Frequently asked questions
How Markscope works, what it delivers, and how to get started.
About Markscope
What is Markscope?
A proactive trade mark conflict intelligence service built for the UK register. It processes every UKIPO Trade Marks Journal within hours of publication, identifies conflicts, verifies each flagged right against the live register, enriches the owner entity through Companies House, and delivers structured, matter-ready intelligence packs.
Traditional watching services tell you a similar mark has been filed. Markscope tells you whether it matters, who the parties are, what the legal routes are, and when the deadlines fall.
What makes it different from traditional watching?
Speed. Hours, not days. You get intelligence while the full opposition window is still available.
Depth. Not a list of similar marks. A structured intelligence pack with verified facts, corporate enrichment, legal route assessment, and calculated deadlines.
Explainability. No opaque scores. Markscope explains what overlaps, how closely, and what it means commercially.
Who built Markscope?
Paul Wood FRSA, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts whose research on geometric similarity and Unicode security has surfaced findings for Google, with the confusable dataset being assessed by Unicode for integration into the standard.
The technology is licensed to Fifty Six Law Limited, co-founded by Piers Dryden (Oxford, Slaughter and May, Debevoise and Plimpton). Read more.
How it works
How quickly is a new journal processed?
Within hours of publication. The largest traditional providers confirm five or more business days in their own published service descriptions. That is five days of opposition window lost before you even hear about a conflict.
Is the similarity analysis a black box?
No, by design. Every assessment shows its workings across geometric (figurative marks), verbal (phonetic, visual, conceptual), and goods and services dimensions.
The geometric engine is built on published, peer-reviewable research (RaySpace). It operates on vector geometry, not neural networks. You can show the analysis to a client or a tribunal and walk through every part of it.
How is goods and services overlap assessed?
Beyond Nice class numbers to actual specification wording and commercial reality. Two marks in the same class are not necessarily in conflict. Two marks in different classes sometimes are.
The assessment reflects how IP tribunals have actually decided comparable cases, not keyword matching.
What does an intelligence pack contain?
Verified facts (register-confirmed), corporate enrichment (Companies House), relationship screening (shared directors, PSCs), conflict assessment (structured, multi-dimensional), legal route assessment, procedural posture with urgency, correspondence guardrails (threats-law safe), calculated deadlines (TM7, TM7A), and enriched contact channels.
Coverage and getting started
Does Markscope cover international trade marks?
Markscope is built for the UK register first. One jurisdiction, deeply understood. International designations through the Madrid Protocol that designate the UK are included in the verification process.
What are the UK opposition deadlines?
Two months from publication (TM7 notice of opposition), extendable by one month via TM7A (notice of threatened opposition). Total: three months from publication. Markscope calculates both deadlines with days remaining for every conflict.
How do I get started?
Contact Fifty Six Law. Whether you are a rights holder or an IP adviser, the conversation starts with understanding your portfolio and priorities. Email ip@fiftysixlaw.co.uk or visit the contact page.
Still have questions?
We are happy to walk through how Markscope works for your specific portfolio.
Contact Fifty Six Law