Annual Technical Report 2011 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by China (CWS/ATR/ID/2011/CN)
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
In 2011, SIPO received 521,468 design applications, a 23.8% increase compared to 2010, while designs granted were 380,290, with a 13.4% increase.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
No statistics.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs
Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/tjxx/
English：http://english.sipo.gov.cn/statistics/
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
Nowadays, SIPO not only promotes the electronic publication of patent information on the Internet, but also keeps the traditional medium of paper.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
Patent gazettes for designs
Patent gazettes for designs are published in paper and JPG formats once a week with the bibliographic data, representations, legal status, indexes, etc.
Design patent offprint
Design patent offprint is printed by color digital printing technology, and published together with the gazettes once a week.
Certificates of design patents
Certificates for design patents are issued periodically.
Mass storage media and microforms used
The above-mentioned documents are stored in the medium of DVD and HDD.
Databases and office automation
The Design databases are set up to provide search service for examiners, which can also be accessible on the official website.
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
Design gazette: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zwgs/zlgb/
Design Search: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zljs/
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)
Design patents are classified according to the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) without using any other classification systems.
Reclassification activities are not developed.
Bibliographic data and processing
The bibliographic data and representations of design patents granted since 1985 are provided.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
The bibliographic data and representations of design patents granted since 1985 are added to the search file, which can be retrievable from the design databases.
Updating
The search file is updated weekly or every two weeks.
Storage, including mass storage media
The above-mentioned file is stored in magnetic disk arrays and backuped with magnetic tapes.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
Via data exchange and purchase, SIPO collects the design documentations from multiple countries, regions and international organizations, and adds the data in the search file.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
D-System
CN, JP, KR, US and WO files are included in the databases. It provides with search entries of bibliographic data and image comparison capability. Examiners can access the system by B/S to retrieve the desired information.
External databases
No activities.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
E system
The Electronic Examination System（E system），which was officially put into practice on 10 February 2010, is a system covering whole procedure of patent document examination based on codified document and has integrated the functions of patent filing, flow management, examination, publishing, reexamination, invalidation, inquiring, supervising and statistics. The ratio of electronic filing in Dec.2011 reached 77.8%.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
Examiners can access the Intranet with 10Gbps core switch and 100Mbps link to desktops for the network resources.
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
Patent Documentation Library
Patent Documentation Library offers documents reading, inquiry, search, replication and training services and is equipped with 60 computers for the public to access SIPO’s intranet and Internet information resources.
Intellectual Property Library
The Intellectual Property Library collects domestic and international intellectual property books, journals and electronic publications.
Science and Technology Library
The Science and Technology Library collects domestic and international technical books, journals and electronic publications commonly used in the design examination.
Collection management, preservation
Books are preserved with the storage number and classifications and put on shelves.
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)
The public service provided by SIPO includes:
Call center
The center offers information consultation to the public free of charge by face-to-face, telephone, online and mail.
Official website
The official website of SIPO offers search and inquiry services in both Chinese and English. Over 1.7 million records of Chinese patent data since 1985(including industrial design) are made available to the general public. In 2011, the official website of SIPO received 3.89 billion hits in total.
Patent search and service system (for the public)
In April 2011, SIPO launched patent search and service system (for the public), providing search and analysis function of patent documentation of SIPO and other Offices.
Local Patent Information Center
SIPO has set up 47 local patent information centers across the country and provided them with patent data. These centers provide search and inquiry services for the public.
Local Patent Receiving Offices
SIPO has set up Local Patent Receiving Offices in 24 cities all over the country in order to accept patent filings and provide inquiry service for the public.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications
SIPO provides the following website for the online filing http://www.cponline.gov.cn/.
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.
Chinese:
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zlsqzn/sqq/;
English:
http://english.sipo.gov.cn/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380173.html
http://english.sipo.gov.cn/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380170.html
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
Information Products
"China Patent Specification" optical disk, which collects images of designs since 1985.
"China Patent Abstract Databases" optical disk, which collects bibliographic data of designs since 1985, such as the inventor, publication date, priority, abstract, legal status, etc.
"China Patent gazette" optical disk, which provides gazettes information weekly (see http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zwgs/zlgb/).
"Design" optical disk, which covers design representations since 1998, using electronic scanning technology to present the representations in black/white, gray-scale and color.
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/xxcp/zlwxgp/200804/t20080407_370310.html
Search services
SIPO offers the following search systems on its official website for the public to retrieve designs:
Patent search: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zljs/
Patent search and service system (for the public)
In April 2011, SIPO launched patent search and service system (for the public), providing search and analysis function of patent documentation of SIPO and other Offices.
www.pss-system.gov.cn
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
In 2011, SIPO has exchanged documents with 37 authorities and organizations, and sent patent specifications (including full text of industrial design specifications) to 13 authorities (of 37), official gazettes (including industrial design information) to 12 authorities (of 37). In the mean time, SIPO has collected industrial design information products from multiple authorities through exchange, including products in the form of paper and CD or DVD.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
In 2011, SIPO has provided industrial design information through patent specifications and official gazettes in the medium of DVD.
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.)
No activities.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
In 2011, 119 training seminars were held, benefiting 44,000 trainees.
In 2011, SIPO added five more long distance learning courses, and released 49 courses on line in total. SIPO also designed nearly 100 courses for 30,000 trainees.
In 2011, SIPO built ten more sub sites of distance learning.
In 2011, SIPO held 25 international training, seminars and lectures. 1261 people attended the activities.
Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
No activities.
IX.Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
provide information on legislation related to industrial designs
Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/zcfg/
Chinese：http://search.sipo.gov.cn/sipo/zljs/searchflzt.jsp
English： http://english.sipo.gov.cn/laws/
contain the Annual Report of the Office
Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/gk/
English：http://english.sipo.gov.cn/laws/
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn
English： http://english.sipo.gov.cn/news/
provide open source codes related to industrial design information systems
No activities.
contain industrial design-related news regarding the Office
Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/
English： http://english.sipo.gov.cn/news/
X. Other relevant matters