EUIPO says that the capacity of computers to recognise content is central to the latest developments in digital media, e-commerce, robotics or self-driving vehicles. This drives major innovation in the field of automated content recognition (ACR) technologies that are now deployed for a broad range of purposes.

As a first step in understanding the impact of such technologies on intellectual property, the discussion paper describes the functioning of hashing, watermarking, fingerprinting or AI-based solutions, and their uses for content recognition. It explores the advantages and limitations of each of these technologies, as well as how they can be combined to optimise content recognition.

This first phase analysis will be followed by a second phase focusing on use cases of ACR technologies to support the protection or management of IP. To read EUIPO’s announcement in full and to access the discussion paper, click here.