AU2013100482C4 - Automated Trade Mark Monitoring System - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for monitoring a trade marks register of a trade mark office is disclosed. The system is adapted to notify a user of the system of one or more conflicting marks for one or more monitored marks. The system includes a database of one or more monitored trade marks, a means of communicating with the register, a routine for generating a search algorithm for the or each monitored mark in the database, a module for applying the or each search algorithm to the register to detect conflicting marks for the or each monitored mark and a means of communicating with the user of the system regarding the detection of one or more conflicting marks. The means of communicating with the user is adapted to allow a user to designate whether to ignore or note a conflicting mark in the database.

Description

AUTOMATED TRADE MARK MONITORING SYSTEM TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to trade mark monitoring and, more particularly, to an automated trade mark monitoring system. BACKGROUND [0002] A trade mark is used to distinguish the goods and services of one trader from those of other traders. A trade mark register provides a public notice of a registrant's claim of ownership of a trade mark, a legal presumption of ownership nationwide and an exclusive right to use the trade mark on or in connection with the goods/services listed in the registration. Most developed countries in the world provide an online trade mark register. [0003] Applications are examined by a trade marks office. Applications are generally published on the register within a relatively short period of time, such as within one week of the filing date. However, it may take many months before an application is examined. The trade mark office may object to applications for trade marks which are identical or similar to prior trade marks covering identical or similar goods ('conflicting trade marks'). [0004] Applications which are accepted by the trade marks office are advertised in an official journal during an opposition period, which is generally three months in most countries. The journal is released on a weekly basis and often contains thousands of trade marks. It is not uncommon for the journal to be hundreds of pages long. [0005] A third party may oppose the registration of an accepted application during the opposition period. If no oppositions are filed, the trade mark can be registered. Once the trade mark is registered, the owner has a defence to a claim of infringement of an earlier registration. [0006] Even if an application is rejected by the trade marks office, the applicant may continue to use the conflicting trade mark. A conflicting trade mark can be registered if there is sufficient evidence of 'honest, concurrent use'. An application may be accepted on this basis if the applicant declares that the conflicting trade mark has been used for several years without complaints of confusion from the registrant or third parties. [00071 The applicant may claim not to be aware of any instances of confusion, but this does not guarantee that no instances of confusion have occurred, or are likely to occur. The use of the conflicting trade mark and the advertisement of its acceptance in the journal may not come to the attention of the registrant. Consequently, the applicant may be granted a right to use the conflicting trade mark by the trade marks office. Ultimately, the conflicting trade mark may present a source of confusion to the public and a commercial threat to the registrant. [00081 It is the responsibility of the registrant to monitor the journal. It is also the responsibility of the registrant to enforce its rights. Law firms often charge a fee to manually monitor a single trade mark and only a small percentage of clients are prepared to pay these fees. (The fees may be $250 per quarter, for example.) Many trade mark attorney firms are responsible for thousands of trade marks. The larger attorney firms may be responsible for tens of thousands of trade marks. [0009] Many trade mark owners and their attorneys fail to monitor the journal for conflicting trade marks because of the size of the journal, the number of trade marks which can be monitored and the time and cost of thorough monitoring. For instance, if a law firm is responsible for 5,000 trade marks, then it will be difficult for an attorney employed by the law firm to be aware of all 5,000 trade marks while perusing the journal. It is likely that the attorney will only be aware of a small subset of marks for which he or she is responsible. [0010] The cost of gratuitous manual monitoring of the journal by a law firm can be surprisingly high. Firstly, there is the cost of printing the journal. If the cost of printing the journal is say, $5 per week, then this equates to $260 over 52 weeks per year. Secondly, there is the cost for professional staff to review the journal. If three attorneys with a charge out rate of $400 per hour each review the journal for 12 minutes per week, then this equates to $11,520 over 48 weeks of the 52 weeks per year. In light of this cost, many law firms simply choose not to provide gratuitous manual monitoring services for their clients. [0011] Consequently, the opportunity to object to a conflicting trade mark is frequently overlooked. This results in the loss of an opportunity to stop a competitor from using a conflicting trade mark at an early stage. It also results in a lost opportunity for profitable work for law firms. [0012] If a law firm is responsible for 5000 registered trade marks and only 1% of those marks are infringed per year by the owners of conflicting applications, then this will result in 50 letters of demand. If, for example, the law firm were to profit $1000 on average as a result of correspondence with an infringer, then this equates to $50,000 in revenue per year. If only one of those conflicting applications results in a contested opposition per year, then the law firm is likely to profit on the order of $20,000.

