CWS.ATR.PI.2010.RU

Annual Technical Report 2010 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (CWS/ATR/PI/2010/RU)

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 term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

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

The main trends in the development of activities in the field of patent information are defined by the Comprehensive Plan for Development of the Rospatent System up to 2015, the Rospatent Computerization Plan for 2010, and the Plan of Measures by the Federal State Institution Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) for the enhancement and development of its activities for 2010.
The main trends in the Plans include:
- the creation for natural persons and legal entities of conditions assisting the fuller implementation by them of the rights for the protection of the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization, and their enforcement;
- a reduction in the time taken to examine applications, bearing in mind the forecast growth in the volume of such applications received;
- provision of high-quality examination and documents granting protection issued;
- increased effectiveness of information technology resources within the Rospatent system;
- formation of a State patent collection and provision of access thereto;
- training of specialists in the field of protection and use of intellectual property;
- implementation of monitoring in the sphere of legal protection and use of results of scientific research, design and technological work for civilian purposes, financed by the Federal Budget;
- implementation of international cooperation.
Depending on the type of measure, the anticipated deadlines for their implementation are planned between 2010 and 2015.

New projects undertaken or continued in 2010, within the aforementioned activities and plans, and a short description thereof: aims, partners and tasks

In 2010 Rospatent began to use for industrial purposes in all examiners' workplaces the Information-Search System (ISS), PatSearch, to examine inventions and utility models. The PatSearch system is a professional search system for patent office examiners carrying out searches when examining inventions and utility models.

In 2010, with the assistance of the firms Fujitsu Siemens and Limited Liability Company "ARK Kommersal'", work was completed to transfer software and data contained in the Automated Data Base systems, Electronic Applications Archive and PCT Applications Library to the program-apparatus platform, Prime Power 1500, and Webuilder 3/3 for UniVerse for OS Solaris 10 FS Prime Power licenses were also acquired and activated, thereby significantly increasing the productivity of the systems in question, enabling them to operate in a stable manner and reducing the labor input of the staff using those systems.

The systems software for prosecuting applications for inventions and utility models (Automated Databases and Electronic Applications Archive), relating to the expansion of the administrative structure of FIPS and a change in the technology used for examining utility model applications, which now enables applications for inventions and utility models to be examined in sectoral examination divisions (previously utility models were examined by an individual subdivision), was modernized. Work was also done to redistribute collections of applications to newly created subdivisions in accordance with the subjects for the examination of applications.

In 2010 experimental operation of the Unified System for the Accounting of Fees was undertaken as part of the use of electronic bank payments relating to the examination of inventions, utility models and industrial designs, and maintenance of patents in force, using web services as means of integration of the prosecution systems for Automated Databases and the automated Fees system. The results of the operation confirmed that it is possible to transfer to a system of fee accounting, using verification that payments have reached the FIPS account, the legal effect for which the fee was paid has been achieved and also the state of payments has been verified.

Work was done to modernize the Electronic PCT Applications Library automated system, allowing Receiving Office notifications to be produced for amended templates (about 40 notifications), the search parameters for international applications to be expanded and statistical reports on PCT applications filed to be produced. A test transfer was done of packets of data with PCT application materials to the WIPO International Bureau, using the SFTP data exchange protocol and means for the electronic exchange of PCT EDI data.

Work was completed on and operational use made of the first installment of an automated system for the paperless prosecution of the examination of inventions - a subsystem for the filing and receipt of electronic applications for inventions (BDEI I Automated System). The subsystem creates a personal office for an applicant, provides him with software for the compilation, editing and dispatch of application materials, and gives the documents dispatched legally significant status using ETSP, as well as providing automated interaction with an applicant as part of the process of filing and receiving applications. The BDEI I Automated System has been integrated into the FIPS operational-program environment as part of the automated database systems and the Electronic Archive. The functions of the subsystem include the preparation and verification of invention application documents and data, the signing of a packet of ETSP documents and their dispatch to the Office, the receipt of a notification on the acceptance and registration of applications from the Office, the provision of a personal office for applicants, etc. As part of the development of the BDEI I Automated System, a system of information protection has been introduced, to operate against the unsanctioned access thereto, attempts at encroachment and virus attacks through the organization of a protected SSL VPN channel, which provides for safe interaction between an external user (through the Internet) and the in-house FIPS network.

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year

Table 1 (see attachment) shows the data for 2009-2010 for the filing of applications for and grant of Russian Federation patents for inventions.

The patents granted for inventions in 2010 were distributed according to the sections of the International Patent Classification (IPC) as it is shown in Table 2.

In 2010, the same distribution trends were preserved according to the Sections of the IPC as in 2009. The largest number of patents for inventions in 2010 was granted to Russian applicants, for Section A of the IPC - Human Necessities; and to foreign applicants for Section B - Performing Operations and Transporting.

The least popular among both Russian and foreign applicants was Section D - Textiles and Paper. The number of patents granted under this Section in 2010 constituted in total 1.06 per cent of the overall number of patents granted for inventions.

For information on utility models, please see Table 3. In 2010 the positive trend in the receipt of utility model applications was preserved, although the number of certificates (patents) granted decreased (by 3.1 per cent).

Table 4 contains the data for the distribution of utility model certificates (patents) according to sections of the IPC. The leading Section of the IPC in 2010 was once again Section B - Performing Operations and Transporting, and in second place Section A - Human Necessities. The one in least demand remained Section D - Textiles and Paper (according to the number of certificates granted it is the least numerous) and also Section C - Chemistry and Metallurgy.

