(Geneva, 20 February 2013) The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced today a major expansion of its public database of trademark and brand information. The newest addition of six national collections of trademark records – including the entire United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) collection – takes the Global Brand Database from 2.2 to 10.9 million records, making it the world’s largest free, public trademark search facility.
“WIPO’s Global Brand Database is now the world’s number one free, public resource for searching trademarks and other brand-related information,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. He described WIPO’s public databases as central to the Organization’s wider efforts to create “an open, inter-connected and inclusive IP knowledge-sharing infrastructure, which makes it easy for anyone, anywhere, to access the wealth of information in the intellectual property system.”
Mr. Gurry welcomed the interest shown by many other IP offices in joining in the data-sharing project in the near future.
Simultaneous searches across twelve sources
The Global Brand Database streamlines trademark searches, allowing users to search simultaneously twelve data collections via a single, intuitive interface, rather than searching separately the trademark data of WIPO, the USPTO, Canada and other participating offices.
The unified database includes: WIPO’s own data collections of international trademarks registered under the Madrid System; as well as appellations of origin registered under the Lisbon System; and armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems as well as the names, abbreviations and emblems of intergovernmental organizations protected under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention. National data collections made available by the IP offices of Algeria, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Estonia, Morocco, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Powerful search features
The Global Brand Database boasts state-of-the-art search features that make it quick and easy for users to find what they are looking for. Key features include:
The Global Brand Database can be accessed from the WIPO GOLD portal, along with WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE technology database – which now contains over 18.6 million patent records – and WIPO’s other searchable data collections.
