Annual Technical Report 2011 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Lithuania (CWS/ATR/PI/2011/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 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
Application filings and grants in 2011:
In 2011, 103 national patent applications were filed with the State Patent Bureau, 93 of those were filed by Lithuanian applicants. Conventional priority was requested for 10 patent applications.
In 2011 5 international applications proceeded to the national level, all of them had priority(-ies) of earlier application(-s).
In 2011 14 international applications were filed with SPB as receiving office.
In 2011 13 applications for supplementary protection certificates were filed
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
From the patent applications received in 2011 88,5% were from Lithuanian applicants.
By fields the largest number of patent applications filed by Lithuanian applicants were related to institutions of science and research: filed 28 patent applications, that constitutes 60 % of all patent applications filed by Lithuanian legal entities.
Rise of number of patent applications filed by legal entities is noticeable in years 2009 – 2011, however the number of patent applications filed by natural persons dropped by 26 % in 2011
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to patents
Statistics of the year 2011 (national filings and PCT national phase entries, national patents granted on the basis of national filings and PCT national phase entries, national patent applications pending, national patents in force) is provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321).
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.)
The SPB official patent publications are:
Patent Applications (A documents);
Patent Specifications (B documents);
Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information
BB1A Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 21 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG9A Patents published in accordance with Article 22 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FD9A Patent Applications withdrawn accordance with Article 21 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MM9A Patents lapsed in accordance with Article 27 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9A Transfer of Patents in accordance with Article 31 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QA9A Licensing in accordance with Article 37 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9A Licensing in accordance with Articles 34-36, 38 and 39 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PD9A, TA9A, TC9A TH9A Changes in Patents published in accordance with Article 43 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB1A International Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 48 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB1D European Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 51 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG9D European Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB4D European Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 59(2) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG4D European Patents published in accordance with Article 59(3) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MG9D Revocation of European Patent extension in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MG4D Revocation of European Patents in accordance with Article 59(3) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PD9D, DC9D, TH9A Changes in European Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9D Transfer of Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9D Licensing in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MF9D European Patents revoked in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MM9D Cancellation of European Patent extension in accordance with Article 58 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9D Applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 27(1) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9D Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 27(1) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND1D Decisions not to grant Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 27(1) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
TH9D, TK9D Rectifications.
Sections of the Official Bulletin have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17.
Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)
SPB Official Bulletin has been published in an electronic format and has been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245).
Patent Applications in paper form (A documents) and Patent Specifications (B documents) have been open for public inspection at Lithuanian Technical Library (LTL).
Word processing and office automation
In 2011, 209 patent applications and patent descriptions for inventions were scanned using the EPO tool Eposcan.
(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), etc.)
Lithuanian B documents have been scanned by the SPB with EPO official tool epoScan in standardised exchange facsimile format (WIPO ST. 33).
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
Databases of Patents of the Republic of Lithuania and of European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania have been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?l=en&n=333).
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents
Abstracting, reviewing, translating
Lithuanian language invention abstracts of patent applications and patents have been published as presented by applicants.
English language abstracts to be published on the Espacenet database have been translated by SPB examiners.
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)
The current version of the advanced level of IPC 8, in force since January 1, 2006, is used to classify the new applications.
96 patent applications published were classified in accordance with eight edition of International Patent Classification (IPC) in 2011.
Coordinate indexing (domestic deep indexing systems, keyword indexing)
Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of Data (INID codes) relating to patents have been used in the Register, Official Bulletin, Patent Applications (A documents) and Patent Specifications (B documents).
Hybrid system indexing
N/A
Bibliographic data and full-text processing
The SPB Official Bulletin Sections have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
Lithuanian technical library (LTL)– is a specialized library of national significance, open to the public; LTL is the country’s largest library, accumulating the collection of printings in areas of technology and economics, descriptions of inventions, standards and other normative documents, company registers and catalogues. LTL is the centre of the methodology of the network of technical libraries and inter-library subscription (TBA). At the end of 2011 LTL had a collection of 47.1 million printings and documents (descriptions of inventions constituting the largest part), and 8,200 registered subscriptions. 2.2 million documents were acquired, around 47 thousand readers visited the library, more than 300 thousand exemplars of documents were issued, almost 6 thousand requests were carried out, and more than 200 exhibitions and events were organized in the year 2011.
