CWS.ATR.PI.2011.RU

Annual Technical Report 2011 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (CWS/ATR/PI/2011/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 2011, and the Plan of Measures by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) for the enhancement and development of its activities for 2011.
The main trends in the Plans include:
- the creation of conditions to assist natural persons and legal entities in the fullest possible implementation of their rights to 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 applications received;
- the provision of high-quality examination and protection titles issued;
- increasing the effectiveness of information technology resources within the Rospatent system;
- establishment of a State patent collection and provision of access thereto;
- training specialists in the use and protection of intellectual property;
- implementation of monitoring in the sphere of the use and legal protection of the results of scientific research, and design and technology work for civilian purposes, financed by the Federal Budget;
- implementation of international cooperation.

Depending on the type of measure, the anticipated deadlines for implementation are planned between 2011 and 2015.

In 2011 Rospatent continued to use the Information-Search System (ISS), PatSearch, for industrial purposes at all examiners’ workstations. The PatSearch system is a professional search system for patent office examiners that is used when examining inventions and utility models. A wide range of functions and services have been introduced into the system.

Work continues on extending the functions of the system for prosecuting applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs in the Automated Database (ADB). In particular, a subsystem has been developed for accounting, establishing statistical data on applications involved in the international Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program, and to compile the patent data published on the FIPS website with extended information on the latest annual fees paid.

A new program module of the PCT Electronic Applications Library automated system was developed for the Russian International Searching Authority (ISA/RU) to manage the application prosecution system (allocating applications to ISA examiners, creating output documents in Russian and English, registering and scanning incoming correspondence, etc.), store application documents and bibliographic data, and create electronic packets of documents for transfer to WIPO.

In 2011, the subsystem for filing and receiving electronic invention applications was brought into use as part of the automated system for the paperless prosecution of invention examinations. The subsystem can be accessed through the Electronic Services for Applicants section of the official FIPS website:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav.

The first invention application to be filed electronically was received on April 12, 2011, and the level of applicants’ activity had increased by the end of the year.

In 2011 an automated system for paperless prosecution was introduced for the Chamber of Patent Disputes (PPS). The introduction of the system provides the possibility of paperless prosecution during the consideration of objections and appeals filed with PPS. Information on the decisions of the PPS automated paperless prosecution system is posted on the FIPS website in the Decisions of the Chamber of Patent Disputes section.

In 2011, operation continued of the Unified System for the Accounting of Fees against a context of using electronic bank payments for examinations of inventions, utility models and industrial designs, and the maintenance of patents in force, and using web services as a means of integrating the prosecution systems for automated databases and the automated fees system.

Improvements to the automated fees system are planned for 2012, in connection with the introduction of changes to the Regulations on Fees and ending requests for copies of payment documents from applicants.

The automated fees system is designed to support the processes for preparing data and administering the income from the payment of patent and other fees for performing legally significant acts: checking the receipt of funds by the Office, reserving funds, automatic tracking of the status of payments, automatic recording of funds on transmission of decisions regarding the performance of legally significant acts, and bookkeeping.

In connection with bringing into operation the in-house search system, PatSearch, strengthening it and maintaining it in its current state are important issues. In 2011, data were uploaded from optical drives received from patent offices in other countries under international exchange and the matter of transferring document packets to a number of patent offices was addressed. Agreement was reached on providing data for download on a fee-free basis to WIPO and the Australian, German and French Offices, while an agreement on exchanging data with the People’s Republic of China is being drafted.

Large-scale organizational work was completed to enable the download in PatSearch of reference material from Thomson Reuters DWPI database, as well as to provide access to commercial databases STN, SCOPUS and Kluwer.

Work was carried out on the Rospatent site in 2011 in connection with the information supply under the PPH program in order to extend cooperation between Rospatent and offices in other countries.

The PPH Program section of the website - http://www.rupto.ru/mejd_sotr/sod/pph/PPH.html - is regularly updated with new documents that reflect the expansion of Rospatent cooperation with new project participants (Finland and Spain among others).

The structure of a section for the new areas of work for the Program was established. With the start of the PPH pilot program MOTTAINAI, work was undertaken to check and update PPH section material, and to create a more logical procedure for filing material for applicants from countries that are participating in the program.

Over 50 documents have been updated and uploaded to the PPH Program section, schematic diagrams have been developed and the structure of general information about the PPH Program has been reworked.

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

Inventions

Table 1 shows the data for 2010-2011 for the filing of applications and grant of Russian Federation (RF) patents for inventions.

The patents for inventions granted in 2011 were distributed according to the Sections of the International Patent Classification (IPC) as follows: see Table 2.
In 2011, the trends in distribution by IPC Section changed slightly compared to 2010. The largest number of patents for inventions granted to Russian applicants in 2011, as in previous years, was for Section A of IPC – Human Necessities. The largest number of patents granted to foreign applicants in 2010 was, however, for Section B – Performing Operations and Transporting – whereas in 2011 it was for Section C – Chemistry and Metallurgy.

The least popular Section among Russian and foreign applicants alike remains Section D – Textiles and Paper. The number of patents granted for this Section in 2011 comprised only 1.003 per cent of the overall number of patents granted for inventions.

Utility Models

See Table 3

In 2011 the positive trend in applications received for utility models continued and the number of patents granted rose by 4.71 per cent.

Data on the distribution of patents for utility models by IPC Section are shown in Table 4.

