Annual Technical Report 2013 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Republic of Moldova (CWS/ATR/PI/2013/MD)

 

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

After entry into force, on 4 October 2008, of the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 50-XVI of 07.03.2008 on the Protection of Inventions, their protection became possible by both patent for invention (PI) and short-term patent for invention (STPI). At the same time, it was stopped the receiving of applications for the issue of patents under the responsibility of the applicant and of applications for the registration of utility models. Protection of inventions by short-term patent for invention proved very attractive to national applicants, namely due to:
- the simpler, faster and cheaper procedure, compared with the protection by patent for invention granted with the substantive examination of the application, on the one hand, and
- the extension of categories of objects that can be protected by this way, compared with the protection by utility model, on the other hand.

During 2013, 309 patent applications for invention were filed with the AGEPI, with 19 applications more than in 2012. At the same time, the difference between the number of PI applications and that of STPI applications continued to grow: thus, 69% of the applicants have opted for STPI and only 310% - for PI (in 2012 this ratio was 60:40%). In the following the statistical data relating to both types of applications and titles of protection are presented both cumulatively and separately, to highlight the trends, differences or similarities between them.

In 2013, AGEPI received 96 PI applications and 213 - STPI applications, with 19 fewer and, respectively, 38 more than in 2012. For the first time the number of PI applications fell below 100. Most applications for PI (76) and all applications for STPI were filed under the national procedure.


Foreign applicants filed in total 31 patent applications, with 6 more than in 2012, of which directly with the AGEPI were filed 9 applications for PI and 3 applications for STPI. Under the PCT procedure were received 20 applications for PI, with 9 more than in 2012. Increase in the number of applications filed by foreign applicants and especially in the number of applications filed under the PCT procedure is explained by the fact that after denunciation (entered into force on 26.04.2012) by the Republic of Moldova of the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC), foreign applicants seeking to patent their inventions in the Republic of Moldova can do this only by international way under the PCT procedure or direct submission of applications to AGEPI.


In total, during the period of 1993-2012, 6444 patent applications for inventions (5643 applications for PI and 801 applications for STPI) were filed with AGEPI, of which 5705 (89%) came from national applicants, and 739 (11%) - from foreign applicants.

In 2013, the national applicants filed via AGEPI, as the receiving office, 1 patent application abroad under the PCT. In the previous year were filed 7 applications for patenting abroad (3 under the PCT and 4 under the EAPC), and in the period 1995-2013 were submitted in total 105 applications  43 under the PCT and 62 by regional way under the EAPC.
Following the formal examination, in the National Register of Patent Applications were entered 103 applications, of which 76 belong to national applicants. Filed patent applications relate to the following sections of the International Patent Classification (IPC):
• A (Human Necessities) 24 (25%);
• B (Performing Operations; Transporting) 5 (5%);
• C (Chemistry; Metallurgy) 44 (46%);
• F (Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating; etc.) 6 (6%);
• G (Physics) 6 (6%);
• H (Electricity) 8 (8%);
• E (Fixed Constructions) 3 (3%).

In the National Register of Short-Term Patent Applications were entered 191 applications, including 190 from national applicants.
According to statistical data, the distribution of STPI applications by sections is as follows:
• A (Human Necessities) 88 (41%);
• B (Performing Operations; Transporting) 24 (11%);
• C (Chemistry; Metallurgy) 21 (10%);
• F (Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating; etc.) 27 (13%);
• G (Physics) 27 (13%);
• H (Electricity) 11 (5%);
• E (Fixed Constructions) 14 (7%).


In the year under review, as a result of examination of patent applications, were adopted 291 decisions.
Compared with recorded data from the previous year, it is attested an increase of 2 percentage points in the number of decisions of rejection of PI applications and an increase by 9 percentage points in the number of decisions of grant of patents for invention. At the same time, the rate of rejected STPI applications decreased by 4 percentage points, leading to an increase in the share of STPI applications for which were issued decisions of grant up to 75%, respectively by 8 percentage points more compared to 2012.

Of those 23/34 decisions of rejection of PI/STPI applications, 16/19 are based on legal grounds of noncompliance with the criteria for patentability, which are distributed as follows: 1/3 decisions  nonpatentable subject-matter of invention; 8/2 - lack of novelty; 4/9 - lack of inventive step; 3/5 - lack of industrial applicability.
In 2013, the average period of examination of PI applications until publication of the decision in BOPI was 17 months, falling within the statutory period of 18 months of substantive examination of the application, and for STPI applications the period was 7 months, this being one of the factors that makes many applicants to opt for short-term patent.