Documents are issued for the subscribers of the library to take away, and to read in specialised reading rooms (general, patent information, electronic information, foreign literature, bibliography), also in the reading rooms of the branches; documents that are not in possession of LTL are ordered from other libraries of the country and of other countries, via the TBA; services are provided to organizations according to yearly agreements; thematic, factual, revisionary, and informational queries, also consultations on search for information are performed; the users have access to subscription databases and other sources of electronic information; thematic exhibitions, seminars, and other events are being organized in the library; thematic digest “Information and the Library” is published quarterly.
Updating
At the end of 2011 LTL had a collection of 47.1 million printings and documents (descriptions of inventions constituting the largest part).
Storage, including mass storage media
The dossiers of the patent applications are kept on paper in numerical order under the application number
The European patent applications are stored in numerical order under the number of the request for validation.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
LTL stocks have been updated with full text patent documents from countries and organizations (AM, BG, BY, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, EA, EP, FI, FR, GB, GE, HU, JP, KG, KZ, LT, LV, MD, RO, RU, TJ, UA, US, UZ, WO).
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems
In-house systems (online/offline)
The SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) the Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks and databases of Lithuanian Patents and European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania. SPB website Databases have been an exact copy of the data stored in the Common Software Databases. Common Software Databases contained bibliographic, legal status data, abstract data, national patent applications (A documents) and national patent specifications (B documents), translated claims of European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania included.
External databases
The SPB regularly uses the Espacenet database that offers the free access to more than 60 million patent documents all over the world. The database is maintained by EPO.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
Statistics of national patents has been also provided on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321).
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
Workstations connected to the Office network are of the Office staff direct service. The computers run WINDOWS (XP, VISTA, 7 )and MS OFFICE - 2003/2007/2010 software.
Existing online thesauri; their structure, presentation and usefulness for computerized searches
N/A
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 Lithuanian Technical Library is a specialized library of national significance, open to the public; its main objectives are: ensuring the needs of users to receive scientific technical information, organizing dissemination of patent information, and creating possibilities to use all information resources of the library. LTL is the country’s largest library, accumulating the collection of printings in areas of technology and economics, descriptions of inventions, standards and other normative documents, company registers and catalogues. LTL is the centre of the methodology of the network of technical libraries and inter-library subscription (TBA).
Collecting, acquisitions, preparation
The Lithuanian Technical library has its divisions in cities of Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Panevėžys. On January 1, 2012, LTL had a collection of 47.1 million printings and documents (descriptions of inventions constituting the largest part), and 8,200 registered subscriptions. 2.2 million documents were acquired, around 47 thousand readers visited the library, more than 300 thousand exemplars of documents were issued, almost 6 thousand requests were carried out, and more than 200 exhibitions and events were organized in the year 2011.
Documents are issued for the subscribers of the library to take away, and to read in specialised reading rooms (general, patent information, electronic information, foreign literature, bibliography), also in the reading rooms of the branches; documents that are not in possession of LTL are ordered from other libraries of the country and of other countries, via the TBA; services are provided to organizations according to yearly agreements; thematic, factual, revisionary, and informational queries, also consultations on search for information are performed; the users have access to subscription databases and other sources of electronic information; thematic exhibitions, seminars, and other events are being organized in the library; thematic digest “Information and the Library” is published quarterly.The division of the library Patent information centre (PIC) is a depository library of industrial property documents and patent literature, the centre of patent information services, of the compilation, publishing and distribution of patent documentation in Lithuania. Together with the State Patent Bureau (SPB) and LTL branches, the network of country’s PATLIB (patent information) centres is formed, providing patent information and documentation services to the public.
