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What is a WIPO Trademark Search?

Jurisdiction: International search, with Australian filing context. Reviewed 27 October 2026.

WIPO’s Global Brand Database is a useful starting point for an international trade mark search. It brings together participating national and regional collections and international registrations, but it is not a guarantee that a mark is available everywhere.

What can you search?

Search words, names, numbers, goods and services and image similarity. Try meaningful variations and examine each result’s territory, owner, status and specification. WIPO advises that national or regional registers may also need to be searched. The old fixed record counts in this article have been removed because coverage changes.

What a result tells you

A similar record may identify a potential conflict, but a database result does not prove current marketplace use or settle infringement. No matching result does not guarantee clearance. Unregistered reputation and rights outside the participating collections may matter.

Search is separate from filing

WIPO’s Madrid system is one way to seek protection in designated markets. An eligible applicant needs the necessary connection to a member and a basic application or registration through its office of origin. The international mark must match the basic mark and cannot broaden its goods or services. Each designated territory applies its own law.

A historical correction

The Madrid Agreement dates from 1891; the Madrid Protocol was concluded in 1989, not 1891. Nice is the goods-and-services classification system. These are different instruments, rather than one rule that both classifies and globally registers every mark.

Save your search results and seek clearance advice where close matches, major branding investment or several countries are involved.

Sources and further reading

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