PI_overview

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to patents

As of July 1, 2010, the Rospatent site (www.rupto.ru) and the FIPS site (www.fips.ru) have functioned separately in order to bring them into compliance with the requirements of Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 8-FZ, on Provision of Access to Information on Activities of State Authorities and Local Government, of February 9, 2009, and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 953 on Provision of Access to Information on Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation and Federal Executive Authorities, of November 24, 2009.

The following webpage addresses on Office sites contain:
• information on patent legislation - Normative Documents section http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/norm_doc.htm;
• Office Annual Report - Rospatent Annual Reports section
http://www.rupto.ru/about/sod/otchety.html;
• statistical information - Rospatent Annual Reports section ;
Statistical information on the use of intellectual property heading:
http://www.rupto.ru/rosp_reg/sod/Statistika/Stat_infa.html.

Monitoring of qualitative and quantitative indicators of the main activities of FIPS for 2010 is provided on the FIPS site in the Main FIPS Activities section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/osn_deyat;

• information on open sources relating to patent information systems - References section
http://www.rupto.ru/ssilki/ssilki.htm;
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources/;
• Rospatent News: http://www.rupto.ru/news/news.htm;
• FIPS News: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/news/.

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)

Table 5 contains information on the main types of Office publications in the field of patent information, carriers, and also the frequency of publications.

The Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system and the corresponding paper gazette are distributed by subscription. The last three Gazettes are available on the Rospatent site.

PI_publications

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

The forms of notifications concerning inventions and utility models, published in the Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes are described in Table 6.

PI_announcements

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data

The web page addresses on Office sites, which provide information relating to Office publications, are:

• the Administrative Regulations for performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions relating to the keeping of registers of registered intellectual property subject matter, publication of information on registered intellectual property subject matter, applications filed and patents and certificates granted therefor, on the validity, termination and renewal of validity of legal protection in relation to intellectual property subject matter, the transfer of rights in protectable subject matter, and the official registration of intellectual property subject matter
http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/prikaz/minobrnauka/346_07/Po_vedeniyu_reestrov_zaregistrirovannih_obektov.htm#1.
• Regulations on official publications of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks in the Patent-Information Products section.
http://www1_fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/publication_act ;
• Rospatent Annual Reports
http://www.rupto.ru/about/sod/otchety.html ;
• Prospectus of publications and databases in the Patent-Information Products section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/ .

Web page addresses on the Office site, which provide access to online publications, are:

• Inventions and Utility Models in the Electronic Gazettes section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/electron_bulletins/inventions_utility_models/ ;
• In the Information Resources section, International Classifications
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/international_classification/ ;
Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/ subsections
From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the corresponding link:
Register of Inventions of the Russian Federation
Register of Utility Models of the Russian Federation
Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Invention Patent
Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Utility Model Patent.

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

In 2010, abstracts continued to be published in Russian and English for RF patents granted for inventions as part of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents and English-language abstracts on an electronic carrier with search system (CD/DVD). In addition, abstracts in Russian are published as part of the publication Descriptions of inventions for RF patents on paper (identical to publications on an electronic carrier).

In order to gain access to foreign patent documentation, examiners use the automated text translation system, PROMT, with collections of specialized dictionaries for translation needs (English - Russian - English, French - Russian - French, German - Russian - German, Spanish - Russian - Spanish and Italian - Russian). Following modernization of the PROMT system, its latest version is now accessible from all examiners' work spaces. Work is being done to create and supplement patent-oriented user dictionaries on examination-related subjects for subsequent use in the PROMT system.

In order to enhance the quality and comfort of work for examiners and other categories of users with foreign patent documentation at FIPS appropriate measures are taken for the effective use of automated resources for translation from foreign languages.

In this regard, an automated translation from a foreign language is assumed to be of acceptable quality, if the result of the translation into Russian is comprehensible to a specialist in the corresponding subject field.

In order to provide automated translation, the automated translation system, PROMT, with a series of subject-related dictionaries has been acquired and is being used on an industrial scale.

For the most complex and important subjects (medicine, chemistry, biotechnology), VPTB employees have prepared an extended version of specialized subject dictionaries for subsequent downloading and use within the PROMT system (in addition to a specialized series of terms, more than 30,000 dictionary units have been prepared for translation from German to Russian and from Russian to German).

Work has begun on the translation into Russian, on an experimental basis, of the abstracts of the information firm Thomson Reuters.

In the future, Russian-language abstracts are to be uploaded into the automated patent-information system, PatSearch.

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), and reclassification³ activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

In the middle of 2010 scientific and terminological processing of amendments and updates to all sections of IPC, in preparation for the expanded level of the new edition IPC-2010.01, was completed. A Russian-language version of the whole classification, for the new edition IPC-2011.01, was prepared. It was published in electronic form.

Information on all the corrections made to the Russian-language version of IPC was brought to the attention of examiners.

The national collection of patent documents relating to IPC headings subject to the changes in question was reclassified. Information on the reclassification of all sections of IPC was entered into the MCD database.

In 2010 only the expanded version of the IPC was used for the publication of patent documents.

In 2010, the following materials were prepared and sent to WIPO:

- comments on the creation of definitions for IPC sub-classes in the area relating to the manufacture of matches (draft D203, sub-class C06F), relating to the introduction of medicines into the human organism (draft D104, sub-class A61M) and inspecting earth or rock drilling (draft A037, E21B 47/00);
- comments on a draft of A037 of the revised version of the classification schemes of IPC in areas relating to research or inspection of earth or rock drilling (draft A037, E21B 47/00), design of stents (draft A042, A61F, 2/00), non-woven fabrics and their manufacture (draft F003, sub-class D04H), and also in the area of security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorized activity (draft A044, G06F 21/00);
- comments on method-related support for IPC texts in the area of the manufacture of matches (draft M721, sub-class C06F);
- proposal by a reviewer for method-related support for IPC texts in the field of meteorology (draft M722, sub-class G01W);
- report by a reviewer on the creation of definitions for sub-classes relating to sub-class G03H Holography (draft D218).