In 2013, AGEPI issued 184 titles of protection for inventions (61 - PI and 123 - STPI). The absolute majority of titles of protection for inventions was issued to national owners 180 (98%), of which 54 (29%) appertaining to natural persons and 126 (71%) - to legal persons.

Of the total number of patents issued by AGEPI, 982 patents (471 PI and 511 STPI) were valid on 31 December 2013, of which only 261 patents (27%) are maintained in force for a period of more than 5 years.
Of the patents maintained in force more than 5 years, 212 (81%) belong to national owners and 49 (19%) to foreign owners. National patent owners who maintained their patents in force for more than 5 years shall be distributed as follows: natural persons 106 (55%), legal persons 96 (45%), including 61 (29%) organizations in the sphere of science and innovation.
In total, 4560 patents were valid in the Republic of Moldova on 31December 2013, of which 3578 Eurasian patents (78%).
Utility models

In accordance with Article 97(3) of Law no. 50/2008, utility models (UM), registered in the Republic of Moldova before the entry into force of said Law, shall remain valid and may be renewed, even if the receipt of UM registration applications was ceased. In the period under review, there were renewed six UM protection certificates, by 31 December 2013 of the total number of 185 issued UM registration certificates were valid 17, all being renewed.

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
During 2013, AGEPI received 309 patent applications for invention, with 19 applications more than in 2012.

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

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:

http://agepi.gov.md/en/about/report.php

http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/inventions/statistics/

http://agepi.gov.md/en/publishing/bopi.php

http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/inventions/info.php

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

Visitors at the AGEPI Library have access to:
- descriptions of inventions and utility models protected in the Republic of Moldova and abroad, patent applications filed with the AGEPI and made available for public
- official bulletins of industrial property from 33 countries and 4 international organizations
- specialized databases on CD-ROM of WIPO, EPO, Austria, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Japan, Slovenia, Benelux, etc.
The selected documents are presented to the beneficiary electronically or on paper.
Also, during the period under review, AGEPI developed and implemented the following information products:
- information downloading, processing and loading programs for database Eurasian Patents
- entry number and date generation program, integrated into the software for electronic submission of IPO protection applications.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications
http://e-servicii.agepi.gov.md/en/user
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. - http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/inventions/

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

From January 1, 2006, the AGEPI use the advanced level of the IPC (8th edition).

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

The office translates the titles and abstracts into English and review the titles and abstracts provided by the applicant (in Romanian and Russian) and, if necessary, amend them accordingly to WIPO standard ST.12/A in order to ensure that the abstract contain the necessary information to be a useful search tool. The abstracts and titles are published in the Official Bulletin for patents and utility models applications and granted protection titles in 3 languages.

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)

1) Paper
Patent applications:
The front page containing bibliographic data, the abstract and the drawings are printed. The original specifications are laid open to public inspection in the AGEPI library.
Patents:
The front page and the specification are printed, the incorporated drawings being scanned.
2) CD-ROM
National CD-ROM Inventions of the Republic of Moldova, 1993-2013, containing bibliographic data and abstracts in 3 languages (Romanian, English and Russian) for patent applications; bibliographic data, abstracts and specifications for patents. This CD-ROM is renewed annually by adding the data for the last year.
CISPATENT - jointly with the IP Offices of several CIS countries (AM, BY,GE, RU, TJ, UZ, UA) and of the EAPO is issued this CD-ROM containing bibliographic data and abstracts in Romanian, English and Russian for patent applications and bibliographic data, abstracts in 3 languages and specifications in the original language for patents. The CD-ROM is issued on a monthly basis; there is also a yearly issue.
3) Official Bulletin on Industrial Property (BOPI). Bibliographic data and abstracts in Romanian, English, Russian and official notices are published in this official monthly newspaper.
The Bulletin appears on paper form and on the AGEPI website : http://agepi.gov.md/en/publishing/bopi.php
BOPI is also published and distributed on CD-ROM, on a monthly basis.
4) On-line database. Full text search through national applications and patents, short-term applications and short-term patents or Utility Models are available on the on-line database located on the offices website: http://www.db.agepi.md/inventions/
At different stages of evolution of the application there can be found bibliographic data, description, claims, figures, cited references, search report, application and patents abstracts in 3 languages, Granted and Issued title of protection.
The database is updated monthly.

