CWS.ATR.ID.2010.CA

Annual Technical Report 2010 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Canada (CWS/ATR/ID/2010/CA)

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models. Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.

I. Evolution of registration activities

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year

Applications:
Year Residents Non-residents Total % change

2006 640 4,195 4,835
2007 569 4,500 5,069 9.29
2008 664 4,618 5,282 4.20
2009 825 3,444 4,269 -19.2
2010 868 4274 5142 20%

Registrations:

Year Residents Non-residents Total % change

2006 411 3,043 3,454
2007 606 4,981 5,587 61.75
2008 613 5,302 5,915 5.87
2009 654 4,420 5,074 -14.2
2010 845 4330 5175 2%

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes

Publishing, including printing, copying techniques and electronic printing

The Industrial Design Act and Regulations do not prescribe publishing newly registered industrial designs in gazette form but do prescribe the keeping of the Register of Industrial Designs. Registered Industrial Designs are disseminated through a database via CIPO's website (cipo.ic.gc.ca/iddatabase). As of November 2007 this database includes the entire collection of industrial designs registered in Canada since December 1861.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information

Announcements pertaining to Industrial Design Practice and Policy as well as other information about the Industrial Design Office are communicated via the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website at cipo.ic.gc.ca. When a new announcement is published, it is noted under the "What's New" section of the CIPO site and is also included under the link to Industrial Design.

Mass storage media and microforms used

The archival of industrial design documents is available electronically in ‘DesignPlus' as well as on paper, microfiche and CD-ROMs.

A complete database of Industrial Design registrations since inception December 1861)is available on-line since November 2007.

Databases and office automation

DesignPlus, the automated processing system of the Industrial Design Office, includes pending and registered information regarding Industrial Design applications and registrations. DesignPlus is the main internal tool for maintaining industrial design application and registration information. It is from this system that the electronic internet database information is supplied.

CIPO's Industrial Design Office uses MS-Word 2003 as its word processing package operating in a Windows XP Professional environment.

All outputs of industrial design information is generated through a combination of MS-Word and Oracle reports produced from DesignPlus.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data

http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr00004.html

III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification (please indicate whether industrial designs are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

Industrial design documents are classified according to the Canadian Industrial Design Classification Standard.

The Canadian Industrial Design Classification Standard is in need of updating and simplification. In 2005-2006, CIPO conducted an analysis of the Locarno Classification and a comparison study of other IPO classification standards. This initiative has put forward recommendations that CIPO could take to improve the classification process. Since 2008 CIPO’s Industrial Design Division is actively participating, with both member and observer countries, in the LOCARNO pilot group. This Group has the mandate of proposing enhancements to the existing international industrial design classification system. The Group is working to improve searching within the classification system and to produce more effective search results.

Bibliographic data and processing

Designs are searchable by class and are organized according to the Canadian Industrial Design Classification Standard.

Translating
Since April 1st 2008 registered Industrial Design titles are translated into French or English depending on the language of the application.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The Canadian industrial design prior art search file comprises approximately 132,000125, 000 registered designs.

All registered designs are stored electronically in ‘DesignPlus’. Access to these registered designs is available for public search via the CIPO’s web site (Industrial Design Database).

The Industrial Design Division maintains a searchable record of registered industrial designs as follows:

On-Line Electronic search file All designs registered in the ‘DesignPlus’ system, this search file includes the application as registered (owner name/address, title, description, agent and/or representative for service in Canada), drawings, and bibliographic data (filing date, priority date, registration date, classification). Registrations are searchable by registration number, title, agent name, owner name, and by class.

Microfiche / CD-rom search file: For designs registered prior to June 2002, this search file includes microfiche and CD copies of the registration certificate, the application as registered, assignments and maintenance documents. It is maintained in numerical order by registration number.

Paper correspondence file: This search file includes a complete file document history including prosecution and correspondence. These files are maintained in numerical order by application number.

Index cards: For designs registered prior to June 2002, an alphabetical index card system arranged by owner, assignee and licensee is maintained as a means of obtaining the registration number of a particular design.

Updating

The Canadian industrial design prior art search file is updated on a daily basis.

The online searchable database available on CIPO’s website is updated weekly (every Thursday night).

Storage, including mass storage media

Industrial design documents are currently stored electronically in ‘DesignPlus’, as well as on paper, microfiche, and CD-ROM.