The leading IPC Section in 2011 remained Section B – Performing Operations and Transporting – while second place was taken by Section G – Physics. Section D – Textiles and Paper – continued to be the least in demand, with the lowest number of patents granted, along with Section C – Chemistry and Metallurgy.

RU_PI_Tables1to4

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

The following pages of the Office’s website contain:
• information on patent legislation – Normative Documents section:
http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/norm_doc/iz_pm_po.html;

• the Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:
http://www.rupto.ru/about/sod/otchety.html;

• statistical information:
Rospatent Annual Reports section, heading Statistical Information on the Use of Intellectual Property: http://www.rupto.ru/rosp_reg/sod/Statistika/Stat_infa.html;
Monitoring of the quantitative and qualitative indicators for the main activities of FIPS in 2011 is provided on the FIPS website in the FIPS Main Activities section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/osn_deyat;

• Links 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 data 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 three most recent Gazettes are available on the Rospatent website.

RU_PI_Table5

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.

RU_PI_Table6

Word processing and office automation

A description of the State services provided by Rospatent in the field of patent information can be found on the State Services Portal (PGU):

- keeping registers of intellectual property subject matter and publishing information thereon;

- receiving invention applications and granting Russian Federation invention patents;

- receiving utility model applications, examining them and granting Russian Federation utility model patents;

- recognizing the invalid granting or premature termination of validity of legal protection of a trademark, service mark or appellation of origin, and recognizing the invalidity or termination of validity of patents for inventions, industrial designs, patents (certificates) for utility models, and certificates for the right to use appellations of origin;

- extending the term of and restoring patents;

- considering communications from citizens of the Russian Federation;

- registering agreements on the granting of rights in inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, protectable computer programs, databases and topographies of integrated circuits; commercial concession agreements on the use of intellectual property subject matter that is protected in conformity with the patent legislation of the Russian Federation.

In order to access all services, the relevant forms, applications, and information on how to access services is made available. It is possible to file applications through the State Services Portal for the grant of a Russian Federation patent for an invention, utility model or industrial design, as well as for State registration of a trademark or appellation of origin and for recognition of a trademark that is well-known in the Russian Federation.

Web services for interagency cooperation with the Federal Executive Authorities using the Interagency E-Cooperation System (SMEV) have been developed and integrated into SMEV. Automated user workstations have been developed for the purposes of cooperation.

In 2012, there are plans to migrate from the automated Messages system, which monitors the execution of management instructions and consideration of communications from the public, to SEDKP FIPS, an electronic document flow system.

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 of Office websites providing 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

• Prospectus of publications and databases in the Patent Information Products section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/ .

The addresses of web pages on the Office site providing 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 subsection:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/international_classification/;
and the Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents subsection:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate 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 2011, 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 facility (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 electronic carrier).

Work continued in 2011 to identify amendments to the intellectual property legislation of other countries on the basis of publication in legal patent publications and on the Internet. During the year, amendments to legislation were identified in 54 countries, and approximately 600 pages of legislation on all forms of intellectual property subject matter were translated into Russian.

Translations of the texts of legislation relating to the protection of intellectual property in different countries are uploaded to the local network of the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division at the following address: otd 5 на «fips_lib_2» / Data / INTERNET / Законы-переводы.

With the aim of improving the supply of information to patent system users, including via remote access, the text of bibliographic index Russian Translations of the Acts of Other Countries in the Field of IP has been uploaded to the VPTB Division section of the FIPS website.

In order to improve the quality and comfort for examiners, and other categories of users, of working with foreign patent documentation at FIPS, appropriate steps are being taken for the effective use of automated translation from foreign languages.

An automated translation from a foreign language is assumed to be of acceptable quality if the resulting translation into Russian is comprehensible to a specialist in the relevant subject field.

When working with foreign patent documentation, examiners use the PROMT automated text translation system with collections of specialized translation dictionaries (English - Russian - English, French - Russian - French, German - Russian - German, Spanish - Russian - Spanish and Italian - Russian). In 2011, the version of PROMT accessible at all examiners’ workstations was updated. Development of the PROMT system will continue, including work to improve the quality of translation. Work is continuing on creating and supplementing patent-oriented user dictionaries on examination-related subjects for subsequent use in the PROMT system.

For the most complex and important subjects (medicine, chemistry, biotechnology) VPTB employees have prepared extended, specialized subject dictionaries for subsequent download and use in the PROMT system (in addition to a specialized series of terms, over 30,000 dictionary entries have been prepared for translating from English and German into Russian and from Russian into English and German).

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 2011, the scientific and terminological processing of amendments and updates to all expanded level IPC sections for the new edition, IPC-2012.01, was completed, and a Russian-language version of the entire classification was prepared for the new edition. It was published in electronic form.

Information on all the corrections to the new edition IPC-2012.01 was brought to the attention of examiners.

National collection patent documents relating to deleted and amended sections of IPC were reclassified. Information about the reclassification of all IPC sections was entered into the Master Classification Database (MCD).

In patent documents published in 2011, as in previous years, the indexes covered all IPC sections.