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

Announcements, notices and changes regarding the patenting procedure are published in the Official Bulletin on Industrial Property (BOPI).
The Bulletin is published also electronically on the public AGEPI website : http://agepi.gov.md/en/publishing/bopi.php

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

The AGEPI has a complete classified paper collection of MD patent documents. This collection has been scanned and stored on file servers being available to our examiners. The full data relating to MD patent documents, excepting some of the old author certificates of the former URSS based patents, are stored in the internal database. The AGEPI has a CD/DVD-ROM collection containing published/granted US, FR, DE, CH, RU, WO, EP, EA, CISPATENT and other patent documents.
The online "patents" search database, can be used by examiners and other interested persons to search through the MD published patent applications/short term applications and granted patents/short term patents, as well as through utility models. There is also another online "Inventions" search database that contains bibliographic data of Certificates of authorship of the USSR that were published in the 1963-1992 period. The offline search database is used by examiners in conducting the examining procedure by searching through all of the MD applications and patents.
Paper and some CD/DVD-ROM search files are updated monthly, several CD-DVD/ROM search files are updated yearly. Electronically searchable files for internal use are updated permanently depending of filings; electronically searchable files for external use are updated monthly.

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

The AGEPI Library has collections of specialized literature structured according to objects of intellectual property, methodical and scientific literature, of legal, informative and cognitive character, including:
- Patents for Inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova - about 7500 units (see DB Inventions)
- Official Bulletins of Intellectual Property of IP Offices from 37 countries and 4 international organizations purchased under bilateral exchange - about 6000 units
- Electronic databases on intellectual property (available on 01.01.2008) - 34 with a total of 23,744,839 of documents
- Books in intellectual property, legal documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI - about 5000 copies.
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/collection.php
The new acquisitions of the AGEPI Library IP fund can be accessed at:
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/new.php

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

Announcements, notices and changes in the legal status or the patenting procedure are published in the Official Bulletin on Industrial Property (BOPI).
The Bulletin is published also electronically on the public AGEPI website (in pdf format): http://agepi.gov.md/en/publishing/bopi.php
The most important office notices regarding patents and other IP rights are provided directly on the AGEPI website (www.agepi.gov.md) for different kinds of users (applicants/owners, patent agents, etc).

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

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Each expert has a personal computer with LCD monitor and DVD drive. Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 7 is used as operating system. All computers are connected via the 100 Mb/s network into the Microsoft Active Directory 2003 Domain. Agency has a fiber channel link into the internet with 40 Mbps speed foreign traffic and each expert can use internet and has his own official e-mail address

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The online patents search database, can be used by examiners and other interested persons to search through the MD published patent applications/short term applications and granted patents/short term patents, as well as through utility models. There is also another online Inventions search database that contains bibliographic data of Certificates of authorship of the USSR that were published in the 1963-1992 period. The offline search database is used by examiners in conducting the examining procedure by searching through all of the MD applications and patents.
Paper and some CD/DVD-ROM search files are updated monthly, several CD-DVD/ROM search files are updated yearly. Electronically searchable files for internal use are updated permanently depending of filings; electronically searchable files for external use are updated monthly.
External databases:
- EAPATIS, administered by EAPO,
- Espacenet,
- VINITI (NPL - bibliographic data), managing by the Scientific and Technical Information Institute (VINITI) of the Russian Federation (www.vinini.ru).

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

The whole administration is built in Patents program and is performed by an Administrator from Inventions Department, but also by a Database Administrator for a complete administration.

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 Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DataBase,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.
Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.
The AGEPI Library has collections of specialized literature structured according to objects of intellectual property, methodical and scientific literature, of legal, informative and cognitive character, including:
- Patents for Inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova - about 7500 units (see DB Inventions)
- Official Bulletins of Intellectual Property of IP Offices from 37 countries and 4 international organizations purchased under bilateral exchange - about 6000 units
- Electronic databases on intellectual property (available on 01.01.2008) - 34 with a total of 23,744,839 of documents
- Books in intellectual property, legal documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI - about 5000 copies.
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/collection.php
The new acquisitions of the AGEPI Library IP fund can be accessed at:
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/new.php
Due to WIPO Program WIPO Depositary Library, the IP book fund of the AGEPI has been completed.

