The national intellectual property agency has introduced world-leading trade mark image recognition technology to make it easier for Australia’s small businesses and entrepreneurs to protect their logos and brands.

The technology has been incorporated into IP Australia’s new Australian Trademark Search Tool to make the process of searching for similar logos simpler and faster for businesses.

The tool was launched by Assistant Minister for Innovation, Craig Laundy, who explained that in the past, businesses searching for similar trade marks had to undertake complex searches using written descriptions of a logo image. He said business can now use images to search IP Australia’s database of over 400,000 trade mark applications and have results returned in seconds.

The technology, developed by Queensland start-up TrademarkVision, uses multiple algorithms to detect objects within an image and make instantaneous comparisons across Australia’s entire trade mark database, returning any similar marks in seconds.

Patricia Kelly, Director General at IP Australia said the innovation would save businesses and individuals considerable time during the trade mark application process and increase confidence that their trade mark application would be successful.

“Australian Trade Mark Search will greatly enhance the experience of customers and improve results,” she said.

“The ability to find similar trade mark images is an essential part of the application process. We anticipate that providing an effective, easy-to-use search tool will lead to better quality trade mark applications that are more likely to succeed. This has benefits for IP Australia and our customers, especially small businesses and sole operators and even our professional attorney customers.”