comprehensively read trade mark registers?