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DataBase,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.
Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.
The AGEPI Library has collections of specialized literature structured according to objects of intellectual property, methodical and scientific literature, of legal, informative and cognitive character, including:
- Patents for Inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova - about 7500 units (see DB Inventions)
- Official Bulletins of Intellectual Property of IP Offices from 37 countries and 4 international organizations purchased under bilateral exchange - about 6000 units
- Electronic databases on intellectual property (available on 01.01.2008) - 34 with a total of 23,744,839 of documents
- Books in intellectual property, legal documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI - about 5000 copies.
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/collection.php
The new acquisitions of the AGEPI Library IP fund can be accessed at:
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/new.php
Due to WIPO Program WIPO Depositary Library, the IP book fund of the AGEPI has been completed.
Also, in 2013, AGEPI continued to benefit from the Program Access to research for Development and Innovation -ARDI, coordinated by WIPO in cooperation with a number of development partners, thus providing access of users in our country to scientific and technical information.
Library Collection is annually completed by about 500 thousand of new documents in various fields, which are reflected in the Electronic Catalogue and in specialized DB.
Based on bilateral agreements on exchange of information in the field of intellectual property, in the year 2013, AGEPI library distributed and shared particular periodicals with 12 local libraries placed within the main university educational institutions:
- Library of the Technical Univeristy of Moldova,
- Library of the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy N. Testemiţanu,
- Republican Tehnical-Scientifical Library of IEFS,
- Library of the Academy of Public Administration under the Presidency of Moldova,
- Library of the Academy of Transport, informatics and Communications,
- Library of the State University of Moldova,
- Library of the Cooperatis-Commercial University of Moldova,
- Library of the State University of Comrat,
- Library of the State University A. Russo,
- Municipal Library B.P.Hasdeu,
- Scientific Library of the State Agrarian University of Moldova,
- Library of the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DataBase,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.
Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DataBase,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.
Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.
The AGEPI Library has collections of specialized literature structured according to objects of intellectual property, methodical and scientific literature, of legal, informative and cognitive character, including:
- Patents for Inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova - about 7500 units (see DB Inventions)
- Official Bulletins of Intellectual Property of IP Offices from 37 countries and 4 international organizations purchased under bilateral exchange - about 6000 units
- Electronic databases on intellectual property (available on 01.01.2008) - 34 with a total of 23,744,839 of documents
- Books in intellectual property, legal documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI - about 5000 copies.
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/collection.php
The new acquisitions of the AGEPI Library IP fund can be accessed at:
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/new.php
Due to WIPO Program WIPO Depositary Library, the IP book fund of the AGEPI has been completed.
Also, in 2013, AGEPI continued to benefit from the Program Access to research for Development and Innovation -ARDI, coordinated by WIPO in cooperation with a number of development partners, thus providing access of users in our country to scientific and technical information.
Library Collection is annually completed by about 500 thousand of new documents in various fields, which are reflected in the Electronic Catalogue and in specialized DB.
Based on bilateral agreements on exchange of information in the field of intellectual property, in the year 2013, AGEPI library distributed and shared particular periodicals with 12 local libraries placed within the main university educational institutions:
.

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

The Library is a subdivision in AGEPI structure that provides information-library services in the field of intellectual property to beneficiaries. The AGEPI Library is the depositary of the National Patent Collection of the Republic of Moldova. The Library has a reading room with the equipment necessary to use the information on various media and from various sources, including the Internet. Beneficiaries of services provided by the library are experts and other collaborators of AGEPI, and all interested persons outside the institution: counselors in intellectual property, researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teachers, students, etc.
At the Library visitors can also:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DB,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.

Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.

At the Library visitors can:
- consult, subscribe to or purchase the official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI,
- obtain copies of the descriptions of inventions from patents for invention,
- methodological assistance in searching for information in electronic DB,
- library-bibliographic servicing in request-offer, information-express regime, by complying with the bibliographic, thematic and factual references,
- opportunity of participating in IP information promotion activities at local and republican level.
Program for beneficiaries: From 9.00 to 16.00 Monday - Friday. Day without a program - Saturday and Sunday.
The AGEPI Library has collections of specialized literature structured according to objects of intellectual property, methodical and scientific literature, of legal, informative and cognitive character, including:
- Patents for Inventions protected in the Republic of Moldova - about 7500 units (see DB Inventions)
- Official Bulletins of Intellectual Property of IP Offices from 37 countries and 4 international organizations purchased under bilateral exchange - about 6000 units
- Electronic databases on intellectual property (available on 01.01.2008) - 34 with a total of 23,744,839 of documents
- Books in intellectual property, legal documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI - about 5000 copies.
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/collection.php
The new acquisitions of the AGEPI Library IP fund can be accessed at:
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/services/library/new.php
Due to WIPO Program WIPO Depositary Library, the IP book fund of the AGEPI has been completed.
Also, in 2013, AGEPI continued to benefit from the Program Access to research for Development and Innovation -ARDI, coordinated by WIPO in cooperation with a number of development partners, thus providing access of users in our country to scientific and technical information.
Library Collection is annually completed by about 500 thousand of new documents in various fields, which are reflected in the Electronic Catalogue and in specialized DB.
Based on bilateral agreements on exchange of information in the field of intellectual property, in the year 2013, AGEPI library distributed and shared particular periodicals with 12 local libraries placed within the main university educational institutions:
- Library of the Technical University of Moldova,
- Library of the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy N. Testemiţanu,
- Republican Tehnical-Scientifical Library of IEFS,
- Library of the Academy of Public Administration under the Presidency of Moldova,
- Library of the Academy of Transport, informatics and Communications,
- Library of the State University of Moldova,
- Library of the Cooperatis-Commercial University of Moldova,
- Library of the State University of Comrat,
- Library of the State University A. Russo,
- Municipal Library B.P.Hasdeu,
- Scientific Library of the State Agrarian University of Moldova,
- Library of the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.