[00131 Consequently, there is a need for an automated system which monitors the trade mark register for conflicting trade marks and notifies the owner or its address for service accordingly. In particular, there is a need for a system which is adapted to automatically conduct searches for a plurality of trade marks stored in a database, such as a law firm's trade mark database. SUMMARY OF INVENTION [0014] The present invention is directed to an automated trade mark monitoring system, which may at least partially overcome at least one of the abovementioned problems. [0015] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for monitoring a trade marks register of a trade mark office, wherein the system is adapted to notify a user of the system of one or more conflicting marks for one or more monitored marks, the system comprising: (a) a database of one or more monitored trade marks, (b) a means of communicating with the register, (c) a routine for generating a search algorithm for the or each monitored mark in the database, (d) a module for applying the or each search algorithm to the register to detect conflicting marks for the or each monitored mark, and (e) a means of communicating with the user of the system regarding the detection of one or more conflicting marks, wherein the means of communicating with the user is adapted to allow a user to designate whether to ignore or note a conflicting mark in the database. [00161 Preferably, the system is adapted to watch the status of a noted conflicting mark and/or the record of correspondence between the owner of the noted conflicting mark and the trade marks office and notify the user if the status or record of correspondence changes. [00171 The system may include means for allowing a user to email details of a monitored mark and one or more conflicting marks to one or more email recipients at any time. [00181 It is preferred that the system is adapted to receive a user's agency code provided by the trade marks office and to use the code to compile a database of trade marks corresponding to the agency code for monitoring.

-r [0019] In a preferred form of the invention, the means of communicating with a user comprises means for allowing a user to highlight goods or services which are common to both the monitored mark and the conflicting mark. [0020] The system may be is adapted to allow a user to modify the search algorithm for the or each monitored mark in the database. [0021] The search algorithm may use image descriptors to detect conflicting marks which are similar to monitored marks comprising images. [0022] The search algorithm may be a search object or a search string. [00231 The module may be a bot for scraping the register with the search string or search object on a periodic basis to produce a search result. [0024] The database may be a copy of the official trade marks register, or one or more subsets thereof. [0025] Preferably, the search algorithm will require the register to return details of conflicting marks which have a pending status and are in the same class or an associated class of goods and services. [00261 The means of communicating with a user may comprise a website interface. The website interface may include a first type of webpage which displays the number of conflicting marks for each monitored mark. More preferably, the website interface also displays the number of noted conflicting marks for each monitored mark. The website may also include a second type of webpage which displays the details of a conflicting mark alongside the details of a monitored mark. [00271 It is preferred that the system applies the search algorithms to the register on a periodic basis. More preferably, the periodic basis is 24 hour intervals. [00281 The system may apply the search algorithm to the register as a search object or a search string for the or each monitored mark. The module may detect a conflicting application by conducting a bit-by-bit comparison of each search object. The module may include a bot for scraping the register with the search object or search string on a periodic basis to produce a search result. [0029] The module may apply the search algorithm to the official trade marks register via an Application Programming Interface (API) or an online terminal session, or a telnet interface. [0030] Any of the features described herein can be combined in any combination with any one or more of the other features described herein within the scope of the invention. [00311 A reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS [0032] Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows: [00331 Figure 1 is a depiction of a system according to the present invention. [0034] Figure 2 is a screenshot of a webpage of a website according to the invention. The webpage shows the number of 'conflicts' and 'alerts' (noted conflicts) for each monitored mark. [00351 Figure 3 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows details of a conflicting mark for the monitored mark SWIFT. The conflicting mark has a watch alert placed on it. [00361 Figure 4 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows details of conflicting marks for the monitored mark CENTOR. The cursor of a user is hovered over an ignore button for the conflicting mark CENTRO. [00371 Figure 5 is the screenshot of figure 4, wherein the cursor of the user is hovered over the 'mark as alert' (note) button, which places a watch on the conflicting trade mark. [00381 Figures 6 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows various conflicting marks which have been marked as 'ignored' by a user of the system. [00391 Figure 7 is a screenshot of the webpage of the website of Figure 2, wherein a user of the system may enter details of a mark to be monitored. [0040] Figure 8 is a screenshot of the webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows the results of a search query by a user of the system. The user may select the search result for monitoring. [0041] Figure 9 is a screenshot of the webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows conflicting marks which have been noted by a user and being watched for changes in status and/or correspondence to or from the trade marks office. [0042] Figure 10 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows a facility which may be used to highlight matching instances of goods or services in the specification of a monitored mark and a conflicting mark. [00431 Figure 11 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows the button which enables a user to change the search criteria for a monitored mark. [0044] Figure 12 is a screenshot of a webpage of the website of Figure 2, which shows the notification switch. