Annual Technical Report 2013 on Patent Information Activities submitted by EAPO (CWS/ATR/PI/2013/EA)

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. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization

In 2013 EAPO continued to work under the 2010-2014 Development Program of the Eurasian Patent Organization. Below listed are the areas and tasks relating to patent information:

Improvement of procedures of filing and examination of Eurasian applications and publication of Eurasian patents
- Changes taking place in technological procedures of Eurasian applications and patents processing as a result of implementation of e-filing systems, processing and storage of Eurasian applications and patents;
- Development of automated systems for publication, of information technologies for preparation of patent documentation and formation of patent collection;
- Provision of complex patent and information services to examination department.
Development of the system of formation and dissemination of patent information:
- Development of technology for preparation and issue of EAPO patent information products;
- Further development of methods and means of formation of search databases and access to them via the regional information and search system EAPATIS for the purposes of rendering services to users of the Eurasian region and other categories of users;
- Modernization and development of the EAPO web-site.

Development of cooperation between EAPO and national patent offices of the EAPC Member-States, other countries, and international organizations:
- Development of cooperation between EAPO and national patent offices in scientific and technical areas;
- Development of cooperation between EAPO and foreign patent offices, regional and international organizations in the field of intellectual property.

New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks

Electronic filing

In 2013 the receipt of the Eurasian applications electronically was realized by means of two systems: ADEPT electronic filing system and EAPO-ONLINE electronic filing and exchange system.
At the end of the reporting period, the EAPO-ONLINE system was implemented into industrial operation comprising the following functional subsystems:
• information services portal;
• subsystem for uploading and processing of applications;
• electronic filing of PCT applications (regional phase);
• electronic filing of conventional applications;
• electronic filing of divisional applications;
• subsystem for processing of additional materials to all applications;
• subsystem for processing of electronic requests.

In the reporting year 1828 applications were filed through EAPO-ONLINE system, constituting more than 53% of all applications filed with the Office.

Automation of patent procedure
Administrative Information System:
During the reporting year works were carried on development, testing and debugging of administrative information system (AIS) Soprano software modules, which are being developed as part of the transition from AIS Common Software to AIS Soprano.
Primary attention in the reporting year was paid to the development of migration technology (transfer) of data from AIS CS database (DB) to AIS Soprano DB, the technology was implemented considering the specificity of EAPO information array. Realization of these activities resulted in the following outcomes:
• development of the concept and formulation of the migration task, using both standard tools provided by the EPO, and specialized software developed by experts of the EAPO;
• development of in-house means for data conversion, which take into account the specificity of the EAPO information arrays and objectives;
• development and implementation into trial operation of the technological process of regular data migration.

Electronic Dossier:
In the maintenance and development of the automated system of electronic dossier of Eurasian applications files (E-Phoenix) work was conducted on the transfer of data from the E-Archive (electronic archive) system into the E-Phoenix. More than 19,000 files of Eurasian applications containing more than 566,000 documents were transferred.
Completion of these activities made it possible to abandon the use of two divergent systems, providing a single access point to electronic dossiers.
In the reporting period 785,087 documents were uploaded to the E-Phoenix system of electronic dossier of Eurasian applications files. The system was developed both in overall functionality and as a means of integration with other EAPO automated information systems - AIS CS and AS HIVE.

Electronic collection of Eurasian patents files:
In 2013, formation of an electronic fund of Eurasian patents files became an independent area of activities. For the purpose of its formation an objectives task was designed, on the basis of which the activities were carried out on conversion of retrospective and newly formed files of Eurasian patents into electronic format, including new incoming documents to existing files of valid Eurasian patents.
Electronic array of Eurasian patents files was integrated with automated database of the Eurasian Patent Register, access to which was granted to the EAPO personnel. By the end of 2013, materials of 16,659 patents, including 15,038 patent files and 5429 supplementary documents, were fully or partially scanned and converted into electronic format. The conversion into an electronic format was completed for retrospective files of Eurasian patents, which are no longer in force and are not subject to reinstatement (total of 5017 files).

