Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles.
As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting.
Bell of the Week: When You Don’t Know the Name of the Trademark
Every now and then, I come across a tool that makes me wonder how we managed without it.
The WIPO Global Brand Database is one of those tools. You can search for trademarks by name, number, owner, goods and services, country and a whole range of other criteria. It brings together records from WIPO and participating national and regional trademark offices.
But what caught my attention was something else.
What if you don’t know the name of the trademark you are looking for?
In 2014, WIPO introduced an image-search function that allowed users to upload a logo and look for visually similar trademarks. At the time, the database contained more than four million searchable images from 15 national and international collections.
That seems almost obvious now. But think about what it changed. A trademark search no longer had to begin with a word. You could begin with an image.
And WIPO kept building on this. In 2019, it introduced an AI-powered image search that could identify concepts within a logo like an eagle, an arrow, a tree, a star and use those concepts to find potentially similar marks. The search could also be combined with other filters, including jurisdictions and Nice classes.
The technology has since become more refined. The database can now distinguish between different kinds of visual similarity, including conceptual, shape and colour similarity, while also using AI to help identify figurative elements in logos.
For anyone who has ever worked on a trademark search, this is more than a nice feature. A large part of trademark practice begins with a very simple question: what is already out there?
Before filing a mark. Before advising a client. Before deciding whether a logo is likely to create problems. Before monitoring a competitor. Someone has to search. And suddenly, that search can begin with something as simple as uploading a picture.
What I like about the Global Brand Database is that it represents a subtler kind of change in IP. It did not create a new right or produce a landmark judgment. Instead, it changed one of the everyday ways in which trademark professionals interact with the system.
Sometimes, that is where change hides.
So this week, we ring the bell for the WIPO Global Brand Database, a tool that took something as old as searching for a trademark and asked a very modern question:
What if we could search for a mark without knowing what it is called?
EVENTS
1. Webinar on Farmers’ Seed Rights | Beej Swaraj
2 October 2026 | 11:30 AM onwards
A webinar on farmers’ seed rights in the context of a recent Supreme Court judgment related to PepsiCo India suing farmers, claiming IPR infringement, with Kapil Shah, Kavitha Kuruganti and Shalini Bhutani as lead discussants.
Register here
2. Copyright, the Right to Research and Just AI | USERrights 2026
1 – 2 October 2026 | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM Geneva time | Hybrid
This year’s User Rights Network meeting will examine three questions at the intersection of copyright user rights and the promotion of Just AI: the right to research, exceptions and limitations to copyright, and Just AI. The meeting takes place in the context of developments at WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights toward an instrument on limitations and exceptions, including provisions on education and research uses, as well as proposals in countries around the world to amend or interpret copyright laws in relation to artificial intelligence.
More info | Register here
3. The FIPS Reading Hour with Dr Metka Potočnik
Date: 6 November 2026 | 11:00 AM UK time | Online
The first session of the FIPS Reading Hour will be led by Dr Metka Potočnik (University of Wolverhampton, UK) and will discuss the role of copyright in defining music across several systems, for individuals or communities traditionally making music. The session is open to all researchers, whether starting out or with decades of experience, full-time university researchers or independent researchers, and anyone else interested in the issues under discussion.
More info
4. Global Forum on IP and AI Conference
9–10 November 2026 | Geneva | Hybrid
This two-day conference will examine key developments shaping the IP and AI landscape, including IP fluency across the AI ecosystem and whether the IP system is fit for the age of AI. Sessions will also explore the power of IP data, how the IP system could be shaped to protect human characteristics in the age of AI, and the changing role of IP Offices and AI in IP administration. Further discussions will cover authorship and inventorship in the age of AI, IP issues behind AI models, and what’s next for IP and AI.
More info | Register here
OPPORTUNITIES
1. NLSIU Research Fellowships – January 2027
Intake Application Deadline: 30 October 2026, 5:00 PM IST
The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) invites applications for the following fellowships on a contract basis: Graduate Research Fellowship (10 positions), NLSIU Postdoctoral Fellowship (5 positions), and University Research Fellowship (5 positions). Applications are invited for the January 2027 intake only, and fellows are expected to be on campus during their fellowship period.
More info
2. MoFo Webinar: Fall Patent Law Course with Morrison Foerster and GSAS Harvard Biotech Club
14 October–11 November 2026 | Online | India Date and Time: 1:30 AM (15 October–12 November) Morrison Foerster and the GSAS Harvard Biotech Club are hosting a five-week patent law course designed for students, postdocs, entrepreneurs and investors in the life sciences. Through lectures and interactive workshops, the course will introduce key concepts in IP law, with a focus on life sciences patent issues, technology developments, patent licensing and company formation. Sessions will also use court cases and practical examples to explore important elements of patent law. The course will provide practical insights into life sciences patent law and strategies to avoid common pitfalls that may have significant implications for innovations.
More info | Register here
Thanks to Bharathwaj, Malobika and Swaraj for the leads!
All non-sponsored listings featured here are events or opportunities free or nominally charged and ones we think our readers may be interested in. Sponsored listings will be marked as such. Unless specifically mentioned, SpicyIP has no affiliation to anything listed here. Know of an event worth sharing? Write to us at contact[at]spicyip[dot]com.