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview of the system [0045] An embodiment of a system 10 for monitoring a trade marks register 12 is shown in Figure 1. The system 10 includes a database 14 of one or more trade marks and a means of communicating 16 with the register 12. In some embodiments of the invention, the system 10 may include a routine for generating a search object for the or each trade mark in the database, a bot for scraping the register 12 with the search object on a periodic basis to produce a search result and a program for comparing two search results to detect a change on the register. The system 10 also includes a means of communicating 18 with a user 20 of the system regarding the detection of one or more changes on the register 12. The database [00461 The database 14 may be a subset of the trade marks register 12 relating to a particular owner, attorney firm, or other address for service. A database of all unrepresented trade mark owners could be compiled (the owners of these trade marks could be contacted in regard to the identification of a conflicting application, with a view to retaining the owner as a client of a law firm). Alternatively, the database may be the entire trade mark register. [00471 Most trade mark offices will supply a copy of the entire trade marks register (along with periodic updates) upon request for a fee, as this information is intended to be available to the public. [0048] Preferably, the database should be obtained from the trade marks office rather than from independently compiled records (such as the records of a trade mark attorney firm) for the following reasons: (a) Independently compiled records may not include details of the type of each trade mark, i.e. a word (plain or stylised), image (device), or both (composite marks). The type of search conducted by the system of the invention (i.e. a search for words or devices) will be determined by the type of trade mark and therefore this information should be included in the database. (b) Independently compiled records may not be in a form suitable for searches on the register. For instance, independently compiled records of word marks may contain punctuation (e.g. hyphenation, apostrophes, underscores and periods between acronyms) and some registers may not accept searches for trade marks with punctuation. (c) Independently compiled records of trade mark devices (i.e. images) may have an 'ad hoc title', but are unlikely to have image descriptors, such as those designated by the trade mark office during indexing. The system of the present invention uses the trade mark descriptors to search and identify conflicting images. [00491 The system of the invention will not work as effectively as possible unless the database comprises data in a form which is consistently formatted for searches on the register. For this reason, it is preferred that the database will be obtained from the trade marks office. Image marks [0050] When processing new applications, many trade mark offices designate 'descriptors' which describe the visual components of a trade mark image or logo. A glossary of image descriptors provided by the Australian trade marks office can be accessed at http://xeno2.ipaustralia.gov.au/device.htm. The glossary of image descriptors provided by the US Trade Marks Office can be found in the 'Design Search Code Manual' which is accessible at http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/dscm/index.htm. [0051] The trade mark offices of some countries use the 'Vienna Code', an international 0 Classification system which is used to categorise trade mark images by their figurative elements. The Vienna Code constitutes a hierarchical system that proceeds from the general to the particular, dividing all figurative elements into categories, divisions and sections. For example, the 'hands' is a figurative element with Vienna code 2.9.14 (category 2, division 9 and section 14). [0052] The Australian trade mark office only provides descriptors as words, but the US and Canadian trade mark office have numerically codified each category of image. When applied to the Australian trade marks register, the present invention could search, for instance, on the first two descriptors and use the search type of 'part image' in the relevant class of goods or services of the monitored mark. When applied to the US trade marks register, the system of the present invention could search for new conflicting applications which comprise trade marks that are in the same class of goods or services as the application in question, and in the same numerical design code category. [0053] The database may include images of all trade marks from the register. In such a case, the system of the invention may search by image. That is, compare a monitored image with a conflicting image, rather than rely on textual searching for image descriptors. The system may analyse the image and create a mathematical model based on elements of the image. These elements may include shapes, lines, proportions and colours. The system may then match the model against images already in database. The system could use image descriptors to assist in the interpretation of the image. Automatically adding new marks to the database [0054] A client of the system may periodically file new applications (e.g. 7 applications per week). The system of the present invention may be adapted to detect new applications filed by clients of the system and add those new applications to the database. In this way, the system may automatically commence conflict searches of new trade marks filed