HIVE publication processing system
Work continued on maintenance and development of the automated HIVE system and its functional modules for processing of patent information during the stage of the preparation of EAPO official publications. Changes and additions were made to the HIVE system in order to improve the efficiency and quality of preparation of materials for publication, which also simplify the procedure of transfer of materials for publication from examination divisions. For this purpose the following works were carried out:
• the system was moved onto a new platform using a free redistributable software;
• the operating system and DBMS were renovated to ensure stable operation of the applications and to meet the requirements of the EAPO virtual machines infrastructure;
• developed means for receiving of Eurasian patents files, transmitted for publication electronically;
• work has begun on receipt of notices on Eurasian applications and patents in electronic form.
In the reporting year, the transition to a complete paperless processing of Eurasian applications, and their electronic transfer for publication were completed. Purposely the information technology for preparation and transfer for the publication of sets of Eurasian applications documents was used in the industrial operation mode. 3859 applications were transferred for publication electronically.

EAPATIS
EAPATIS system was developed by the EAPO with the purpose to improve the efficiency and quality of patent search and to provide a patent-information support for the process of examination of Eurasian applications. The system was put into production operation in the EAPO in 2000.
The improved version of EAPATIS, which is currently in industrial operation, was developed further. In the reporting year the following works were carried out in the development of the system:
• development of a new search interface for professional search in English;
• development of a new search interface for guest mode in Russian and English;
• creation of array of full-text patent documents of the USSR and Russia (more than 2.5 million documents);
• developed and incorporated into the pilot operation of the implementers of multi-server system architecture;
• optimization of the mechanism for displaying search results in databases, containing full texts of patent documents.

Eurasian Publication Server
At the end of the reporting year the new EAPO information system - Eurasian Publication Server - was put into production operation. Eurasian publication server provides access to primary publications (including full descriptions of inventions to Eurasian applications and patents), and to information, published in the notifications on applications and patents in official Gazettes, as well as to information on legal status of patents. The system is freely accessible on the EAPO web- portal. Since its commissioning on 01.01.2014, the appearance of the information about Eurasian patent documents in this information system shall be considered as their official publication. The transition to single official publication-Eurasian Publication Server - led to the termination of the production and dissemination of the official publications of the EAPO on optical disk on subscription, except the discs, which are prepared for exchange and under agreements with customers. To replenish and update the information system with data an IT was developed for publication of materials of Eurasian applications and patents from HIVE system onto the Eurasian Publication Server.

Espacenet
In 2013, works were completed on configuration, adaptation of the Eurasian Espacenet server version 5 and on the replenishment of the server with Eurasian patent documentation.
At the end of the reporting period, the Eurasian server was launched in production mode. The new version of Espacenet user interface has an improved design and structure.
Also in 2013, provision of the Eurasian patent documents to the EPO continued, to be placed in a worldwide database of Espacenet and in other databases hosted by the EPO.

Processing of the back file of Eurasian patent documents
In 2013 work continued on the processing of back file of Eurasian patent documents in order to make these files compliant with modern requirements of the quality of patent information and technical formats for data presentation. As a result of the carried out works, files of Eurasian patent documents, published in 1996-1998, were fully recovered (1135 applications, 233 patents). The information about them is presented in modern formats and is used in patent information systems and for patent information exchange. The corrected bibliographic data for the period of 1999-2002 has been loaded into the publication system HIVE; additional documents to full-text descriptions of Eurasian patents for the period 1997-2005 were indexed; IPC indexes were verified for documents published in 2002-2005.

Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year

In 2013 the following main areas of patent information activities were in the focus of attention in the EAPO:
- Implementation of paperless technologies in the patent procedure;
- Transition to online publication of official patent information including full specifications and legal status data;
- Electronic exchange of patent documentation, announcements and legal status information between examination and publication divisions of the EAPO;
- Development of online filing tools functionality and tools for the electronic filing of Eurasian applications via national IP offices of the EAPC Member States;
- Conversion of application and patent dossiers into electronic form, development of electronic dossier functionality;
- Technical cooperation with national IP offices of the EAPC Member States;
- Development of EAPATIS patent information system, update of the search file;
- Transition from Common Software to Soprano administrative system;
- Processing of backlog of Eurasian patent documents for their further presentation in modern technical formats;
- Transfer of main information systems of the office to a virtual fault tolerant platform ;
- Creation of information security management system;
- Creation of backup systems on streamers;
- Creation of a safe fault tolerant system of remote access of examiners to information systems of the office.

Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

Compared with the previous year in 2013, the number of filed applications has decreased by 13%, the number of granted Eurasian patents has increased by 2,6 %.
In 2013, the distribution of Eurasian applications by technical fields has not changed significantly in comparison with the previous year. The largest number of filed Eurasian applications related to organic chemistry, drugs and medicines.

Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.

Annual Report 2013, English/Russian:
http://www.eapo.org/pdf/home/report/eapo_2013.pdf
Annual reports for some recent years (English/Russian):
http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/reports/
Development Program of the Eurasian Patent Organization for 2010-2014, general information (Russian):
http://www.eapo.org/pdf/home/programm2010_2014.pdf
News,
in Russian: http://www.eapo.org/ru/news.php?newsview=arhiv
in English: http://www.eapo.org/en/news.php?newsview=arhiv
Press releases,
in Russian: http://www.eapo.org/ru/news.php?pressview=arhiv
in English: http://www.eapo.org/en/news.php?pressview=arhiv

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) – URLs

In Russian
http://www.eapo.org/ru/inventors.html - general information about Eurasian patent procedures for inventors
http://www.eapo.org/ru/getpatent/ - brochure "How to Get a Eurasian Patent"
http://www.eapo.org/ru/attorneys.php - database of Eurasian patent attorneys
http://www.eapo.org/ru/documents/blanks/ - application forms
http://www.eapo.org/ru/documents/norm/ - legal texts
http://www.eapo.org/ru/documents/method/ - guidance materials

In English
http://www.eapo.org/en/feature.html - main features of the Eurasian patent procedure
http://www.eapo.org/en/attorneys.php - Eurasian patent attorneys
http://www.eapo.org/en/getpatent/ - brochure "How to get a Eurasian Patent"
http://www.eapo.org/en/documents/norm/ - legal texts

All registered users of EAPO-ONLINE e-filing system have access to a detailed user manual.
EAPO also provides a hotline for applicants via telephone and e-mail to handle questions on filing and the subsequent examination procedures.

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

The application dossier is available in electronic form in the EAPO, but it can be accessed only by the authorized staff of the office. See projects “Electronic Dossier” and “Electronic fund of Eurasian patents files” above for more details.

Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information

EAPO patent documentation is included into PCT minimum documentation and patent documents are classified and reclassified in the full International Patent Classification (IPC) on the publication stage.
Information about published Eurasian patent documents including classification data is sent to EPO to be included into the Master Classification Database (MCD).
EAPO does not reclassify the back file of published Eurasian patent documents.

Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents

Eurasian patent applications are filed at the EAPO in Russian only. When patent application is filed, an applicant or a representative provides abstract in required format in accordance with filing procedure. This abstract is published with bibliographic data of the application in the Gazette and on the Eurasian publication server, on first pages of application and corresponding patent. Translation of bibliographic data and abstracts of Eurasian patents into English is carried out by the EAPO; translations are added to certain publications of the EAPO for non-official use.

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URLs)

In 2013 EAPO issued the following publications and provided the following on-line publication services in the field of patent information:

- EAPO Gazette (bibliographic data, abstract or claims, announcements; optical disc, Web-site):
http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/bulletin/index.php

- Publication server (full descriptions of published applications and granted patents, first pages, bibliographic data, abstract or claims, announcements; Web-site):
http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/publicat/

- Descriptions of inventions in Eurasian patent documents (full descriptions of published applications and granted patents including first pages, in PDF format, bibliographic data, abstract or claims, full texts of patents, translations of bibliographic data and abstracts into English for patents in XML format; optical disc)

- Legislative, normative-methodical and reference documentation of the EAPO (optical disc)

- Eurasian applications and patents, summary index (optical disc)

Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URL), etc.