In year 2011 several new services for businesses were established in the PIC, that is the search of companies (patent applicants and owners), monitoring of technologies. Search of companies may be useful for those looking for business partners, seeking to sell a patent, or to acquire a patent licence. Monitoring of technologies is important to those users, who want to monitor the newest inventions in a specific area of technology.
Patent clinics (service of free consultations for inventors on the issues of patenting inventions) are available since year 2007 in LTL in the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas. Consultations are carried out by the patent attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania; in the end of 2011 a patent clinic was also established in the city of Panevėžys division, where the first consultations took place.
The website of PIC registered almost 100 thousand external visits in the year 2011.
Collection management, preservation
Lithuanian Technical Library (LTL) offered for visitors the opportunity to get acquainted with a wide range of Lithuanian publications (SPB Official Bulletin, full text of patent specifications in paper and CD-ROM format, etc.), Official Gazettes, patent bibliography of foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on CD/DVD-ROMs, sets of communications and regulations in 2011.
The visitors of LTL had been consulted on the spot as well as by phone or e-mail and had an opportunity to order patent search.
Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country
At Lithuanian Technical Library documents are issued for the subscribers of the library to take away, and to read in specialised reading rooms (general, patent information, electronic information, foreign literature, bibliography), also in the reading rooms of the branches; documents that are not in possession of LTL are ordered from other libraries of the country and of other countries, via the TBA; services are provided to organizations according to yearly agreements; thematic, factual, revisionary, and informational queries, also consultations on search for information are performed; the users have access to subscription databases and other sources of electronic information; thematic exhibitions, seminars, and other events are being organized in the library; thematic digest “Information and the Library” is published quarterly.
The division of the library Patent information centre (PIC) is a depository library of industrial property documents and patent literature, the centre of patent information services, of the compilation, publishing and distribution of patent documentation in Lithuania. Together with the State Patent Bureau (SPB) and LTL branches, the network of country’s PATLIB (patent information) centres is formed, providing patent information and documentation services to the public.
In year 2011 several new services for businesses were established in the PIC, that is the search of companies (patent applicants and owners), monitoring of technologies. Search of companies may be useful for those looking for business partners, seeking to sell a patent, or to acquire a patent licence. Monitoring of technologies is important to those users, who want to monitor the newest inventions in a specific area of technology.
Patent clinics (service of free consultations for inventors on the issues of patenting inventions) are available since year 2007 in LTL in the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas. Consultations are carried out by the patent attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania; in the end of 2011 a patent clinic was also established in the city of Panevėžys division, where the first consultations took place.
The website of PIC registered almost 100 thousand external visits in the year 2011.
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)
Search for patents in the CD-ROM databases, Internet and other services have been provided by Patent Information Centre of Lithuanian Technical Library (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm)
LTL website (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm) provided scanned Lithuanian patent A and B documents.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications
It is not possible to file patent applications or any other document with the SPB electronically
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.
Legal acts have been provided on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?n=296&l=en).
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
SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) the Official Gazette Inventions, Designs, Trademarks and databases of Lithuanian Patents and European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania.
Statistics of national patents has been provided on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321).
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
The distribution of official patent publications of the SPB in foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on the basis of mutual exchange has been effected by LTL.
Bibliographic, legal status data, abstracts in Lithuanian and English of Lithuanian patent applications and patents, extracted from SPB Common Software Database, have been posted on EPO FTP sites prior to the actual publication date.
Scanned Patent Specifications (B documents) SPB sent to the Espacenet database. Lithuanian Patent Applications (A documents) have been not available on the Espacenet database.
The bibliographic, legal status data on Lithuanian Patent Applications, PCT Applications, Lithuanian Patents and European Patents have been supplied to EPO to be included into INPADOC PFS, INPADOC PRS and Espacenet. PCT Applications data have been also supplied to WIPO to be included into PATENTSCOPE® search service database.