In 2011, the following materials were prepared and sent to WIPO:

- comments on the creation of definitions for IPC sub-classes in areas relating to electrically-conductive connections of printed circuits (draft D226, sub-class HO1R), special designs or pictures for manufactured items (draft D158, sub-class B44F), compounds of alkali metals (draft D110, sub-class C01D), compounds of the metals beryllium, aluminum and other metals or rare earth metals (draft D111, sub-class C01F), nitrogenous fertilizers (draft D267, sub-class C05C), and stereophonic systems (draft D254, sub-class H04S);

- comments relating to the review of the classification schemes in areas relating to constructing stents (draft A042, sub-class A61F), transmission systems employing beams of corpuscular radiation or electromagnetic waves (draft A047, sub-class H04B), locks for means of transportation (draft A048, sub-class E05B), as well as in the areas of speech synthesis, analysis and recognition (draft F004, sub-class G10L), and equipment for electrical digital data processing (draft F006, sub-class G06F);

- comments on deleted sub-class C12S relating to processes using enzymes or microorganisms for various purposes (draft M726);

- comments on method-related support for IPC texts in the field of working metallic powder (draft M733, sub-class B22F);

- initiative proposals from Rospatent on creating definitions in the areas relating to obtaining fatty acids from fats, oils or waxes (draft D262, sub-class C11C), pleating, kilting or goffering textile fabrics or wearing apparel (draft D263, sub-class D06J), smallarms (draft D264, sub-class F41C), and optical computing devices (draft D265, sub-class G06E);

- reviewer’s reports on creating definitions for four drafts listed above: D262, D263, D264, D265;

- reviewer’s report on creating definitions for sub-class G03H on holography (draft D218);

- reviewer’s report on method-related support for IPC texts in the field of meteorology (draft M 722, sub-class G01W);

- technical corrections to IPC in preparation for the new edition, IPC-2012.01, on all drafts that were reviewed by Rospatent (draft WG250).

In 2011, the preliminary assignment of an IPC classification to applications for inventions and utility models received by FIPS was continued, in order to send them to the appropriate examination division for substantive examination of applications for inventions on their merits and the examination of utility models.

In 2011, 39,924 applications for inventions and 12,743 applications for utility models were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions.

International applications received by the International Patent Cooperation Division (division 29) of Rospatent in its role as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority are assigned a preliminary IPC index classification, which determines the appropriate examination division for each application.

Hybrid system indexing

In 2011, FIPS examiners provided full hybrid system indexes for national documents on all publications.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

Bibliographic data and claims of inventions and utility models, as well as notifications of changes to the legal status of patents and other notifications are published in the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system.

All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on current legal status that is updated three times a month.

The Automated Database (ADB) subsystems to determine legal status use the given official publications containing information on new registrations of protection titles and changes. Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are displayed on the Rospatent site in the Information Resources section. For inventions and utility models patent status may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated.

Information on the legal status of inventions and utility models is published in Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes (on CD/DVD), in the paper Gazette and on the Rospatent site:
- information on the grant of RF patents for inventions and utility models;
- information on amendments to the published information on applications for inventions and to entries in the State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models (Notifications section of the Gazette).

In the Information Resources section of the Office site, information on registration and legal status or the state of prosecution of applications is displayed for subject matter registered in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

In the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system with full descriptions, aside from bibliographic data and claims for inventions, full-text descriptions of inventions with drawings, abstracts of invention descriptions and English-language abstracts of invention descriptions are also published.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The structure and nature of the Patent Examination Collection (FPE) are defined by its purpose, the tasks entrusted to it and Rule 34 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), as well as bilateral interagency treaties and agreements.

In 2011 the State Patent Collection (GPF) included patent documentation in electronic format from patent offices in 57 countries and six international organizations.

Updating

In 2011, 5,898,100 copies of foreign patent documentation were received on electronic carriers for inclusion in GPF and download in the search system.

Since foreign patent documents are no longer issued on optical disks, information was downloaded from the websites of Offices in foreign countries or other network resources of Germany, Switzerland, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI).

Users generally work with patent documentation from such Offices via remote access.

In 2011, national and foreign patent documentation from 30 countries was uploaded to the system from optical disks as it was received.

In 2011, information was uploaded into the PatSearch system from all arrays of patent documentation from PCT minimum countries, as well as an array of extended abstracts and bibliographies from Thomson Reuters DWPI. This array is the main source for the search index. The system includes arrays of patent documentation from the USSR and Russian Federation, the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent Stats (CIS), PCT, the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Australia, ARIPO, OAPI, and the Republic of Korea, and English-language abstracts and facsimiles of documents from Japan and other countries. In all, there are over 40 million patent documents in the original language. The system is provided with a view of the full description of patent documents that have not yet been loaded onto the system but are found in DWPI through integrated online access to EPO arrays. Searches for non-patent literature are made through integrated access to external digital library E-Library and the SCOPUS database of non-patent literature. The majority of the arrays were provided as 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 RF inventions from 1994 to date
• Claims of RF utility models from No. 1 to date
• Claims of Russian invention applications
• Unpublished Russian invention applications
• Abstracts of patent documents from the world’s leading countries in English (DWPI)
• Descriptions of inventions from PCT minimum countries, 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 over 85 million patent documents.

Storage, including mass storage media

The collection of optical disks is stored in metal cupboards and arranged geographically in chronological order. The collection of disks most in demand is loaded onto a display class server. The VPTB collection on electronic carriers (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-R) is provided on 49,000 disks and is available to a wide range of users, including examiners.

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

Documentation from patent offices in other countries received on optical disks as part of international exchange for inclusion in the electronic GPF, including the PatSearch system:
- documentation from PCT minimum countries and international organizations (WIPO, EPO, the United States of America, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia, the Republic of Korea, the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) and Canada);
- other countries: China, Denmark, Belarus, Spain, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Finland and others;
- CISPATENT regional disk (descriptions of inventions from CIS countries).