In 2010, FGU FIPS examiners provided full hybrid system indexes on national documents on all publications.

In 2010, preparatory classification of applications received by FGU FIPS was continued, to which the primary IPC classification index is applied in order for such applications to be sent to the corresponding examination division for the conduct of a substantive examination.

When PCT applications are received from a Receiving Office by the International Searching Authority for the purposes of carrying out an international search thereon, an examiner applies to the application the primary general classification index, which corresponds to the class or sub-class under the IPC heading, for the purposes of determining the sectoral division to which the subjects of a given class or sub-class relate.

Hybrid system indexing

In 2010, FIPS examiners provided full hybrid system indexes on national documents on all publications.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

Storage, including mass storage media

In 2010 the State Patent Collection (GPF) included patent documentation in electronic form from patent Offices in 57 countries and six international organizations.

The collection on optical disks is stored in metal cupboards, based on the principle of geographical chronology. The collections of disks in greatest demand are stored on the display class server. The All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) collection on electronic carriers (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-R) is supplied on 32,500 disks and is accessible to a wide range of users, including examiners.

During the past few years, many foreign patent Offices have stopped issuing patent documentation on optical disks.
Users basically work with patent documentation from such Offices by means of remote access.

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

In 2010, the multi-functional patent-information system, PatSearch, was brought into operation at Rospatent. National and foreign patent documentation from 30 countries in the world is downloaded into this system from optical disks as it arrives.

In 2010, information was loaded into the PatSearch system from all arrays of patent documentation of PCT minimum countries, and also a basic array of extended abstracts and bibliographies from the firm Derwent (Thomson Reuters) DWPI - 40 million documents. This array is the basic source of the search index. Arrays of patent documentation from the USSR and Russian Federation, CIS, PCT, EPO, United States of America, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Austria, Australia, ARIPO, OAPI, Republic of Korea, English-language abstracts and facsimile copies of documents from Japan and other countries are loaded into the system. In total, more than 20 million patent documents are in the original language. A review of the full descriptions of patent documents, not yet downloaded into the system, but found according to the DWPI index, is provided in the system by means of integrated online access to EPO arrays. A search of non-patent literature is made through integrated access to the external digital library, E-library, and the largest database of non-patent literature in the world, SCOPUS. The majority of arrays are presented in the form of facsimiles of patent descriptions and required huge amounts of memory to be accommodated—several tens of TB.

System search arrays
DWPI array
Descriptions of USSR inventions from 1924 to 1993
Descriptions of Russian Federation inventions from 1994 to date
Claims of Russian Federation utility models from No. 1 to date
Claims of Russian invention applications
Unpublished Russian invention applications
Abstracts of patent documents from leading countries in the world in English (DWPI)
Descriptions of inventions from PCT minimum countries (from 1976 - 1998 to date) including:
PCT applications
EPO
United States of America
Japan
Germany
United Kingdom
Canada
France
Austria
Australia
Switzerland
Republic of Korea
ARIPO
OAPI
Descriptions of inventions from CIS countries with abstracts in Russian (CISPATENT)
A total of more than 80 million patent documents.
Additionally, there is the possibility of searching the EPO system, Espacenet.

V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

In-house systems (online/offline)

In 2010, the main array of national and foreign patent documentation was available to examiners on-line at their computerized workplaces.

Firstly, this was the FGU FIPS in-house search system, PatSearch, a new version of which was brought into operation in 2010. Currently, the system includes arrays of patent documents from Russia and the USSR, patent documentation from CIS countries, and the WPI database and arrays of foreign documents included in the PCT minimum documentation. In addition, the search for non-patent literature is supported in the PatSearch system in the SCOPUS database of the Elsevier Publishing House, and also in the E.LIBRARY.Ru database on the site of the RFFI Scientific Electronic Library.

Where difficulties arise with searches or in case of the need to carry out searches of additional and fee-paying arrays of patent and non-patent information, two special search rooms are used. In search rooms, examiners may conduct searches of commercial databases not accessible from their workstations, including national (for example VINITI) and foreign (for example, STN system) databases, and also any databases and search systems on the Internet.

External databases

For information searches of applications for the grant of invention patents, FIPS examiners use, in addition to the in-house Rospatent search system, PatSearch, databases of patent offices, freely available on the Internet, and a number of databases containing non-patent documentation, which examiners may search from their workstations.

To obtain additional patent information, examiners in most cases refer to the databases of the patent offices of the European Patent Organization (EPO), United States of America, Japan, Republic of Korea, China and WIPO, as well as the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) search system, EAPATIS.

To obtain data from application materials of the patent offices of Japan and the Republic of Korea (as part of the RRN accelerated prosecution program), FIPS examiners have access to the AIPN and K-PION databases at the Institute's IP-address.

Of the freely available databases of non-patent literature, in most cases examiners consult databases from their workstations relating to medicine and pharmaceuticals of the United States National Library, PubMed, and the polythematic database, SCOPUS, of the Elsevier publishing house.