Medium used for exchange of priority documents
Format in paper form has been used for exchange of priority documents and for filing of patent applications.
Medium allowed for filing applications
Patent applications should be filed only on paper
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
Special courses with lectures and practical case study were provided to candidates for industrial property representatives.
Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
N/A
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
In year 2011 the SPB organized semianrs, attended exhibitions and other events, namely:
On April 12-13, 2011 international conference “Industrial Property for Competitiveness: EU and Global Experience” took place. It was organized by WIPO and State Patent Bureau. Deputy Director General of WIPO Chr. Wichard, President of EPO B. Battistelli, Vice-president of EPO R. Lutz, Head of Policy Unit of OHIM V. O’Reilly, representatives of sixteen patent offices of foreign countries arrived in Vilnius. Among them were representatives of Hungary, which at that time held presidency of European Union, also from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Georgia, even from remote Japan.
On April 19-21, 2011 Baltic conference organized by International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property took place, where a representative of SPB made a presentation.
On May 10, 2011 SPB representative made a presentation on SPB activities in a conference-discussion “Intellectual property: means and possibilities of protecting innovative ideas”, which was organized by Agency for science, innovations and technology and Lithuania-Israel chamber of commerce.
On May 16, 2011 SPB representative made a presentation in a conference “Criminal sanctions in protecting intellectual property rights in digital environment“, organized by US Patent and Trademarks Office and US State Department.
On May 18, 2011 SPB participated in exhibition “Balttechnika 2011”, where a seminar “How to protect design in European Union” took place, organized in cooperation with OHIM. The SPB stand was displayed in the exhibition, representatives of SPB informed visitors of the exhibition about the protection of industrial property objects (inventions, designs, trademarks), as well as about its history, it’s present and future in Lithuania and abroad.
On October 10-14 an event of Patent information week PATINFO took place in Lithuanian technical library. The possibility was provided to learn about ways of searching for information on the world’s newest inventions, trademarks, designs, to get acquainted with services provided by Patent information centre of LTL (searches of patents and trademarks, various consultations), new publications of WIPO, EPO and LTL were presented.
On October 19, 2011 a representative of SPB made a presentation “Review of administration of intellectual property and rights in Lithuania” in two day seminar-training “Management of intellectual property”, which was organized by Ministry of Economy with WIPO on October 19-20 for support institutions and representatives of small and medium business entities.
On October 18-20, 2011 representatives of SPB and LTL participated in patent information conference/exhibition “EPOPIC 2011”, organized by EPO in Kilkenny (Ireland).
On October 27, 2011 patent information Espacenet training took place in Vilnius Gediminas technical university for the employees of the university, responsible for intellectual property information centres (IP points), that were deployed under the project “Deployment of IP points in Lithuanian universities” of the National Action Plan. EPO employee, responsible for patent information, visited these IP points and consulted the employees of the university in 2011. In year 2011 these information centres also received informational material on industrial property that was provided by EPO.
On November 8, 2011 a national seminar “Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Commercialization in Universities” took place in Vilnius. Seminar was organized by WIPO and the SPB
On November 22-23, 2011 representatives of SPB presented information on electronic services provided by the SPB, in an exhibition “Online services”, that was organized by EPO and Spanish patent and trademark office in Madrid (Spain).
Studies to identify trends in new technology, e.g., by the use of patent statistics and preparation of monographs
N/A
Assistance furnished by offices to facilitate the changing over of receiving offices to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents (see also fourth sub-item of item VI, above)
N/A
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 patents
The SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=EN) provided information on legislation related to patents in 2011
contain the Annual Report of the Office
http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=318
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
N/A
provide open source codes related to patent information systems
N/A
contain patent-related news regarding the Office
The SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=EN) contained patent related news
X. Other relevant matters
| 1. | Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.
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| 2. | Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner). Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
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| 3. | Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC). The new symbols are available on patent databases.
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