Built from research.
Delivered through law.
Original geometric similarity research, validated against real tribunal outcomes. A trade mark intelligence pipeline built for speed, completeness, and legal action.
The Markscope story
From geometric research to trade mark intelligence
Markscope grew from RaySpace, a geometric similarity methodology built to measure structural likeness between vector outlines. It was originally developed for Unicode security: identifying visually confusable characters across scripts that could be exploited for spoofing attacks.
The same geometric engine turned out to be directly applicable to figurative trade mark comparison. If you can measure whether two character shapes are confusably similar, you can do the same for device marks, using deterministic, reproducible, geometry-based analysis.
Markscope was built on one principle: trade mark conflict detection should be fast, complete, explainable, and verifiable. Not a black box. Not a watching service that delivers a report days after the deadline clock has started.
Fifty Six Law founded in Manchester by Piers Dryden and Paul Wood
RaySpace geometric similarity methodology published. 250,000+ confusable character pairs identified across 245 fonts
Security findings surfaced for Google. Confusable dataset under assessment by Unicode for Standard integration
Markscope launched as the world's first proactive UK trade mark conflict intelligence service
The team
Research rigour meets legal discipline
Paul Wood FRSA
Chief Digital Officer and Co-founder
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, elected for access to justice work. Paul developed the RaySpace geometric similarity methodology and has published extensive research on Unicode identifier security, including the discovery of over 571,000 multi-character confusable pairs.
His research has surfaced security findings assessed by Google, and a confusable dataset derived from RaySpace is being assessed by Unicode for integration into the Unicode Standard.
Piers Dryden
Managing Partner
Oxford-educated with a First in Modern History from St John's College. Piers trained at Slaughter and May before building a career spanning Debevoise and Plimpton in New York and Ogier in the Channel Islands.
He co-founded Fifty Six Law in Manchester in 2025 to bring Magic Circle rigour to a firm built for speed, technology, and direct client relationships.
Fifty Six Law
Manchester-based. SRA regulated. Expanding into IP.
Fifty Six Law Limited was founded with a clear thesis: legal services can be faster, more transparent, and more technology-driven without sacrificing the rigour that serious matters demand.
Markscope is the catalyst for the firm's expansion into IP dispute work. Magic Circle training and corporate transactional discipline combined with research-backed technology to offer a fundamentally different approach to trade mark conflict resolution.
IP structure
Independently developed, licensed for use
Markscope IP is developed independently by Paul Wood FRSA and licensed to Fifty Six Law. This structure preserves the independence of the research and technology platform while ensuring legal service delivery meets SRA-regulated standards.
Work with us
Whether you are a rights holder or an IP adviser looking for a better intelligence source, we would welcome a conversation.
Contact Fifty Six Law