In addition to databases freely available from all workplaces for conducting searches of applications, FIPS examiners are given the possibility to conduct searches of commercial databases. These include:

• databases provided through the STN International network. In most cases examiners use databases on chemistry (REGISTRY, Chemical Abstract (CA), BEILSTEIN, CASREACT, CHEMICATS, etc) and medicine (EMBASE, BIOSIS);
• a Russian-language abstract database of patent and non-patent scientific and technical information of the All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (VINITI);
• the patent documents of Japan database in English, PATOLIS-e, provided by the company Questel.

Access for FIPS examiners to commercial databases is provided in a specially equipped "online searches and consultations" room, and unlimited Internet access - also in the teaching and computer search room. In both rooms, highly qualified employees provide consultations and method-related assistance in conducting searches and, where necessary, carry out searches jointly with examiners. Access for examiners to the "online searches and consultations room" is usually provided in complex cases, i.e.: if the use of online resources is required for search purposes, access to which is not possible from examiners' workstations, or if an examiner does not have sufficient qualifications in carrying out searches of any database.

During 2010, in the "online searches and consultations room", more than 1,500 such complex searches were made. The majority of them were in the STN network databases.

Retraining in search qualifications is constantly provided for examiners by teaching those examiners to use databases available in the teaching and computer search room, primarily the FIPS search system - PatSearch. For examiners who have recently joined FIPS, courses are also provided with training in the use of patent databases freely available on the Internet.

In order to improve the supply of information to examiners, online databases are studied constantly, which may be of use in conducting information searches, and method-related guidelines are prepared for examiners on how to use those databases. In 2010, Recommendations were compiled and distributed among examiners concerning searches of the DWPI database on the platform of the FIPS in-house PatSearch search system.

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

In 2010, as a result of changes to normative documents and the issue of a number of administrative regulations on the implementation by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions, and also as a result of the issue of new Regulations on Fees, a large-scale modernization of software for prosecution systems for inventions, utility models and industrial designs in the FIPS automated databases was undertaken, enabling verification that the requirements of the documents in question were complied with.

In 2010, the main volume of work to transfer software and data contained in automated database systems, the Electronic Applications Archive, and the PCT Applications Library to the program-apparatus platform Prime Power 1500 was undertaken, Webuilder 3/3 for UniVerse for OS Solaris 10 FS Prime Power licenses were also acquired and activated, thereby significantly increasing the productivity of the systems in question, enabling them to operate in a stable manner and reducing the labor input of staff using those systems.

In 2010, an information search system for the examination of inventions and utility models, PatSearch, was brought into experimental operation in all examiners' workplaces.

The Automated Databank system, intended for the purposes of prosecuting applications and documents providing protection for inventions and utility models has subsystems which manage the work of an examiner and auxiliary staff, and also for obtaining statistical information relating to different aspects of the activities of the subdivisions of Rospatent.

The statistical subsystems allow more than 300 different forms of reports on the activities of Office subdivisions to be compiled.

All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on the current legal status, which is renewed three times a month.

Automated database subsystems for defining legal status use data from official publications containing information on new registered documents providing protection or on amendments. Following publication of the ordinary Gazette, data on legal status are displayed on the Rospatent site in the Information Resources section. For inventions and utility models, the status of a patent has the designation “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “terminated validity but may be restored” and “terminated validity”.

Information on the legal status of inventions and utility models is published in the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes (on CV/DVD), in paper gazettes, and is posted on the Rospatent site:
- information on the grant of patents for inventions and utility models;
- information on the insertion of amendments in published information on applications for inventions and changes made in the recording in State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models of the Russian Federation (Notifications section of the Gazette).

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

Equipment used:
Prime Power 1500 server
(OM-32 GB, processors - 14, external memory - 24TB)
HP DL380 server - 40 units.
(OM-4GB, processors - 2, external memory 200GB)
HP DL580 server - 18 units.
(OM16-GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600GB)
HP P4 Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 1480 units.
Switching equipment;
Cisco 6500, Cisco 4507.

Software:
Solaris, Windows XP operating systems,
Windows 2003 Server.

Carriers used:
SDLT and Ultrium magnetic tapes.

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings

The All-Russian Patent Technology Library of the Federal State Institution, Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS VPTB), which is part of the system of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks, compiles and keeps the State Patent Collection (GPF).

GPF is one of the largest collections of patent documentation and information in the world.

The main components of GPF are the Patent Examination Collection (FPE), designed to serve only State examiners, and the Central Patent Collection (TSPF), designed to serve all categories of users of patent information (including examiners).

The structure and content of FPE are defined by its purpose, by the tasks resolved on that basis, and regulated by Rule 34 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and also bilateral inter-Office agreements and conventions.

In structural terms, FPE consists of current and retrospective portions of collections of national and foreign patent documentation, a collection of patent-related literature, including scientific and technical literature in the form of books and periodicals, and also a collection of patent-law, standard-setting and method-related, and reference literature. FPE patent documentation on paper is arranged according to IPC groups, within headings by country, within countries by year of publication, and thereafter in numerical order.

FPE national patent documentation on paper includes descriptions of inventions of the USSR (from 1924 onwards), descriptions of RF inventions and utility models (applications, patents and certificates), and the Official Gazettes of the USSR and Russian Federation to date.

National patent documentation is compiled in separate collections (documentation of the USSR, Russian Federation and a collection of descriptions for RF utility models).

The current portion of the Collection is updated annually both with national and foreign patent documentation. In 2010, 69,300 copies of patent documentation on a paper carrier were received by FPE, including: 8,600 copies of foreign documentation and 60,700 copies of national documentation. The overall volume of FPE patent documents on a paper carrier stood at about 20 million on January 1, 2010, of which more than two million were national, and also 98,400 were scientific and technical books and journals.