by clients of the business operating the system. The client may be automatically notified of the addition of a new application to the database and the cost of maintaining the monitor for that particular trade mark. Communicating with the register [0055] The means by which the system may communicate with the register may be the Internet. Most jurisdictions in the world provide an online register of trade marks. [0056] The trade marks office may provide a service whereby details of new applications are electronically sent in a 'patch file' to an administrator of the system. These details can be added to a copy of the entire trade marks register stored on the system of the administrator. Alternatively, details of new applications can be obtained directly from the trade mark register itself. [00571 A bot may be used to scrape data from the register. A bot (short for 'robot') is a program that simulates human activity. In this case, the bot may simulate a human conducting a search on the register. Scraping is a technique by which a computer program may extract data from human-readable output coming from another program. Data can be scraped from a register without physically visiting the register. Scraping relies on a web-client, rather a standard web browser. A web-client is a program that anonymously obtains data from another program on a server (in this case, the online register). [0058] Some registers may have measures to prevent bots from scraping data. A register may have a throttling measure to deny access to bots once they have reached their request limit. To overcome this problem, the bot may spoof the register. In the case of the present invention, spoofing announces the bot as a standard web browser to the register, so that the request will appear to originate from a browser, rather than a bot. Spoofing is a means of ensuring that the register will not reject a request because it comes from a bot. [0059] Some registers may require a user to have a username and/or password to login to the register and request data. In such a case, the bot may obtain a usemame and/or password from the register by simulating a guest login. This may be achieved by adding a request header to the request to make the register perceive the bot as a web browser. The register then issues the bot with a password, which is attached to all future requests by the bot. With each new request, a new username and/or password is generated. If the current password has expired or is unavailable, a new password is generated. Search algorithms [0060] The system of the present invention may comprise a software routine which is adapted to generate a search algorithm for the or each monitored trade mark in the database. The search algorithm may be, for instance, an object or string which is based on a set of search rules which can be applied to each trade mark in the database. (A 'search object' contains properties that define the type of search and the parameters of the search itself.) [00611 Examples of search rules which may form part of an algorithm include: IV (a) Search for conflicting trade marks in the same classes and associated classes for which the trade mark of interest is registered. (b) Search only for conflicting trade marks for which the status is 'pending' (the object of the invention is to stop the registration of conflicting trade marks which are pending). (c) Ignore all 'stop-words' (e.g. 'a', 'to', 'is', 'of, 'and', 'the') which are used in each trade mark of interest. (d) Ignore all punctuation in the monitored mark (e.g. hyphenation, apostrophes, underscores and periods between acronyms). If the trade mark of interest contains a hyphen, then consider the trade mark to comprise two separate words. (e) If the trade marks register only allows a limited number of terms to be searched simultaneously (say, two terms), then search for the first terms of the trade mark of interest (ignoring all stop-words and punctuation). The first words of a trade mark are generally the most distinctive and memorable features of the trade mark. (f) If a trade mark contains a numeral, then the search routine generator should convert the numeral to the word 'NUM', if this term is recognised by the trade marks register. For example, if the terms '1300 FLOWERS' are searched, the register may not pick up '1800 FLOWERS'. However, if the terms 'NUM' and 'FLOWERS' are searched, then the register should identify 1800 FLOWERS. (g) If a trade mark has three letters or less, the search type should be an 'exact word' search, whereas if the trade mark has more than three letters, the search type should be a 'part word' search. (h) If the owner of a monitored mark has the same name as the owner of a conflicting mark, then the conflicting mark should be automatically ignored. For example, Domino's IP Holder LLC may file many applications for marks comprising the word DOMINOS. The user of the system may not wish to be notified of conflicting marks which are owned by the same company and may regard these results as 'false alarms'. Search types [0062] Some trade mark registers allow the user to select the type of search which is conducted. The types of searches which may be conducted include: (a) Exact word - only words identical to the criteria entered are located. This option is useful for searching single characters (e.g., number or letter) and non-distinctive words. An exact word search for HOUSE will also find FUN HOUSE, but not FUN HOUSES. (b) Wordprefix - searches for a word beginning with the nominated prefix and also any occurrence of that prefix as a full word. This is useful for looking at words with the same beginning but different endings. A prefix for HOUSE will find House, HOUSES, HOUSEFUN, HOUSE FUN as well as FUN HOUSE. (c) Part word - locates any words which contain the nominated characters anywhere in the word including as a full word. A part word search for house will find HOUSE, HOUSES, HOUSEFUN, FUNHOUSE, FUNHOUSES, FUN HOUSE as well as the HOUSE FUN. (d) Word suffix - searches for a word ending with the nominated characters and also any occurrence of that suffix as a full word. A suffix search for HOUSE will also find HOUSE, FUNHOUSE, FUN HOUSE as well as HOUSE FUN. (e) Phonetic word - searches all words that sound alike, for example, a phonetic word search on the word SMITH also find the words SMYTHE and SMIT. (f) Fuzzy word - searches on words with similar spelling, for example, a fuzzy word search on the word READ will also find words LEAD and REAL. (g) Word stem - searches on words with the same stem or root word, for example, a word stem search on the word SING will also find the words SINGER, SANG and SUNG. (h) Exact image - searches on the identical image term entered. It is important that you understand the terminology used to describe images when this option is used. An exact image search on BIRD will only pick up trade marks indexed with the term BIRD. It will not pick up trade marks indexed with a specific bird, e.g. 