Rouse & Co launches Net trade mark service

INTELLECTUAL property specialist Rouse & Co International (RCI) has developed a global trade mark and domain name clearance and protection service on the Internet, called Geodesia.

The international firm - whose London office is Willoughby & Partners - has a six-member team working on the project in Oxford, which it hopes to expand when it wins more clients.

The team uses selected trade mark specialists across the world to search trade mark registers, the Internet and other databases such as telephone directories, on behalf of companies wishing to register new trade marks or domain names.

It delivers its advice to clients on a CD-Rom - although it can use other formats, including paper.

RCI already has one pharmaceutical company as a client and is currently "in discussion" with several other companies.

RCI group managing director Peter Rouse said it was important for companies to differentiate their products and services from those of competitors when operating in a global market, and that existing clearance procedures were burdensome and time consuming because of the amount of paperwork required.

Rouse said Geodesia used state-of-the-art software that had not been available six months ago and which used the "highest levels of encryption" to guarantee the security of documents being transferred via the Internet.

Geodesia director Caroline Bonella, a trade mark attorney, claimed that the Geodesia service was internationally "unique" and was "quicker than any other trade mark search service".