In addition, about 40,000 copies of national patent documents were received on optical disks.

Patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves and on optical disks in special cupboards.

As at January 1, 2011, the foreign patent documentation collection on paper for examiners contained about 17.9 million patent documents from various countries of varying depths, beginning from 1920, and included documentation files from the following countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America, and also WIPO, EPO and EAPO, as well as patent documentation from CIS countries.

In their work examiners also use foreign narrow-thematic, encyclopedic, reference and other patent and non-patent automated databases on optical disks and the Internet.

TSPF is supplied with national and foreign patent documents on all forms of industrial property subject matter, with both full-text descriptions of inventions relating to applications and patents, utility models and industrial designs, as well as abstract and bibliographical information; and also patent-law, dictionary-reference and other information.

FIPS VPTB provides free access without any restrictions to TSPF and serves all categories of users (including examiners) in Russia, and also neighboring and other foreign countries.

The Library premises are equipped with an alarm system and an automatic fire-fighting system.

TSPF includes national (from 1814) and foreign patent documentation collections, abstracts and bibliographies covering all forms of industrial property subject matter, collections of patent-law, standard-setting and method-related, and reference literature, as well as an automated search system for these collections of varying depths.

The main TSPF information sources are official Rospatent publications and patent documentation received through international exchange with patent Offices of foreign countries and other information centers.

The FIPS VPTB’s overall readership stands at more than 22,000; in 2010, 1,400 readers reregistered with the Library and in the past year 82,900 people visited the Library.

More than 31.1 million copies of patent documents were issued to users, including more than 5.9 million copies on paper, 16,000 copies on microcarriers, and more than 25.2 million copies of patent documents on optical disks.

General and specialized reading rooms operate in the FIPS VPTB for the comfort of readers who wish to work. These rooms provide:

- an information-bibliography service;
- patent documentation on paper and microcarriers;
- industrial designs;
- optical disks and remote databases.

Visits to the Library and service for all categories of users are free of charge. In addition to conventional forms of service, in 2010 access for readers to automated databases in the FIPS VPTB was extended and developed. More than 250 different databases are currently in use in TSPF.

FIPS VPTB provides both a fixed service for information users and also a service for remote users, employing all forms of communication currently in existence: post, telephone, facsimile and electronic mail.

In order to simplify access to information resources, VPTB provides patent-information services for remote users according to their requests including a thematic selection of patent documentation, a search by systematic indexes, a search in automated databases, a search for patent-analogs and others, representing more than 40 designated services.

In 2010, for readers visiting FIPS VPTB directly and regional and foreign users by correspondence more than 6,800 patent-information services were provided, including 267,700 pages of copies of patent documentation, which were produced. Currently, more than 353 organizations and private individuals are remote subscribers to FIPS VPTB.

As of January 1, 2011, TSPF had 98 million copies of patent documents on various types of carriers, including a collection of foreign patent documentation - 91 million copies.

In 2010, more than 3.9 million copies of national and foreign patent documents were received by TSPF on optical disks. In this regard, acquisitions of foreign patent documentation on paper ceased.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

In addition to patent documentation, Institute examiners also have access to patent-law, scientific and technical, standard-setting and method-related, reference, encyclopedic and other literature, which is kept up to date constantly, and actively use the search possibilities of the SCOPUS abstract database of the Elsevier Publishing House, access to which is provided through the Institute IP address, and also make broad use of other possibilities provided by the Internet (searching non-patent literature in the E-Library electronic digital library and the various free resources provided by publishing houses). As part of the program of the MTSNTI International Consortium Resource Network, examiners have the opportunity to consult and work, on a trial basis, with the information resources of the leading global publishing houses.

The Institute’s information needs are met through a system of inter-library subscription and the electronic delivery of documents provided by means of agreements with eight leading specialized libraries in Moscow, and also access to foreign remote databases. In 2010, 4,777 publications were received, including 2,191 articles from scientific and technical journals in electronic form from remote databases (including Elsevier, Springer, Infotrive and the British Library).

In 2010, the following were received for GPF: 29,195 scientific and technical books and periodicals (national and foreign official gazettes and journals), including 13,415 in electronic form (on optical disks, downloaded from the Internet etc.), of which 9,929 were foreign copies and 19,266 were national copies.

As at January 1, 2011 the overall volume of the collection was:

- scientific and technical literature (national and foreign books and journals) for FPE - 98,400 copies;
- the collection of patent-law and dictionary-reference publications in TSPF – 81,000 copies;
- the collection of national and foreign periodicals and abstracts in TSPF – 276,800 copies.

On a quarterly basis, information is renewed in an electronic catalog of patent-law literature, Legal Protection of Intellectual Property: National and Foreign Publications, which contains bibliographical descriptions in the original language with annotations in Russian for the period from 1830 to date. As at December 10, 2010 the catalog included more than 113,000 bibliographical records. More than 100 remote users access it on a daily basis.

Collection management, preservation

The main TSPF collections on paper are arranged along geographical-systematic-numerical lines.
The conditions for storing the collections are determined primarily by the type of format:
- patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
- patent documentation on micro carriers – in metal boxes in files-film libraries (microfilm) and in metal cupboards (microfiches);
- patent documentation on optical disks – in special cupboards;
- in automated databases.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

As part of an international exchange, cooperation is conducted with patent libraries of Offices including the Latvian Patent Technology Library, the Patent Library of the Republic of Estonia, the Library of the Patent Office of Austria, the Central Patent Library of the Office of Bulgaria, the Central Patent Technology Library of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Lithuanian Technical Library which sends patent documentation in PDF format by electronic mail, together with other libraries.