'BIRD, EAGLE' or more than one bird, i.e. BIRD+. An exact image search is useful if it is necessary to refine a search due to a large search result. Otherwise, this option should only be used when you want to limit the search to a precise item or term. (i) Part image - searches on any image terms that contain the nominated criteria within a term. A part image search on MAN, will pick up images indexed with MAN and MAN+ and also MAN-IN-MOON, MANGO, MANSION, WOMAN, SPORTSMAN etc. The part image search enables plural and singular versions of a trade mark to be considered. [0063] One or more search types, or a combination thereof, may be used in the invention. Some trade mark registers allow a user to combine the results of different types of searches. In that case, a user may conduct a part word search, a phonetic word search and a fuzzy search and then combine the results of all three searches. If a single search type is all that is practical (due to processor and memory constraints), then either the part word or fuzzy word searches is preferred for word marks and the part image search is preferred for device marks. Agency codes [0064] Trade mark offices may provide law firms with 'agency codes'. The agency codes are generally used to populate an electronic application form with the stored contact and address details of the agent. These codes will be associated with each trade mark for which the law firm is the 'address for service'. It is possible to search on the register for every trade mark associated with a particular agency code. [00651 The system of the present invention enables its users to input their agency code into a registration form, which the system uses to compile a list of the relevant trade marks. A set of default monitoring criteria will be applied to these trade marks. The default monitoring criteria is converted into a search object or string. (The default monitoring criteria can be changed for each trade mark.) In this way, a user of the system of the present invention does not have to manually set the search criteria for each monitored mark, which could be difficult or practically impossible in cases where law firms are responsible for thousands of trade marks. Detecting conflicting marks [00661 The system generates an initial set of results that is based on the search criteria. The results may be stored in a table. Periodically, the system will scrape data with a search object from the register. A search object contains properties that define the type of search and the parameters of the search itself. The data is returned as an object. The object consist of various parts, e.g. the trade mark name, number, class, status, as well as other details of the trade mark. [00671 All of the objects that are returned from the new search may be compared on a bit by-bit basis with the existing objects by a program. Any changes which are detected by the program (either by a new conflicting application being added to the results, or a change in status of a conflicting application, for example) are noted and added to the existing database. The program may compare any facet of the object data. For instance, the program may compare dates or statuses of trade marks. This enables the system to detect whether a trade mark status has changed or whether a new conflicting application has been filed. Communicating with the user [00681 The system may communicate with a user by means of a website, an app on a smart phone (or other digital device), emails, push notifications, RSS feeds, Publish-Subscribe patterns ('PubSubs'), or any other method of publishing or syndicating data. Ignore/note facility [00691 Some conflicting marks identified by the system may not be 'deceptively similar' to a monitored mark. That is, some conflicting marks identified by the system may not be sufficiently similar to the monitored mark such that there is a real and tangible danger of confusion between the monitored mark and the conflicting mark. These types of conflicting marks could be regarded as 'false alarms' or 'bogus results'. [00701 Bogus results could arise because, for instance, a single letter device has the same letter as other devices, but the differences in stylisation of the conflicting mark and the monitored mark are sufficient to distinguish these marks. Another way a bogus result could arise is if the search type is 'part word' and the monitored mark is the part of many common words. For example, a monitored mark may be STAR and a part word search may identify the mark STARTING OVER. In this case, the respective marks are conceptually different and visually distinguishable such that there is no real danger of confusion. [00711 Accordingly, the system provides a user with the ability to designate whether a conflicting mark should be ignored or noted. Figure 4 shows a webpage of the system, which displays the monitored mark CENTOR and the conflicting mark CENTRO. In Figure 4, the user has a cursor hovered over the ignore button, which displays the message 'ignore'. In figure 5, the user has the cursor hovered over the note button, which displays the message 'mark as alert'. [0072] If the mark is ignored, the system may hide the bogus result from the view of the user, but show it again if required. If the mark is noted, the system may be adapted to watch the noted mark.