In 2013 EAPO published in the official Gazette the following procedural announcements in the field of patent information:

Applications:
Event code Event description
BZ2A Eurasian patent applications published with a search report (A1 publication)
BZ1A Eurasian patent applications published without a search report (A2 publication)
EZ2A Separate publication of a search report (A3 publication)
HZ9A Publication of corrected Eurasian application (first page, A8 publication)
HH9А Publication of corrected Eurasian application (A9 publication)
FA9A Withdrawal of a Eurasian application
NF9A Restoration of lapsed right to a Eurasian application
PD1A Registration of transfer of a Eurasian application by order of succession in title
PC1A Registration of transfer of a Eurasian application by assignment
HC1A (2A) Change in name of an applicant in a Eurasian application
HM1A (2A) Change in composition of inventors in a published Eurasian application
PZ1A Registration of pledge of right to a Eurasian application
HK9A Corrections to the Gazette related to the published Eurasian applications (bib. data, abstract)

Patents:
Event code Event description
FG4A Eurasian patents (B1 publication)
DZ4A Eurasian patent in respect to which the decision of amendment of claims was made (publication of claims of B2 document in the Gazette)
TZ4А Publication of corrected Eurasian patent (first page, B8 publication)
TH4А Publication of corrected Eurasian patent (B9 publication)
LD4A Reissued description of invention to a Eurasian patent (B2 publication)
ММ4А Lapse of a Eurasian patent in Contracting States due to non-payment of renewal fees within the established period
PC4A Registration of transfer of a Eurasian patent by assignment
PD4A Registration of transfer of a Eurasian patent in accordance with the succession in title
NF4A Restoration of lapsed right to a Eurasian patent
MC4A Revocation of a Eurasian patent in full under opposition procedure (administrative revocation)
MF4A Revocation of a Eurasian patent in full
MA4A Revocation of a Eurasian patent at the owner's request filed with the EAPO
MH4A Revocation of a Eurasian patent in part
TB4A Amendment in the composition of inventors in a published Eurasian patent
TK4A Corrections to the Gazette related to the published Eurasian patents
QB4A Registration of a license in a Contracting State
QC4A Termination of a registered license in a Contracting State
RH4A Grant of a duplicate certificate of a Eurasian title of protection
TC4A Change in name of a patent proprietor in a Eurasian patent
PZ4A Registration of pledge of right to a Eurasian patent
ND4A Extension of term of a Eurasian patent
QZ4A Registered alterations and amendments to a license agreement
RL4A Decisions of a court or other competent authority in respect to a Eurasian patent

In 2013 the official Gazette of EAPO was published monthly on optical discs and on the EAPO web portal at http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/bulletin/index.php (HTML and PDF versions are available).

Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases

Provision of EAPO examiners with reference patent and non-patent documentation, indicated in the international search report on Eurasian applications, was carried out using an automated Search Report Processing (SRP) system. During the reporting year, the selection of the reference documentation was carried out on 2610 Eurasian applications. Out of 8017 reference documents contained within the applications, the examiners were provided with 7289 documents in electronic form, including the 6196 patents and 1093 non-patent documents. The rate of provision of examiners with reference documents was 91%.
When conducting patent searches, examiners used EAPATIS, EPOQUE (EPO) information retrieval systems, as well as freely accessible ones (Espacenet, USPTO database, PatentScope etc.).
EAPO has developed a virtual patent-information depository comprising of local and external databases of patent documentation and non-patent literature integrated with each other. Access to databases and search in them is realized on the basis of a "one-window principle" via the Eurasian Patent Information System (EAPATIS). Currently EAPATIS contains over 20 constantly updating databases. Since 2003 the system has been in the open access via the Internet for EAPO Member-States. In 2004-2005 access was provided also to patent offices of Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Georgia. Local databases are formed by downloading of information from CD/DVD discs containing patent documentation, data conversion and arranging it in a unique format, data indexing and loading of information into the database.
EAPO continued works on development and creation of a single Eurasian patent information space expanding and updating of the EAPO storage with patent documents of the PCT minimum countries, EAPO and of national patent offices. Expansion of the databases was implemented through processing of information from the CISPATENT discs, and databases from national patent offices under the exchange program.
During the reporting period EAPATIS system processed approximately 932 thousand search queries, including more than 204 thousand queries from examiners of the national patent offices and more than 102 thousand queries from EAPO examiners.

Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

In 2013 the following patent information products and collections maintained by the EAPO were available to external users:
- EAPATIS patent information system (www.eapatis.com)
Guest use (free of charge):
Detailed searches in guest mode were only possible in arrays of the Eurasian (searches in English and Russian) and CISPATENT (searches in English) patent documents. Patent documents of other countries and international organizations could only be searched by their publication number.
Full use:
All EAPATIS databases are available for search and retrieval in full mode. Full use is subscription-based for external users. Free access is provided to national IP offices of EAPC Member States and to a number of public libraries, higher educational institutions, academies of sciences and scientific/technical centers in the EAPC Member States.