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

In 2010, patent information users were provided with the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents on electronic CD/DVD carrier with search system and the corresponding Gazette on paper. They are distributed on subscription, with a frequency of 36 issues per year.

In addition, in the interests of users the following information products were distributed:
An annual index to the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette, on paper - five volumes;
Annual retrospective sets of invention descriptions for USSR authors’ certificates and RF patents, from 1924 to 2009, on DVD (a total of 102 disks);
An information search system for invention descriptions in Russian and English, from 1994 to 2010, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
Title sheets of utility model descriptions for RF documents providing protection, from 1994 to 2010, on DVD - one disk;
Descriptions of utility models for RF documents providing protection from 1994 to 2010 on DVD;
Patent invention descriptions on paper - 30,322 units;
Title sheets of utility model descriptions on paper - 10,582 units;
Rospatent Annual Report for 2009.

An assortment of information products also included the official publication of the International Patent Classification (IPC-2009) in both the basic and expanded levels on CD, and also with a parallel edition on paper in the form of the basic level.

All products on CD and DVD were distributed with MIMOSA software, allowing all forms of patent searches to be carried out.

In 2010, electronic publication of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette continued on the FIPS Internet site and the registers of Russian inventions and utility models were updated with details of their legal status being provided.

Also on the Internet, users are granted free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation invention and utility model patents. Information on the prosecution of applications is available for applications which were received after January 1, 2007.
The FIPS Internet site provided in 2010 an expanded list of databases reflecting the development process for official electronic publications.
On the basis of official information relating to inventions and utility models, thematic databases relating to users’ special orders are produced.

In 2010, on the Rospatent Internet site access was provided to:

registers of Russian patent documents relating to inventions and utility models,
registers containing information on published applications and prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2010 for the grant of invention patents;
registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2010 for the grant of utility model patents;
official Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Gazettes, published during the past month.

Registers of Russian patent documents from Rospatent are compiled on the basis of the following databases:
- a full text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 417,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
- a retrospective database of Russian patent documents in facsimile form (contains information on 1,433,000 patent documents for inventions from 1924 to 1993 inclusive);
- a full-text database of Russian utility models (contains information on 101,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2010 inclusive; updated - once per quarter);
- a database of invention applications filed from 2007 to 2010 (contains information on the prosecution of 163,000 applications; updated - daily);
- a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2010 (contains information on the prosecution of 45,000 applications; updated- -daily).

On the FIPS site users are provided with access to:
an information-search system (ISS) on national patent documentation;
registers of Russian patent documents on all forms of industrial property;
registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed from 2007 to 2010, for the grant of invention and utility model patents;
Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes.

Users of the ISS are provided with access to:
- a full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 417,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
- a retrospective database of Russian patent documents in facsimile form (contains information on 1,433,000 patent documents for inventions from 1924 to 1993 inclusive);
- an abstract database for Russian inventions (contains information on 432,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
- a database of published applications for inventions (contains information on 349,000 applications for inventions from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
- an abstract database for Russian inventions in English (contains information on 440,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
- a full-text database of Russian utility models (contains information on 101,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2010 inclusive; updated - once per quarter);
- an abstract database for Russian utility models (contains information on 101,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2010 inclusive; updated - three times per month);
a Future-oriented inventions database (contains information on 1,000 inventions from 1994 to 2010 inclusive; updated - once per quarter);
- a database for invention applications filed from 2007 to 2010 (contains information on the prosecution of 163,000 applications; updated - daily);
- a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2010 (contains information on the prosecution of 45,000 applications; updated - daily);
- IPC (2010.01) database.

Users’ work with information-search system

Office examiners are given the possibility to work with all inventions and utility models databases.
Access for external users to full-text inventions and utility models databases is granted in return for payment.
Free access to full-text inventions and utility models databases is granted to:
147 organizations participating in the Program of Cooperation of Rospatent with regions of the Russian Federation;
40 organizations participating in the implementation of the State project to develop nanotechnologies;
85 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs;
169 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
10 organizations of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service

External users are provided free of charge with:
in relation to inventions:
abstract databases in Russian and English,
a database of published invention applications,
a future-oriented inventions database,
a full-text database containing documents published in the last three Inventions and Utility Models Gazettes;
the IPC database.

in relation to utility models:
an abstract database;
a database containing documents published in the last three Inventions and Utility Models Gazettes;
the IPC database.

On the Rospatent and FIPS sites access is provided to;
- a database of applications for inventions, filed between 2007 and 2010, which contains information on the prosecution of 163,000 applications, updated daily;

- a database of applications for utility models, filed between 2007 and 2010, which contains information on the prosecution of 45,000 applications, updated daily.

As part of the Electronic Applications Archive system, access is provided to primary application materials for inventions and utility models, versions of application components (claims, descriptions), bibliographical data and versions of documents sent to applicants.

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

• Administrative Regulations for the performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions relating to the organization of the receipt of applications for Inventions, the consideration and examination thereof, and the grant in accordance with established procedure of Russian Federation invention patents.
http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/prikaz/minobrnauka/327/Pritm_zajavok_na_izobretenie.html#1;
• Administrative Regulations for the performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions relating to the organization of the receipt of applications for Utility Models, the consideration and examination thereof, and the grant in accordance with established procedure of Russian Federation utility model patents. http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/prikaz/minobrnauka/326/Pritm_zajavok_na_poleznuy_model.html#1;
• Compilation, filing and consideration of an application heading in the Inventions and Utility Models section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/;
• Models for Applications, Declarations and Requests, and Examples of their Completion section.
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya/;
• Electronic Interaction with Applicants section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/;
• Fees section
http://www.rupto.ru/poshl/poshl.htm
• Patent and other fees subsection
http://www.rupto.ru/poshl/sod/pat_p/pat_poshl.html.