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

In 2011 the main array of national and foreign patent documentation was available to examiners online, from their computerized workstations.

First and foremost, this was Rospatent’s in-house search system, PatSearch. The system currently includes arrays of patent documents from the Russian Federation and the USSR, patent documentation from CIS countries (including EA documents), the WPI database, and arrays of foreign documents included in PCT minimum documentation. The PatSearch system also supports searches of non-patent literature in the SCOPUS database from publisher Elsevier, the eLIBRARY.RU database on the RFFI Electronic Scientific Library site and searches of biological sequences in the database of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) website.

Through the Electronic Applications Archive, examiners are provided with access to primary application materials for inventions and utility models, versions of application components (invention claims, descriptions), bibliographic data and copies of documents sent to applicants.

No requests were received in 2011 for access to the electronic file on applications for inventions and utility models filed under the PPH and PCT-PPH program with Rospatent as with the initial filing office.

Therefore, in 2011 no access was provided to the electronic files of applications regarding invention and utility model applications filed under the PPH and PCT-PPH program.

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 that are freely available on the Internet, and a number of databases containing non-patent literature.

To obtain additional patent information, examiners carry out searches in databases that are freely available on the Internet, such as: Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE database, the Eurasian Patent Office search system, EAPATIS, the databases of patent offices in the United States of America, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China and others.

In order to obtain access to application materials from the patent offices of Japan and the Republic of Korea, FIPS examiners are able to use the corresponding AIPN and K-PION databases.

Of the freely accessible databases of non-patent literature, from their workstations examiners most frequently visit the database of medicines and pharmaceuticals of the United States of America National Library of Medicine, PubMed, the multidisciplinary SCOPUS database from publisher Elsevier, and the biological sequencing database on the EBI and National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) websites.

Aside from the databases that are freely accessible from their workstations, FIPS examiners are able to carry out searches using commercial databases, including:
 the databases provided by the STN International network. Examiners most frequently consult chemistry databases (REGISTRY, CA, CASREACT, CHEMCATS, REAXYS);
 the All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (VINITI) database of Russian-language abstracts of patent and non-patent scientific and technical information.

Access to commercial databases is provided to FIPS examiners in the specially equipped online search and consultation room, while unlimited Internet access is also provided in the training and computer search room. In both rooms, highly qualified staff offer consultations and help with search methodology, carrying out searches jointly with examiners where necessary. Examiners usually access the online search and consultation room in difficult cases, where the search requires the use of online resources that are not accessible from examiners’ workstations, for example, or when an examiner has difficulties searching in a database.

Over 1,100 complex searches were carried out in the online search and consultation room in 2011; the majority of them in STN network databases.

Examiners receive continuous professional development through training, delivered in the training and computer search room, on using the available databases, principally the Rospatent PatSearch system. Examiners that are relatively new to working at FIPS are also provided with training courses on using all other patent databases that are accessible from their workstations.

In order to improve the examination information supply, online databases that might be useful for information searches are studied continually and methodology guidelines on using them are prepared for examiners. In 2011, user guidelines on searching in the Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE and Depatisnet databases, and searching application materials on the sites of the leading patent offices were revised and distributed among examiners.

Examiners for FIPS who work from home have access to all the same resources as examiners working directly on the Institute’s premises, including the possibility of ordering non-patent literature through interlibrary loans and electronic document delivery.

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

The Automated Databank (ABD), designed to prosecute applications and protection titles for inventions and utility models, has subsystems that manage the work of examiners and support staff, as well as capturing statistical information on various aspects of the activities of Rospatent subdivisions.

The subsystems for statistics allow the creation of over 300 different forms of reports on the activities of the Office’s subdivisions.

The automated Electronic Applications Archive for inventions and utility models supports functions to load and download electronic documents to Applications e-Work, plan examiners’ work, draft master plans and portfolios of examiners’ applications, list applications by applicant, capture statistics, provide access to Applications e-Work and application components, review bibliographical information, prepare outgoing correspondence, and has an application search function and a developed user administration system. The Electronic Applications Archive is integrated into ABD.

It is planned to migrate to the new version of the Agreements automated system that offers paperless prosecution and provides State services electronically (integrated into the State Services Portal) in 2012.

The Agreements automated system is designed to support the prosecution of agreements to transfer rights in intellectual property subject matter, providing for the entire cycle of work: registration, categorizing incoming correspondence, storing the current status of applications, revisers’ corrections, preparing and sending outgoing correspondence, bookkeeping and integration with other systems.

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

Equipment used:
PrimePower 1500 server
(OM – 32GB, processors – 14, external memory – 24TB)
HP DL380 server – 40 units
(OM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200GB)
HP DL580 server – 18 units
(OM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory – 600GB)
HP P4, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 1380 units
Switching equipment:
Cisco 6500, Cisco 4507

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

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).

FIPS VPTB provides open, unlimited access to TSPF and serves all categories of users (including examiners) from Russia and neighboring and other foreign countries.

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

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

FPE continually acquires national patent documentation and patent associated literature. In 2011, 61,500 paper copies of national patent documentation and 3,000 items of patent associated literature were added to FPE. In total, as at January 1, 2012, FPE holds 20 million patent documents on paper carriers – over two million of which are national documents – as well as 99,500 scientific and technical books and journals.

The acquisition by FPE of foreign patent documentation on paper and optical disks has been suspended.