- Eurasian Espacenet server (ea.espacenet.com) – online, free of charge;
- Publication Server (http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/publicat/) – online, free of charge;
- EAPO Gazette (http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/bulletin/index.php) - online, free of charge;
- Descriptions of inventions in Eurasian patent documents - optical disc, subscription;
- Eurasian applications and patents, summary index - optical disc, subscription.

Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

Legal status information is stored and processed in the Administrative system of EAPO. This detailed legal and procedural status information is available for the authorized staff of the EAPO. External users may access the following legal status information sources:

- Online Patent Register (http://www.eapo.org/ru/patents/reestr/)
The register contains information about all published legal status events related to Eurasian patents, as well as the patent validity table by each EAPC contracting state.

- Eurasian publication server (http://www.eapo.org/ru/publications/publicat/)
The server contains information about all published announcements related to Eurasian applications and patents with corresponding heading codes in accordance with WIPO standard ST.17.

- INPADOC database (EPO)
EAPO delivers to the EPO on regular basis the information about published announcements related to Eurasian applications and patents with corresponding heading codes in accordance with WIPO standard ST.17.

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

Please see attached file

Software

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Please see attached file

Hardware

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The patent information depository of EAPATIS contains information from international and regional organizations (WIPO, EPO, EAPO), from countries of the PCT minimum (USA, Japan, Germany, UK, etc.) of various degree of retrospective, from national patent offices of the CIS countries, including EAPC Member States. Link to the cover page of EAPATIS databases: http://www.eapatis.com/general/db_eapatis.php
EAPATIS is capable of conducting searches additionally in Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE, JOPAL and USPTO databases. It is also able to redirect user to view a particular document directly in Espacenet, EP Register, RU Register, PATENTSCOPE, information search system at FIPS web site and in some other external databases accessible from the Internet.
More information about EAPATIS is available under the point “Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases” of this report.

Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

Search DB of patent information repository of the EAPO patent documentation of the PCT minimum, of the EAPO and the national patent offices continued to be replenished and updated. Replenishment of CIS database was based on the processing of information from the CISPATENT discs, whereas the database of national patent documentation - on the basis of information processed from the disks obtained by EAPO under exchange programs. During the reporting period local DB were replenished by more than 4 million patent documents, including information on more than 50 thousand national patent documents. The total number of documents included into the DB has exceeded 52, 5 million applications and patents. The database was accessed using the EAPATIS system.
In 2013, information from 430 discs CD-ROM/DVD was uploaded into the system of electronic data storage, works were carried out on optimization and streamlining of its storage.

Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

EAPO currently uses Common Software administrative information system. The system combines examiner’s workplace, patent register update functions and legal events processing functions. The database of Common Software system also serves as a data source for various administrative statistics generated and visualized by SAP Business Objects and Crystal Reports.
Database of the Register is formed with data downloaded from Common Software. Access to the database is provided to internal and external users. Legal status data on patents is contained within the Eurasian Patent Register.
For additional details see project “Administrative Information System” under the point “Automation of the patent procedure” above.

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION

Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries

The internal EAPO web portal accumulates in-house legal, regulatory, organizational documents, instructions, reference materials, and minutes of meetings. The internal library of periodicals, received in electronic format from the publishers, subscriptions and publications of EAPO personnel are also posted on the web portal. Users may conduct searches over publications by author's name, titles, and key words. The internal EAPO web site was further improved and maintained in 2013. All office employees are able to access this site from their workstations.
In 2013 EAPO received specialized magazines, books, brochures covering various aspects of patent activity. To provide examiners with reference materials EAPO cooperates with BEN (Library of Natural Sciences), VINITI (Library of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information), VPTB (All-Russian Patent and Technical Library) and others.
All collections of patent documents are stored electronically and available in EAPATIS system.

Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

Eurasian web portal provides access to a number of documents, publications and guides intended for applicants and patent information users, e.g.:
- General information about Eurasian patent procedures
- Brochure "How to Get a Eurasian Patent"
- Up-to-date collection of legal texts
- Comment of Eurasian Patent Legislation
- Explanatory statements of EAPO on certain procedural aspects
- Guidance materials
- User manuals, help files for patent information systems (EAPATIS, Espacenet, EAPO-ONLINE etc.)

