Latvia Joins the IP Register in Blockchain

The IP Register in Blockchain project welcomes the Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia which adds its blockchain node to the IP Registers in Blockchain network on 31 May. The Latvian office adds over sixty-eight thousand trade marks and over three thousand designs to the network.

The addition of Latvia brings the total participating offices to seven, and a total of over five million records representing trade marks and designs. As pioneers in the IP Registers in Blockchain the EUIPO, Latvia, Malta, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Italy offices are leveraging blockchain technology and discovering new and innovative services for their customers.

The IP Register in Blockchain

The IP Register in Blockchain platform creates a super-fast, reliable and secure “Data Transfer Service” between IP offices and two of EUIPO’s flagship services, TMview and Designview, the world’s largest free, online databases of trade marks and designs.

The Register not only allows data related to IP rights to be stored automatically, but also lays the foundation for new innovative services such as “TMview and DesignView History powered by IP Registers in Blockchain”. It is currently available as Beta Version.

The EUIPO expects to see more IP offices across Europe join the IP Register in Blockchain throughout the course of 2023.

Blockchain

Blockchain has been on the rise for several years. Due to its decentralised nature, it provides a reliable and unalterable register to record information stored by its users. As part of EUIPO’s “Action Plan IP”, in April 2021 the EUIPO decided to pursue the use of blockchain to “increase the effectiveness of our IP systems”.

Blockchain enables an immutable and auditable historic record across the register, facilitating new services for users and exchanges among participating IP offices.

EUIPO, ranked most innovative IP office in the world four times, by the World trademark Review, is also currently developing another blockchain-based solution, the Anti-Counterfeiting Blockathon Infrastructure. The EUIPO expects to release a first version of the solution by the end of 2023.

Learn more about the IP Register in Blockchain.