The Korean Intellectual Property Offi  ce (KIPO) has implemented a new AI-based image search system to aid the examination of trademark and design applications since February 15, 2021. The new system has come into being after extensive testing, for the past two years, using more than two million trademark and design images in the database.

The new search system compares the image of an applied-for trademark or design against all registered images in the database and displays the retrieved images in the order of proximity with the applied-for image. The new system is expected to be particularly useful for the examination of images containing multiple shapes, such as luxury brand logos. The following test examples have been presented by the KIPO for reference purposes.