On January 1, 2011, the foreign patent documentation collection for examiners on paper carriers included approximately 17.9 million patent documents of varying levels of detail on different countries, starting from the 1920s and including documentation arrays from the following countries and organizations: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, WIPO, EPO, EAPO, and also patent documentation from the CIS countries.

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

The Central Patent Collection (TSPF) provides both national and foreign patent documents on all industrial property subject matter, in the form of full-text descriptions of invention applications and patents, utility models and industrial designs, abstracts, bibliographical information, as well as dictionaries, patent law and reference and other information.

The main sources for TSPF are the official publications of Rospatent and patent documentation received through international exchanges with patent offices in foreign countries, and other information centers.

The total number of users of FIPS VPTB is over 22,100 persons, while 1,400 persons reregistered as readers in 2011; 82,200 visits were made in the past year.

In 2011, FIPS VPTB users were provided with approximately 28.1 million copies of patent documents: over 4.8 million paper copies, 7,300 copies on microform and over 23.2 million copies on optical disks.

In order to assist the work of FIPS VPTB readers, both general and specialized reading rooms are provided:
- information and bibliography services;
- paper and microform patent documentation;
- industrial designs;
- optical disks and remote databases.

Visits and services for all categories of library users are free of charge. Alongside the traditional services, in 2011 FIPS VPTB improved and developed readers’ access to automated databases. In total there are over 260 different databases in TSPF.

Collection management, preservation

The structure of FPE consists of current and retrospective sections. The current section provides national patent documentation and patent-associated literature. The retrospective section provides foreign patent documentation.

The national patent documentation of FPE on paper includes descriptions of USSR inventions (from 1924), descriptions of RF inventions and utility models (applications, patents and certificates), and the USSR and RF Official Gazettes to date. Arrays arranged separately are USSR and RF documentation and a collection of descriptions of RF utility models.

The patent collection is an assortment of literature that includes scientific and technical literature in the form of books and periodicals, as well as patent law, standards and methods, and reference literature.

The paper patent documentation of FPE is organized by IPC classification: each section is arranged by country, each country by year of publication and then in numerical order. The documentation is stored in cases on shelves.

As at January 1, 2012, TSPF held 102.2 million copies of patent documents on various carriers, including the foreign patent documentation collection of 95 million items.

In 2011, TSPF acquired over 4.1 million copies of national and foreign patent documents on optical disks.

The TSPF collections on paper are arranged along geographical-systematic-numerical lines.

The storage conditions for collections are determined primarily by the type of information carrier:
- patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
- patent documentation on microform is stored in metal boxes in film library files (microfilm) and in metal cupboards (microfiches);
- patent documentation on optical disks is stored in special cupboards;
- in automated databases.

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

An element of international exchange is cooperation with patent office libraries, including the British Library, 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 email, and other libraries.

In order to simplify access to information resources, VPTB provides patent information services to remote users on request, including thematic selection of patent documentation, searching by systematic indexes, searching in automated databases and searching for patent-analogs, among others. There are over 40 designated services in all.

In 2011, over 6,300 patent information services were provided to readers who access FIPS VPTB directly and regional and foreign users by correspondence, including the provision of 224,500 pages of copies of patent documentation. At present, over 291 organizations and private individuals have remote subscriptions to FIPS VPTB.

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 2011, patent information users were presented 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 paper Gazette. 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 2010, on DVD (a total of 103 disks);
• An information-search system for invention descriptions in Russian and English, from 1994 to 2011, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
• Title pages of utility model descriptions for RF documents providing protection, from 1994 to 2011, on DVD - one disk;
• Descriptions of utility models for RF documents providing protection from 1994 to 2011 on DVD;
• Patent invention descriptions on paper – 29,999 units;
• Title pages of utility model descriptions on paper - 11,083 units;
• Rospatent Annual Report for 2010.

The selection of information products also included the full version of the official publication of the International Patent Classification, edition 2011.01 (IPC-2011.01) on CD.
Most products on CD and DVD were distributed with MIMOSA software, allowing all forms of patent searches to be carried out.
In 2011 electronic publication on the FIPS website continued of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette, while the registers of Russian inventions and utility models were updated and details of their legal status were 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 received after January 1, 2007.
In 2011, the FIPS Internet site provided an expanded list of databases reflecting the development of official electronic publications.
On the basis of official information relating to inventions and utility models, thematic databases are produced for users’ on special request.
In 2011 the Rospatent Internet site provided access to:
- registers of Russian patent documents relating to inventions and utility models,
- registers containing information on published applications and the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2011 for the grant of invention patents;
- registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2011 for the grant of utility model patents;
- the Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes published in the last month.

Registers of Russian patent documents from Rospatent are compiled in the following databases:
- a full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 447,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2011 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 112,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2011 inclusive, updated once per quarter);
- a database of invention applications (contains information on 371,000 published applications filed from 1992 to 2011, updated three times per month, and on the prosecution of 203,000 applications filed from 2007 to 2011, updated daily);
- a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2011 (contains information on the prosecution of 58,000 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 2011 for the grant of invention and utility model patents;
- Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes published in the last month.
Users of the ISS are provided with access to:
- a full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 447,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2011 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 462,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2011 inclusive, updated three times per month);
- a database of published applications for inventions (contains information on 371,000 applications for inventions from 1994 to 2011 inclusive, updated three times per month);
- an abstract database for Russian inventions in English (contains information on 470,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2011 inclusive, updated three times per month);
- a full-text database of Russian utility models (contains information on 112,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2011 inclusive, updated once per quarter);
- an abstract database for Russian utility models (contains information on 112,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2011 inclusive, updated three times per month);
- a future-oriented inventions database (contains information on 1,000 inventions from 1994 to 2011 inclusive that are recognized by FIPS as promising, updated once per quarter);
- IPC (2011.01) database.