The Internet publications of the FIPS VPTB Division are found on the FIPS site in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds

On the Rospatent site, in the “Rospatent and Regions” section, the following Internet publications are available:
• method-related materials and reviews of protection and enforcement of results of intellectual activities for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/mp;
• recommendations on a list of essential method-related, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations forming the national nanotechnology network:
http://www.rupto.ru/rosp_reg/sod/Pat_podrazd_i_sluzhbam/links/Rekomendacii/Rekomendacii.html.

In order to achieve unified practice in the application of the provisions of Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which regulate the grant of legal protection for the subject matter of patent rights and means of individualization, a series of method-related recommendations are provided on the FIPS site:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/industrial+property_recomend;

• Recommendations for the examination of invention applications, approved by Rospatent Decree No. 199 of December 31, 2009; http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_iz.pdf;
• Recommendations for the examination of utility model applications, approved by Rospatent Decree No. 196 of December 31, 2009: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_pm.pdf;
In the Information Resources section information is provided on registrations with an indication of the legal status or state of prosecution of applications:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/;
• Open registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

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

Web page addresses on the Office site, which provide information on information products and services provided by the Office, are:

information on subscription to patent-information products—in the Patent-Information Products: Prospectus of Publications and Databases section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;
Procedure for acquiring publications and databases subsection
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;
Conducting a search—in the Information Resources section
Services http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/ subsections;
Information-search system: Databases subsection
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_2/;
Open registers http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/ subsection;
Inventions. Utility Models in the Electronic Gazettes section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/electron_bulletins/inventions_utility_models/;
FIPS All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds;
Patent databases—Databases subsection in the Information-Search System section
http://ww1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content/_ru/ru/inform_resources/infom_retrieval_system/article_2/;
information on access to resources and their use—in the Information-Search System section Support http://www1.fips.ru//wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_4;
Instructions
http://www1.fips.ru/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_1a/ subsections.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information

FGU FIPS VPTB currently receives documentation from 57 countries and six international organizations on an exchange basis.

The volumes of acquisitions of foreign descriptions are determined by the scales of activity of national patent Offices and international organizations. Leading positions in this field are occupied by Japan, the People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea and the United States of America.

As part of the international exchange in 2010, FGU FIPS VPTB received 5,765,400 copies of foreign patent documents on optical disks and by email, from 33 countries and three organizations, a total of 152 annual sets of invention descriptions on optical disks.

As part of international exchange in 2010, 66 annual sets of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette with full descriptions of inventions for Russian Federation patents were sent to 47 foreign countries and four organizations, in total 1,995,600 copies of national descriptions of inventions were sent to foreign patent Offices.

Apart from patent documentation in the framework of international cooperation with foreign patent Offices, in 2010 Rospatent Official gazettes and patent-law literature were sent to individual patent Offices according to existing agreement and science and technology journals to the United Kingdom (a total of 886 copies, 758 on paper and 128 on disks).

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

In 2010, testing began on an exchange of PCT documents in electronic form between the WIPO International Bureau and FIPS by means of PCT-EDI. During the conduct of the tests from the WIPO International Bureau, operating as the Receiving Office, to Rospatent, operating as a Receiving Office, International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, international applications were received for the conduct of an international search and an additional international search, together with all the notifications for the Receiving Office, International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, in electronic form and also on paper. International application materials, filed with Rospatent as the Receiving Office, were at the same time transmitted from Rospatent to the WIPO International Bureau on paper and in electronic form. The first stage of the testing was successfully completed.

As part of the exchange of information with EPO, data on 9,755 national patent documents, which were reclassified as a result of the transition to the 2011.01 version of IPC, were transferred to the MCD database.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means

In 2010, in 14 regions of the Russian Federation Rospatent organized and held 39 conferences, seminars and roundtables on matters relating to intellectual property, at which 38 Rospatent and FIPS employees gave papers. Among these, two WIPO officials gave papers at two regional seminars organized and held jointly by Rospatent and WIPO.

More than 2,000 people were present at the conferences, seminars and roundtables.

The subjects of 23 regional conferences, seminars and roundtables were devoted to general issues of protection, enforcement and use of intellectual property subject matter in Russia, including inventions, utility models, computer programs and databases.

Information on the main important events, held in 2011, is given below:

March 15. A roundtable relating to Rospatent’s accession to the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program, held at Rospatent and intended primarily for those devising new and innovation technologies, was devoted to a discussion of the issue of the international division of labor between examiners of patent Offices from different countries where those examiners are considering the same application filed in these countries, thereby allowing a reduction in the term of consideration of an application in the country of second filing, and also reducing the material expenditure for the applicant in relation to the patenting of his invention abroad.

From March 30 to April 2, 2010, the 13th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, “Archimedes”, was held in Moscow.

On March 31, 2010, as part of the Exhibition a scientific and practical conference and roundtable entitled “Legal protection of intellectual property subject matter in the context of the entry into force of Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Administrative Regulations” were organized and held by Rospatent and FIPS.

July 6. Meeting of the heads and specialists of Rospatent with patent attorneys (roundtable). The meeting was held in relation to the subject “Discussion of the proposals by Rospatent to optimize administrative procedures”.

