Annual Technical Report 2012 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Lithuania (CWS/ATR/ID/2012/LT)
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
35 registrations for 69 designs, including 33 registrations of Lithuanian owners for 53
designs, 2 registrations for 16 designs of foreign owners, were registered in 2012
At the end of 2012 1,934 design registrations, applications for which have been filed by national and international route, also 603,547 Community designs registered in the EU Community design register were in effect in Lithuania.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
In the year 2012 the Lithuanian applicants have filed design applications in the following areas:
packages and containers for transportation and storage of goods (class 9) – 12; sales and advertising systems, marks (class 20) – 5; articles of clothing and haberdashery (class 2) – 3; furniture (class 6) – 3; ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, solid fuel (class 23) – 2; articles of adornment (class 11)- 3; building units and construction elements (class 25) -3; stationary and office equipment, artists’ and teaching material (class 19) -2; household goods, not elsewhere specified (class 7) -1; apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water equipment for production (class 12)-1; recording, communication or information retrieval equipment (class 14) – 1, fluid distribution equipment, sanitary, heating, , lighting apparatus (class 26) – 2; games, toys, tents and sports goods (class 21) – 3, articles for the care and handling of animals (class 30) - 1.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs
Statistics of the year 2012 (national design applications and national designs, national designs in force) has been provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321)
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
Information on designs has been published in the SPB Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks, which was published in an electronic format and has been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245).
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
The SPB Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks contained announcements published in 2012:
FG9L Registrations published in accordance with Article 21 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
TC9L, TA9L, PD9Y,TC9Y, TH9Y Changes in the Register of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with Article 29 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania
MM9L Registrations lapsed in accordance with Article 30 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MK9L Expiration of Registrations in accordance with the Article 34 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9L Renewal of registration of the design in accordance with Article 35 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9L Transfer of the design in accordance with Article 40 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9L Licensing (sublicensing) in accordance with Article 41 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
TK9L Rectifications
Sections of the Official Bulletin have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17
Databases and office automation
The SPB provide database of national and international design registration on it's website free of charge.
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
The State Patent Bureau of the Republic of the Republic of Lithuania (SPB) published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245) the Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks and on its website
(http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=263) Database of the Design of the Republic of Lithuania
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)
Registrations have been classified in accordance with the ninth edition of International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification).
Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of Data (INID Codes) relating to designs were used in the Register of Designs of the Republic of Lithuania and at SPB Official Bulletin Inventions,Designs, Trademarks in 2012
Bibliographic data and processing
The SPB Official Bulletin Sections have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
The SPB website Designs Database has been an exact copy of the data stored in the Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania and contained data on designs registered and application filed directly with the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania.The bibliographical data of industrial design were stored in CS software.Files are stored in paper format.
Storage, including mass storage media
The bibliographical data of industrial design were stored in CS software.Files are stored in paper format.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
Industrial Property search and other services have been also provided by Patent Information Centre of Lithuanian Technical Library (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm).
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
The SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) the Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
In 2012, SPB published on website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245) the Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
The work area of the Lithuanian Patent Office requires the use of many information technology facilities. In 2012 the Patent Office had 60 computer workplaces, supplied with the required software, external devices and means for data communication
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 Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania was open to public access only in the following forms:
Extract from the Register (on request);
SPB Official Bulletin.
Design Database on SPB website free of charge.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications
It is not possible to file design applications with the SPB electronically. Some documents related to the Register of Design could be filed electronically.
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.
http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?n=169&l=lt (only in Lithuanian)
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
http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?n=169&l=lt and http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?n=473&l=lt (in Lithuanian only)
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
Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks has been published on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245).
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
information concerning the Lithuanian industrial design on machine-readable carriers is not being forwarded to our exchange partners
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.)
On April 2012 the State Patent Bureau in collaboration with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has organized conference “Intellectual property protection: 20 years in WIPO”. The aims of the conference were to review the results of the Republic of Lithuania membership in WIPO, evaluate the changes that were made to national intellectual property law during the membership in the international organizations and appraise the impact on Lithuanian economic environment; review national intellectual property laws and the international agreements on intellectual property laws that take effect in Lithuania.
On December 2012 in cooperation with Office for Harmonization of the Internal Market of European Union (OHIM) a seminar “Impact of EU Court of Justice judgments on the development of trademark protection in the European Union " took place in Vilnius. Representatives of the SPB participated at the information day “How to protect trademarks and designs in Lithuania and EU” organized by Kaunas Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts and “Open-door” days which took place at the patent information centres in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Šiauliai .
Training courses for national and foreign participants
In 2012 the State Patent Bureau continued cooperation with patent services of other states. Employees of the SPB had business visits to patent services of Serbia, Croatia and Poland and also attended events organized by the national patent officies of other states in Tallinn and Riga.
Representatives of the SPB attended meetings of managers and experts of the patent services of Northern and Baltic states.
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
SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?n=296&l=en) provided information on legislation related to designs
contain the Annual Report of the Office
The Annual Review of the Office has been included on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?l=en&n=318).
X. Other relevant matters