Users' work with the 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 on a contractual basis.

Free access to full-text inventions and utility models databases is granted to:
- 148 organizations participating in the Rospatent Program of Cooperation with regions of the Russian Federation;
- 40 organizations participating in the implementation of the State project to develop nanotechnologies;
- 84 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:
- abstracts 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 abstracts database;
- a database containing documents published in the last three Inventions and Utility Models Gazettes;
- the IPC database.

On the Rospatent and FIPS websites access is provided to;
- a database of applications for inventions, filed between 2007 and 2011, which contains information on the prosecution of 203,000 applications, updated daily;

- a database of applications for utility models, filed between 2007 and 2011, which contains information on the prosecution of 58,000 applications, updated daily.

In the Rospatent and Regions section of the Rospatent website, there are regularly updated bibliography lists to help regional experts with issues that arise regarding protection of intellectual property subject matter and questions of judicial practice: recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature, and documentation to support the activities of patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network.

In the VPTB Division section of the FIPS website there are guidelines on the VPTB Collection and Internet Resources and translations into Russian of quarterly EPO publication Patent Information News provided by the staff of the VPTB Division.

VPTB creates annotated electronic catalogs for the patent law literature collection, Legal Protection of Intellectual Property around the World: National and Foreign Publications, which contains 119,500 bibliographic entries from 1831 to date. The electronic version of the catalogue, which contains information on publications from 1992 to date, is available on the FIPS website and accessible at no charge. Since 2011, the electronic catalogue has provided links to full-text documents that are available online on an open access basis on the right holders’ websites. Remote usage statistics for the electronic catalogue in 2011 show that it was accessed 32,481 times, there were 15,105 remote users, 62,749 inquiries, and that 191,939 documents were viewed.

Aside from patent documentation, users also have access to patent law, scientific and technical, standards and methodology, reference, encyclopedic and other literature that is acquired on an ongoing basis. They can actively use the search facilities of the SCOPUS abstracts database from publisher Elsevier, access to which is provided through the Institute’s IP address, and the EPO Global Patent Index database, Kluwer Manual IP Online and Kluwer IP Cases, as well as making wide use of other Internet resources (non-patent literature searches in the E-Library digital library and different free resources provided by publishers).

Institute employees were provided with access to electronic copies of Russian patent law journals and also to certain publications on intellectual property from other countries (by subscription).

As part of the program of the MTSNTI International Consortium Resource Network, examiners have the opportunity, on a trial basis, to consult and work with information resources from the leading global publishing houses.

The information needs of the Institute are met through the interlibrary loans and electronic document delivery systems, which are supplied under agreements with eight major specialist libraries in Moscow and through access to remote databases in other countries. In 2011, 5,249 publications were received, including 2,288 articles from scientific and technical journals in electronic format from remote databases (including Elsevier, Springer, Infotrive and the British Library).

The following items were acquired for GPF in 2011: 26,642 scientific and technical books and periodicals (national and foreign Official Gazettes and journals): 9,364,000 foreign items and 17,278 national items in all formats, including 12,941 in electronic format (on optical disks, downloaded from the Internet, etc.).

As at January 1, 2012, the collection included:
- scientific and technical literature (domestic and foreign books and journals) in FPE – 99,500 items;
- the dictionaries, patent law and reference publications collection in TSPF – 83,100 items;
- the collection of domestic and foreign periodicals and publications of abstracts in TSPF – 279,100 items.

The online publications of the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division are available on the FIPS website 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 online publications are published:
• method-related materials and reviews on protection and enforcement of the results of intellectual activity to assist small and medium-sized enterprises:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/mp;
• recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network:
http://www.rupto.ru/rosp_reg/sod/Pat_podrazd_i_sluzhbam/links/Rekomendacii/Rekomendacii.html.

In order to ensure the uniform practical application of the provisions of part four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulating the grant of legal protection to the subject matter of patent legislation and means of individualization, a range of method-related recommendations have been posted on the FIPS website:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/industrial+property_recomend.

To assist the patent subdivisions and the State services of the science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network, a range of method-related materials are available on the website:
http://www.rupto.ru/rosp_reg/sod/Pat_podrazd_i_sluzhbam/pat_pod_i_sluzhbam.html.

In the Information Resources section, in the Open Registers, information is provided on registering intellectual property subject matter with an indication of its legal status or state of prosecution:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

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.

Addresses for web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on filing applications:
• Administrative regulations on the execution by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State activities to organize the receipt of applications for inventions and their consideration, examination and granting of Russian Federation patents for inventions in the established manner,
http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/prikaz/minobrnauka/327/Pritm_zajavok_na_izobretenie.html#1;
• Administrative regulations on the execution by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State activities to organize the receipt of applications for utility models and their consideration, examination and granting of Russian Federation patents for utility models in the established manner,
http://www.rupto.ru/norm_doc/sod/prikaz/minobrnauka/326/Pritm_zajavok_na_poleznuy_model.html#1;
• Methodology recommendations on matters of the examination of inventions and utility models,
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/rec_inv;
• Model Applications, Declarations and Requests and Examples of Completed Forms section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya/;
• Electronic Services for 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.