Office’s initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)

In 2013, EAPO has done preparative work to implement at a later stage an in-house machine translation system, see “Machine Translation” project above.

Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

EAPO makes its feasible contribution to the innovative development of its Member States by means of providing a free access to the Eurasian Patent Information system (EAPATIS) to national IP offices, public libraries, higher educational institutions, Academies of sciences and scientific/technical centers of those countries.
As part of the agreement on providing free access to EAPATIS, 12 libraries and higher educational institutions and scientifiс organizations from the Kyrgyz Republic, 16 – from the Republic of Belarus, 16 – from Russia, 1 – from the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2 – from the Republic of Tajikistan, were connected to EAPATIS. Totally, 47 organizations were connected to EAPATIS by the end of the year.

Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Examiners and IT experts from the IP offices of EAPC Member States attended the two-week spring and autumn EAPO in-house training courses. The training program included lectures, demonstrations and practices on patent information matters, ICT support to examination divisions, information systems and technologies used in the EAPO.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information

In 2013, exchange of patent documentation was carried out with the three international organizations and 45 national patent offices. Altogether more than 1000 optical disks with EAPO official publications were sent out. In 2013, the EAPO patent fund on machine readable carriers was supplemented by 758 Disks CD\DVD. Altogether 19536 optical discs are being stored therein.

The following data deliveries, based on the cooperation agreements, were carried out by EAPO in 2013:
- PATENTSCOPE (WIPO) – bibliographic data and full descriptions of Eurasian applications and patents, regional phase entry information for PCT applications;
- Espacenet/MCD/DOCDB/BNS (EPO) - bibliographic data and full descriptions of Eurasian applications and patents;
- Inpadoc (EPO) – legal status information;
- CISPATENT (FIPS) - bibliographic data and full descriptions of Eurasian patents.

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

In the framework of implementation of the Agreement on granting of access to the EAPATIS to scientific organizations, public libraries and higher educational institutions, 12 libraries, higher educational and scientific institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic, 16 organizations from the Republic of Belarus, 3 organizations from Russia and 1 from the Republic of Kazakhstan have received access to the EAPATIS for free in 2013. In the past year 47 organizations have already been connected to the EAPATIS under this project.
EAPO participates in the regional project CISPATENT. It is a joint patent information product containing information on inventions of the CIS countries and Eurasian patents on CD/DVD.
EAPO finances the participation in the project of the EAPC Contracting States.
The annual set contains information on patent documents of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russia, and of Eurasian patent office, including:
• bibliography and abstracts in Russian and English;
• patent specifications in the language of publication by the Office.
Periodicy of publications - 12 disks per year.

Assistance to developing countries

In 2013 EAPO continued to work on the implementation in the national patent offices of the EAPO Member-States of the information technology for preparation, issue and web-publication of electronic bulletins, based on EAPO developments. Works were carried out in the Examination Center of Industrial property Subjects in the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AzPatent) and in the National Center for Patents and Information of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan. EAPO as well carried out preparatory work for the electronic filing of Eurasian applications through the national patent offices. Implementation of this IT will improve efficiency of publication and informing of the user about registered IP subjects in national offices, reduce costs of issue, replication and dissemination of published materials, and create the necessary prerequisites for Internet publication of electronic bulletins on NPO web sites.

EAPO continued to support dedicated Internet lines for the national patent offices of the EAPC Member-States.
EAPO annually organizes two courses (in spring and autumn) for specialists from the national patent offices of the EAPC Member-States. Thus, in 2013, 14 examiners attended the spring in-house training course, and 12 experts attended the autumn in-house training on information technologies. In addition, 3 representatives from national patent offices were trained at EAPO according to individual programs.
EAPO organized and financed advanced studies in the area of computer technologies for specialists from NPOs. 7 experts attended special courses at the “Softline” training center in Moscow and received respective certificates from the Microsoft Corporation.
The Eurasian Patent Office continued to finance advanced studies of 12 specialists under the program of “Intellectual property, Patenting” and 2 specialists were provided with the opportunity of tuition by correspondence from the EAPC Member-States at the Russian State Intellectual Property Academy (RGAIS).

VII. OTHER RELATED 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.

 

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.

 

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.