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file

CIPO maintains a collection of WIPO International Design Bulletins and United States patent gazettes

V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs

In-house systems (online/offline)

In June 2002 the industrial design processes were automated with the implementation of DesignPlus. Today the system contains bibliographic design data dating back to 1861, including pending and registered designs. DesignPlus is used within the office to manage the overall industrial design process, including classification, search, examination, assignments and maintenance. The system supports such specific office processes as preparing correspondence and updating information.

In July 2007, an electronic industrial design filing component was added to allow clients to file their applications electronically over the internet. For all client front-ends, the information is checked for completeness, the information is transferred to the Office via the Internet and the information is automatically loaded into Designplus.

In November 2007 a complete on-line database was launched on the CIPO website allowing clients to search all industrial design registrations dating back to 1861.

All industrial design employees have access to the system via an internal, Local Area Network (LAN).

External databases

CIPO uses a web based search system “DesignFinder” for Industrial design searches. The Canadian Industrial Design data is available on this database for external client use.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)

DesignPlus is integrated with an EIS (Executive Information System). This EIS system provides detailed and comprehensive reports used for tracking and monitoring industrial design processes. Information on the production volumes and turnaround times can be obtained from the EIS system.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used

DesignPlus System is a client/server system with the client component developed using SQL*Forms 6 and the Oracle 10g database residing on a UNIX (HP-US) server. A NFS disk area on the main server is used to hold the design images. This allows client workstations to access the designs within the client interface, while storing all design images under the control of the main server. Novell file servers are used for electronic mail and for sharing common files.

SERVER HP 9000 series model HP RP4410
• Operating System HP-UX 11.23
• 935 GB HardDisk, 8GB RAM
• Oracle RDMS V 10.2.0.3
• Oracle SQL*Net V 9
• Microfocus server express 5.0
• TCP/IP
• Image Converter: Alchemy 1.13
• Electronic Forms Generator: JF Central 5.4.1

CLIENT WORKSTATION
• Pentium based (min 3.2 GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB disk)
• 2 SVGA monitors 22” LCD
• MS-Windows XP Professional Version 2 Service Pack 3, Word 2003,
• SQL-Forms 6
• ViewNow NFS (Network File System)
• Ascent Capture
• Some workstations with Bar-code readers and/or scanners

PRINTERS
• Lexmark T644 network printers

NETWORK
• TCP/IP
• 1gb between server and switches
• 100 mb between switches and workstations

VI. Administration of industrial design information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security

The Industrial Design Division within the Copyright and Industrial Design Branch of CIPO manages the industrial design product line. The primary function is the registration of exclusive industrial design rights and the maintenance of the Canadian Register of Industrial Designs. The Division also provides certified documents for use in civil proceedings and criminal investigations, furnishes information to the public by making the registers accessible, answers detailed questions, distributes information materials, advises on appropriate legislative change, and manages new and revised regulations.

CIPO has consolidated the public access areas (search rooms) of the various IP products (patents, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies) into a single Client Service Centre. This Client Service Centre houses both the manual search collections as well as access to the automated search systems. The Client Service Centre is available to the public during normal office hours, 8:30-17:00 at its Headquarters located in Gatineau, Québec.

Information Officers are available in the Client Service Centre to assist the public in all aspects of their IP requirements.

Collection management, preservation

The Industrial Design Division maintains a complete historical register in electronic form for designs registered since 1861, as well as on microfiche and CD-ROM. Archival material is disposed of in accordance with National Library and National Archives requirements.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

Public access to the search functionality of the Industrial Design Database DesignPlus is available in the Client Service Center.

The Industrial Design online searchable database is available to the public on the internet via CIPO website.

The Guide to Industrial Designs and the Industrial Design Office Practices manual can be found under the Industrial Design link of the CIPO website.
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr02300.html

The Canadian Classification Manual can be found under the Industrial Design Database link of the CIPO website.
http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/id/dsplySrch.do?lang=eng

URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications

www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/id

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to industrial designs; opposition and appeal procedures related to industrial designs; etc.

www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/id

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., industrial design search service(s) and industrial design databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/iddatabase

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information

Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape

CIPO is presently providing industrial design data to an external database search provider (Questel).

VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

The Information Branch of CIPO is responsible for coordinating and carrying out activities related to promoting the benefits of intellectual property and disseminating the associated technological and business information to Canadians. Like other product lines of CIPO, the Industrial Design Division provides input on publications (paper or web) destined for clients pertaining to industrial design.

Training courses for national and foreign participants

The Industrial Design Office provides information to visiting delegates from developing countries during the WIPO/CIPO Workshops hosted by CIPO every spring.

Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)