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

• Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/ ;
How to Access Publications and Databases subsection, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;

• Carrying out searches – in the Information Resources section: Services subsection, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;
and Information-Search System subsection, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/;
Open Registers, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;
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/;

• Patent databases – Databases subsection of the Information-Search System section,
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_2/;

• Information on accessing and using resources – in the Information-Search System section, Support subsection,
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_4/;
Instructions,
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_1a/.
FIPS All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division,
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.

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

At present, FIPS VPTB receives documentation through exchanges with 57 countries and six international organizations.

The volumes of foreign descriptions received are defined by the scale of activities of national patent offices and international organizations. The leading positions in this field are held by Japan, the United States of America, China and the Republic of Korea.

Through international exchange in 2011, FIPS VPTB received 5,898,100 copies of foreign patent documents on optical disks and by email, from 28 countries and three organizations, a total of 110 annual sets of invention descriptions on optical disks.

In 2011, 1,694 copies of Gazettes containing information on inventions were received in all formats from 50 countries and one international organization: 100 paper copies (12 stand alone Gazettes and 88 sections); 425 copies on optical disks (59 stand alone Gazettes and 366 sections); and 1,169 copies were downloaded from the Internet (501 stand alone Gazettes and 668 sections).

As part of international exchange in 2011, 47 foreign countries and five organizations were sent 64 annual sets of Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents. In total, 1,952,000 copies of national invention descriptions were sent to foreign patent offices.

As part of international exchange, 10 sets (130 items) of the combined regional output of CIS countries on CD-ROM CISPATENT were forwarded to six patent offices and EPO. Eight countries participating in the Direct Libraries project were sent 19 sets (244 items).

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed at the instigation of WIPO between VPTB and the information and education services of the WIPO information division, in 2011 the Library received one copy, in English and Russian, of every new WIPO publication free of charge.

Data on 10,682 national patent documents that had been reclassified due to the migration to IPC edition 2012.01 were transferred into the Master Classification Database (MCD).

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

In 2011, testing continued of the transfer to WIPO by means of PCT-EDI of electronic documents relating to international applications received by Rospatent acting as a receiving Office and International Searching Authority. These documents include, in particular, priority applications, registered copies of international applications received by the receiving Office, as well as international search reports and written notes from the International Searching Authority.

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

Training and professional development for FIPS employees are organized under the Common Training System (ESO), according to the principle of steady application of internal and external training methods from the time of hiring.

With the aim of ensuring one common approach to examination, eight sessions on contemporary questions of law enforcement practice were held for the heads of the structural subdivisions, staff examiners, scientific staff and other leading specialists at FIPS.

In connection with the migration to the new interagency cooperation system for providing State services, 14 training seminars were held, which were attended by approximately 120 persons: Rospatent managers and managerial staff, the heads of staff and leading specialists of the structural subdivisions of FIPS, and the staff responsible for implementing electronic interagency cooperation in the provision of State services.

Training for staff examiners on how to use the Rospatent search system, PatSearch, is held on a continual basis, as are consultations on using other available databases in the work of examiners.

Computer technology is also employed for remote training, including under the WIPO Academy programs and training using the integrated computer training system (OKS OLIMP) that is designed for independent study and self correction of staff examiners’ knowledge through testing.

As part of the exchange of experience with patent offices in other countries, four training seminars on familiarity with the law enforcement practices of other patent offices (the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), EPO and EAPO) were held at Rospatent for staff examiners, and administrative and managerial staff from FIPS. The seminars were attended by 170 specialists.

Given the importance of patent information when training specialists, carrying out scientific research and organizing innovation activities, etc., the VPTB Division runs a program of various events in cooperation with universities, research centers and technology and innovation support centers, etc.

Among the key events, the following are worth noting:

- organization and holding of seminars and practical classes based on GPF for students from a range of higher education institutions in Moscow, held under the existing study plan for the subject Introduction to Intellectual Property on the basis of joint cooperation agreements. In 2011, 21 excursions and practical classes were organized on working with patent documentation, which 308 persons attended;

- participation in seminars and conferences organized and held by FIPS in regional patent information centers, libraries and RF higher education institutions as part of the Regional Policy of Rospatent. The subjects of these events correspond to the tasks of raising the level of patent information provision in the regions, enhancing inventive activity, and providing innovative State policy in all areas of modernization and development of the scientific and economic potential of the Russian Federation;

- periodic organization of roundtables in Moscow as subject-based meetings for representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, teachers and students of higher education institutions and other specialists interested in issues of intellectual property. The meetings are aimed at disseminating knowledge in the field of intellectual property. At the events, contemporary challenges in the organization of services for all categories of users of patent information are discussed, taking into account the possibilities of the latest information technologies and changes to the principles of international exchange, etc. In 2011, 12 subject-based meetings, attended by 303 persons, were held with representatives from major libraries, students and teachers from higher education institutions and other specialists. A roundtable was also held on the issues of patent information supply in contemporary conditions and FIPS cooperation with the regions. Participants at the roundtable which took place represented Moscow, the Moscow Region, neighboring countries (Belarus, Estonia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, among others) and over 20 regions of the Russian Federation. There were over 70 participants in total;

- assistance with the updating, on a non-remunerated 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 2011, over 1,600 optical disks with national invention descriptions were distributed to different higher education institutions in the Russian Federation.