1 -r [00731 The watch may automatically monitor the status of the conflicting mark. For example, the status of a conflicting mark will initially be 'Indexing Approved' or some equivalent thereof. The application will then be allocated to an Examiner, in which the status may change to 'Under Examination'. An examiner may then accept an application and the status may then change to 'Accepted - Awaiting Advertisement'. This may be followed by the statuses 'Accepted - Open for Oppositions', 'Accepted - Opposition Period Expired' and then 'Registered'. [0074] However, the watch may also include automatically monitor the record of correspondence between the owner of the conflicting mark and the trade marks office. For instance, if the owner of a conflicting mark files evidence of use of the conflicting mark in support of the application then this will be recorded in the history of the conflicting mark on the register. The owner of the monitored mark may wish to be notified so that they may review the evidence and decide on a course of action against the applicant. The evidence may, for instance, indicate that the owner of the conflicting mark used the trade mark for many years prior to the date of first use by the owner of the monitored mark. Alternatively, the evidence may indicate concurrent use of the trade mark by the applicant and the owner of the monitored mark may regard this use as an infringement. The filing of evidence may not necessarily result in the Examiner accepting the conflicting mark and consequently changing the status from 'Under Examination' to 'Accepted - Awaiting Advertisement', but the submission of evidence may be relevant nonetheless. [00751 Figure 9 is a screenshot of a webpage of the system which shows all of the conflicting marks which have been noted by a user. These noted conflicting marks are automatically watched for changes in status and/or correspondence to or from the trade marks office. A user may select a checkbox next to one or more of these noted conflicting marks and the details of both the monitored marks and the respective conflicting marks can be emailed to one or more recipients. [00761 Figure 2 shows a screen shot of a webpage which has separate columns for 'conflicts' and 'alerts'. 'Conflicts' are conflicting marks which have not yet been noted. 'Alerts' are marks which have been noted. By distinguishing 'conflicts' from 'alerts', a user is able to tell at a glance how many conflicting marks have been noted. If there is a conflict, then this would indicate that a user has not yet reviewed the conflicting mark and should do so. This feature enables multiple users to interact with the system and not duplicate their efforts or be in any doubt as to whether another user has already reviewed a particular conflicting mark.

[00771 The inventors have found that the 'ignore/note' facility makes a substantial contribution to the working of the invention. The facility allows a user of the system to view only the genuine conflicts and not be distracted by bogus results. The facility increases user interaction with the system in order to make the exercise of identifying conflicting marks as engaging as possible. The facility thereby contributes to the useability and commercial viability of the invention. Highlight facility [00781 The system may include a facility to automatically match identical or similar items listed in the goods/services specifications of both the monitored mark and the conflicting mark. The system may highlight those identical or similar items, as shown in Figure 10. More preferably, the system should allow a user to manually highlight any identical or similar items. The highlighting should be preserved in an email which is dispatched to users of the system in regard to the monitored and conflicting marks using the notification system of the invention. The highlighting expedites a user's understanding of the overlap of the good/services. Preferably, a user should be able to highlight different goods in different colours. [00791 Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that other means of 'highlighting' similar or identical items are within the scope and ambit of the present invention, and may include, for instance, underlining or changing the colour of text. Internet search facility [00801 The system may include a facility to conduct an internet search for instances of use of the conflicting mark by the conflicting applicant. For example, if the conflicting mark is STAR and the owner of the conflicting mark is 'Blastoff Inc', the system could include a button which, when activated, conducts a Google search for the terms 'STAR and BlastoffInc'. The results of this Google search could enable a user of the system to readily ascertain whether the conflicting mark is in use and thereby infringing the monitored mark of a client. Notification system [00811 As shown in Figure 10, the website displays the details of the monitored mark above the conflicting marks. The system may allow a user to select one or more conflicting marks by clicking the checkbox next to the number of the conflicting mark and transmit the details of those marks to an email address.