From September 7 to 10, 2010 the 10th Moscow International Exhibition of Innovations and Investments was held – the largest annual exhibition event in the Russian Federation, which is of enormous significance for the successful integration of Russian innovation potential into the national economy.

October 14-15. The 14th Traditional Scientific and Practical Conference of Rospatent entitled “Development of legal protection for intellectual property subject matter and information technologies in this sphere”, devoted to the 50th anniversary of VNIIGPE-FIPS.

A total of 250 people participated in the work of the Conference, including 12 from neighboring foreign countries and 21 from other foreign countries. The number of regions of Russia represented was 39. Two plenary sessions were held as part of the work of the Conference and four sections operated, within which four roundtables were conducted.

Around 40 papers were given at the plenary sessions and section meetings, including 23 reports by the heads and specialists of Rospatent, FIPS and the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property (RGIIS).

November 30 - December 1. Interregional symposium on problems of access to patent information and strategy for its use in order to promote innovations.

Organizers: WIPO jointly with Rospatent. A number of reports were heard and discussions held on current problems.
From December 7 to 9, 2010, as part of the Second International Forum on Intellectual Property, “Expopriority-2010”, Rospatent participated in the International Innovations Exhibition – 2010, with exhibits characterizing the activities of the Russian Patent Office.

The modern possibilities offered by automated information technologies, accessible to all categories of users, place before information centers throughout the world new tasks – not simply to provide a user with primary initial information, but also beforehand to carry out particular comprehensive processing of this information and, consequently, to provide a more “intellectual” service for users.

This idea was discussed not for the first time at the annually organized PATLIB international conference, and has already been implemented in practice in the majority of the sufficiently large information centers that possess patent collections.

Since 2008, representatives of FIPS VPTB have participated in the work of PATLIB, and have synchronized their capabilities to provide “intellectual services” for different categories of users with the experience of foreign colleagues.

On November 30 and December 1, 2010 at Rospatent headquarters an Interregional WIPO Symposium was held on the problems of access to patent information and strategy for its use in order to promote innovations, at which issues relating to “intellectual services” were the subject of significant attention. Officials from Rospatent and FIPS participated in the organization and work of that forum.

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

In accordance with the Agreements with the WIPO International Bureau, Rospatent, acting as the International Searching Authority, prepares search reports with examination reports on applications submitted to the WIPO International Bureau from these countries, and search reports on prior art at the request of patent Offices of developing countries. In 2010, 74 search reports were prepared with examination reports on applications from developing countries.
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
Cooperation with universities, research centers and technology and innovation support centers etc.

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

Taking into account the importance of patent information for the training of specialists, the conduct of scientific research, organization of innovation activities etc., the VPTB Division is carrying out a series of different events within the framework of cooperation with universities, research centers, and technology and innovation support centers etc.

The most important of these measures include:

- organization and conduct, based on GPF, of seminars and practical activities with students from a number of Moscow higher education institutions, held within the framework of existing study plans on the subject of Foundations of Intellectual Property, based on agreements concerning foreign cooperation;
- participation in seminars and conferences organized and held by FIPS at regional patent-information centers, libraries and higher education institutions in the Russian Federation as part of Rospatent's regional policy. The subjects of those events correspond to the tasks of raising the level of patent-information provision in the regions, enhancing inventive activity, providing innovative State policy in all areas of modernization and development of the scientific and economic potential of the Russian Federation;
- periodical organization in Moscow of "roundtables" and subject-related meetings for regional patent-information centers, libraries and higher education institutions in the Russian Federation in relation to the organization of patent-information provision in modern conditions. At these events current tasks relating to the organization of service for all categories of users of patent information are discussed, taking into account the possibilities offered by modern information technologies, the change in the principles of international exchange etc.;
- assistance with the updating, on a non-remuneration basis, of patent collections of national patent documentation on optical disks in the higher education institutions of the Russian Federation most actively participating in innovation processes. In 2010, more than 2,400 optical disks were transferred with national descriptions of inventions to different higher education institutions in the Russian Federation.

In 2010, 18 organizations in the Russian Federation were given the possibility of free access to full-text FIPS databases containing descriptions of national inventions and utility models.

Simply, as part of the implementation of the Program of Information Provision for the Regions, free access is provided via the FIPS Internet site to the databases in question for 185 organizations (including 56 higher education institutions and 10 libraries) in eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. Access is provided for 49 regional support organizations of FIPS, eight scientific cities, 41 State science centers and 35 science centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and 41 organizations as part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Federal Program on "Development of the Infrastructure of the Nanoindustry in the Russian Federation, 2008-2010", as well as to 11 other organizations.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information

The modern possibilities offered by automated information technologies, accessible to all categories of users, place before information centers throughout the world new tasks – not simply to provide a user with primary initial information, but also beforehand to carry out particular comprehensive processing of this information and, consequently, to provide a more “intellectual” service for users.

This idea was discussed not for the first time at the annually organized PATLIB international conference, and has already been implemented in practice in the majority of the sufficiently large information centers that possess patent collections.

Since 2008, representatives of FIPS VPTB have participated in the work of PATLIB, and have synchronized their capabilities to provide “intellectual services” for different categories of users with the experience of foreign colleagues.

On November 30 and December 1, 2010 at Rospatent headquarters an Interregional WIPO Symposium was held on the problems of access to patent information and strategy for its use in order to promote innovations, at which issues relating to “intellectual services” were the subject of significant attention. Officials from Rospatent and FIPS participated in the organization and work of that forum.

IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

X. Other relevant matters