In 2011, 1,885,072 official foreign publications on optical disks (899 sets of disks) and 1,082 foreign periodicals (32 sets of disks) were sent to the regions of Russia.

In 2011, three Russian Federation organizations were offered the possibility of free access to full-text FIPS databases of descriptions of national inventions and utility models.

As part of the implementation of the Program on Information Provision for the Regions, free access to certain databases is provided through the FIPS Internet site to 187 organizations in eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. Access is provided to 49 FIPS regional support organizations, eight science towns, 39 State science centers, 35 science centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences and 40 organizations involved in the implementation of the Comprehensive Federal Program on "Development of the Infrastructure of the Nanoindustry in the Russian Federation, 2008-2011", as well as 16 other organizations.

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

In accordance with the Agreements between Rospatent and the International Bureau of WIPO, Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, prepares search reports with preliminary examination reports on applications filed with the International Bureau of WIPO by developing countries. In 2011, 22 such search reports together with examination reports were prepared.

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

In 2011, Rospatent organized and held 27 conferences, seminars and roundtables on questions of intellectual property in 17 regions of the Russian Federation, at which 36 FIPS employees presented papers. This included two international regional seminars that were jointly organized and hosted by Rospatent and WIPO with the backing of FIPS support organizations, and at which four employees of FIPS and two employees of WIPO gave papers. Four FIPS employees and three colleagues from USPTO presented papers at two international regional seminars organized and held jointly by Rospatent, USPTO and FIPS regional support organizations. Papers were presented by five employees of FIPS at an international seminar organized and held jointly by Rospatent, USPTO and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

At events held jointly by Rospatent, the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Russian State Duma (Federal Assembly), the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, and others, under the aegis of the Fourth WIPO All-Russian Forum “Intellectual Property of Russia - Twenty-First Century,” 14 employees of Rospatent and FIPS presented papers.

Over 2,000 persons attended the conferences, seminars and roundtables that took place in 2011.

The broad issues of the protection, enforcement and use of intellectual property subject matters in Russia, including inventions, utility models, computer programs and databases, were the key topics for 22 regional conferences, seminars and roundtables.

From April 5 to 8, 2011, the 14th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes, was held. Representatives of 450 scientific organizations and industrial enterprises from 42 regions of the Russian Federation and 18 other countries participated in the Exhibition, which was visited by 700 (TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: figure correct??) persons.

On April 6, 2011, as part of the Exhibition, Rospatent and FIPS organized and held a scientific and practical conference and roundtable on “Contemporary questions of protection and the examination of applications for intellectual property subject matter.” Presentations were given by 16 leading specialists from Rospatent and FIPS and 155 persons participated in the work of the conference.

On October 26 and 27, 2011, the 15th traditional scientific and practical conference of Rospatent was held: the National Innovation System and the Significance of Legal Protection of Intellectual Property for its Development.

The conference involved two plenary sessions and five working sections, and 40 reports were presented. In total, 277 persons took part in the conference, including 13 from foreign countries. The number of Russian regions represented was 33.

From November 17 to 19, 2011, the 60th global exhibition of innovation, scientific research and new technology, Brussels Innova/Eureka 2011, took place in Brussels. One FIPS employee participated in the event.

Active participation continued in 2011 in the work to establish and refine the WIPO standards in the field of patent information under the relevant Task Forces of the Committee on WIPO Standards, primarily by developing Standards for the use of XML to exchange information on industrial property rights in all formats. The use of the recommendations of WIPO Standard ST.22 (Recommendation for the authoring of patent applications) in the practices of Rospatent was further advanced. The Russian-language version of WIPO Standard ST.3 (Two-letter codes for the representation of States and organizations) is continually updated to reflect amendments.

Active participation in the work of the WIPO Committee of Experts on IPC and ICGS continues, primarily on plans to review them. Up-to-date Russian-language versions of these classifications are being prepared following the completion of their review. Alphabetical subject indexes for the current versions of IPC are regularly republished.

Rospatent plays an active role in developing cooperation under the PCT. Particular attention is focused on the present stage of harmonization of search procedures during application examination and writing up reports on searches that have been performed. In 2011, work began on the automated drafting of reports on searches performed in the in-house information-search system, PatSearch.

The number of offices that have concluded agreements with Rospatent under the programs for accelerated prosecution (PPH, PPH-PCT and PPH-MOTTAINAI) is rising steadily, as is the number of applications from them. In 2011, agreements of this kind (aside from the existing agreements with Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America) were concluded with Finland and Spain. Cooperation with Japan and the Republic of Korea under the PPH program has involved examiners exchanging experience during reciprocal visits to the corresponding patent offices.

In 2011, Rospatent welcomed a delegation of examiners from the Israeli Patent Office with the aim of exchanging working experience.

A Rospatent delegation regularly participates in the work of the East meets West forum dedicated to exchanging patent information.

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

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

Since 2008, representatives of FIPS VPTB have participated in the work of PATLIB, and have analyzed their capabilities to provide “intelligent services” to different categories of users, taking into account the experience of foreign colleagues.

In 2011, in order to implement the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding on establishing a network of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) in the Russian Federation, signed between Rospatent and WIPO in Geneva on September 28, 2011, Rospatent moved to take measures outlined by the Program to Establish a Network of TISCs, developed jointly by WIPO and national patent offices. The requirements for businesses wishing to establish such centers have been developed and published.

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