[00821 Using this system, an attorney may review the website, identify the conflicting applications and send the details to administrative assistant to prepare a letter to a client in regard to the conflicting application (based on a precedent letter). Alternatively, a paralegal could send the details of the monitored mark and the conflicting mark to a Partner of a law firm for approval, before forwarding the email to a secretary to prepare correspondence to a client in regard to the conflicting mark. [0083] Preferably, the system will contain a 'notification switch' to allow a user to select whether automated notifications of conflicts are automatically sent by email to one or more nominated users. A notification switch is shown by way of example in Figure 12. In some cases, a database may include, for instance, 20,000 marks, in which case, a user may be bombarded by emails on a daily basis in regard to new conflicts. A user with a smaller database may only receive less frequent notifications by email and the rate of those emails may be acceptable. In that case, the user may wish to switch the automatic notifications 'on'. [0084] Emails sent by the system should preferably include the monitored mark and the conflicting mark in the subject line. A suggested format for the subject line of an email sent by the system of the present invention is 'Conflicts found: TRADE MARK A v TRADE MARK B (file reference)'. [0085] An example of an email which may be automatically sent by the system is depicted on the screen of the smart-phone shown in Figure 1. The email sent to the smart-phone demonstrates that the invention is an artificially created state of affairs which produces a concrete, tangible, physical, or observable effect. Correspondence generator [00861 In some embodiments of the invention, the system may be adapted to automatically generate a letter to a client in regard to the conflicting application. The letter may include the details of the monitored and conflicting marks. In such a case, the file reference details would need to be added to the database, so that the system could insert the relevant file details into the letter to the client. Changing the search criteria [00871 A user may change the search criteria for a monitored mark if the search results are not identifying conflicting marks which are genuine, noteworthy conflicts. As shown in Figure 11, a user may select the 'change criteria button', which takes the user to the search I / criteria page shown in Figure 7. A user may insert more specific search criteria, such as image descriptors. A user may also change the search type, for instance, to 'part image' for image descriptors, or a narrower search type, such as an 'exact word' search type. The result of the new search criteria can be reviewed by the user, as shown in Figure 8, before the new search criteria is saved. Once saved, the new search criteria are applied to all future periodic searches which are automatically conducted by the system. Advantages of the invention [00881 Many individuals do not conduct searches of the trade mark register before adopting a trade mark and applying to register it. These individuals may invest considerable funds in adopting a brand (e.g. by registering a business name, registering a domain name and developing a logo which incorporates the brand), before being advised that they are infringing a registered trade mark. It takes many months before their application is examined and they become aware that they can no longer use a trade mark. It is impossible to eradicate such inefficiencies, but the amount of funds misspent by these individuals can be minimised by an early notification of a registered trade mark. The early detection of a conflicting mark by the present invention may thereby assist the economy to ensure that its resources are efficiently allocated. Scope of the invention [0089] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications can be made to the embodiments of the invention described herein without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention.

Claims (5)

1. An automated trade mark monitoring system for monitoring an official database of a trade mark office, the system comprising: (a) a user database adapted to contain details of at least one mark to be monitored, (b) a means of remotely accessing the official database, (c) a search program for detecting applications in the official database for registration of marks which conflict with the monitored mark in the user database and which cover the same or associated classes of goods and/or services as the monitored mark, (d) a means for entering details of application(s) for conflicting marks(s) detected by the search program into the user database, wherein said details include the status of the conflicting mark(s), and notifying the user of the detected application(s) for conflicting mark(s), and (e) automated watch means configured to permit a user to set an automated watch on the detected application(s) for conflicting marks, whereupon the automated watch means periodically compares the status of the application(s) for the conflicting mark(s) in the official database with the status of the application(s) for the conflicting mark(s) as entered in the user database and notifies the user when the application(s) for the conflicting mark(s) has(have) been accepted by the trade marks office; and (f) a facility to allow a user to selectively hide the details of conflicting marks in the user database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes means for allowing a user to email details of a monitored mark and one or more conflicting marks in the user database to one or more email recipients at any time.

3. The system of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the system is adapted to monitor the record of correspondence between the owner of the conflicting mark and the Trade Marks Office on the official database and notify the user if the record of correspondence changes.

4. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the search program uses image descriptors to detect applications in the official database for registration of marks which contain at least one image which conflicts with an image in the monitored mark.

5. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the search program compares an image in a monitored mark directly with an image in a conflicting mark based on common elements in both images.