LTU Technologies Powers International Trademark Database
LTU's multimedia content control will identify existing registered trademarks, logo and other industrial designs to help fight copyright infringement
Washington DC and Paris, France - May 12, 2008
LTU Technologies, a global provider of multimedia content control solutions, announced today that eMAGE, an international trademarks research service, has reached its initial deployment phase. Intellectual property professionals will begin testing and evaluating the system which has been developed over the last two years. The development and deployment of the database was made possible by the eMARKS project, a coalition of eight international partners, each contributing their own particular technical and business capabilities necessary for the successful accomplishment of the project's objectives, sponsored by the European Union.
The eMAGE service provides an image and natural language multilingual interface for searching trademarks and industrial designs registered with participating EU intellectual properties offices. Via an online portal, a user of the eMAGE service can identify whether a trademark or industrial design is already registered with these agencies by submitting a digital photo of the trademark or industrial design in question. The photo, as well as multi-lingual search keys, is then compared with 1.2 million records within a special database, by using image-search and recognition technology powered by LTU Technologies.
The eMAGE trademark detection service is a revolutionary application for enterprise professionals and government and intellectual property officials. For example, a enterprise considering the adoption of a new logo can automatically check its image against the database to see if a similar logo has already been registered. This eliminates the need for manual and time-intensive competitor research. Government officials and intellectual property professionals can also use the research application to investigate trademark and industrial design copyright infringements, for example, when suspect goods pass through government customs departments.
"Over the years technological advancements have contributed to trademark infringement and a decrease in enterprise content control," said Alexandre Winter, CEO and co-founder of LTU Technologies. "The- eMAGE project represents an important step in righting that balance and putting trademark control back into the power of the owners. We are pleased that LTU Technologies was able to take part in this initiative and deliver unparalleled multimedia content control solutions to fully harness the power of the eMAGE database."
eMARKS is co-funded through the eTen program of the European Community, a program designed to stimulate the deployment of innovative, trans-European e-services of social and economic interest. In addition to LTU, the eMARKS project consortium, led by INTRASOFT International (INTRA), include:
- Hungarian Patent Office (HPO),
- National Institute of Industrial Property of Portugal (INPI-P)
- Austrian Patent Office (OEPA),
- Czech Customs Administration (CCA),
- IPR professionals/Lawyers G.S. Kostakopoulos and Associates Law Firm (KLF),
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Marseille (CCIMP)
About LTU Technologies
Founded in 1999 by veteran scientists of MIT, Oxford and INRIA, LTU Technologies provides mission-critical multimedia content control software solutions. LTU is the exclusive owner and developer of its patented technology. LTU's clients include: government organizations active in the fight against child abuse, such as the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE), the French Gendarmerie Nationale, and the Italian state police; agencies investigating traffic in cultural goods and stolen objects (OCBC of the French National Police); as well as commercial media organizations such as Corbis and Meredith Corporation. The technology has also successfully been integrated in third party solutions for forensics and e-Discovery, brand protection, enterprise search, digital asset management, and online content control. LTU Technologies has offices in Paris, France, and Washington DC. For more information, visit http://www.ltutech.com.
Trademark Notice
LTU Technologies, LTU-Engine, LTU-Moderator and LTU-Finder are trademarks of LTU Technologies.