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

The official publications of AGEPI in the field of intellectual property - BOPI, Intellectus, AGEPI INFO, etc., collections of laws and methodical literature in the field of intellectual property, CDs edited by AGEPI
http://agepi.gov.md/en/publishing/bopi.php
http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/inventions/info.php
http://agepi.gov.md/en/inventions/legislations.php
http://agepi.gov.md/en/about/report.php
http://agepi.gov.md/en/index.php

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

The AGEPI is sending, monthly, information to several destinations:
 European Patent Office (EPO)-(INPADOC), monthly:
• the bibliographic data and abstracts for published applications and issued patents and full patent information for granted patents, in XML, St.36,
• changes in legal status,
• images of bibliographic data for published applications and full patent information in national language for patents in bookmarked PDF (examples: published, granted)
Eurasian Patent Office, quarterly, bibliographic data in ACCESS database, abstracts, claims, images, in pdf files.
 Rospatent (CISPATENT), the bibliographic data and abstracts for published applications and issued patents and full patent information for granted patents, in both XML St.36 and MSWORD formats
- AGEPI furnished the MD patent documents and the official gazette (BOPI) on CD-ROM to 41 IP Offices and receives patent documentation and information from 35 countries and 2 regional patent organizations (EPO and EAPO).
The office translates the titles and abstracts into English and review the titles and abstracts provided by the applicant (in Romanian and Russian) and, if necessary, amend them accordingly to WIPO standard ST.12/A in order to ensure that the abstract contain the necessary information to be a useful search tool. The abstracts and titles are published in the Official Bulletin for patents and utility models applications and granted protection titles in 3 languages.

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

In 2013, AGEPI conducted ample activities on promotion of national intellectual property systems among economic agents trough national and international Exhibitions, actively participating in 19 - national and - 6 international. Thus, AGEPI presented reports on national IP legislation, procedures for patent protection, IPO evaluation, role of patents in promoting goods and services, in 12 national exhibitions in Chisinau and 7 in territory, the most important being:
- National Exhibition Made in Moldova, (January 30 - February 2, 2013, in Chisinau),
- AGROTECH and ALIMENTAR Expo (Febraury 22 to 24, 2013, in Balti),
- The 24th Edition of the International Specialized Exhibition of agricultural equipment, technologies and materials for agricultural complex MOLDAGROTECH,(March 13 - 16, 2013, in Chisinau),
- Primavara la Balti in Balti (May 16 – 19, 2013, in Balti),
- The 21st edition of the International Specialized Exhibition of foodstuff and raw materials for their production FOOD&DRINKS. Food TECHNOLOGY, (May 22 – 26, 2013, Chisinau),
- The Universal Expo-Fair CONSUM Expo (October 18 - 20, 2013, in Balti),
- The 16th edition of the International Specialized Exhibition-Fair of agricultural products, equipment and technologies FARMER(October 23-26, 2013, in Chisinau),
An ample information dissemination and consultancy activity was carried out in 5 other national exhibitions:
- The 17th edition of the International Specialized Exhibition of cosmetics, perfumery and equipment for beauty salons BEAUTY, (February 28 – March 1st,2013, in Chisinau),
- The 18th International Specialized Exhibition of architecture, technologies, equipment, tools, installations and materials for construction MOLDCONSTRUCT (March 20 – 23, 2013, in Chisinau),
- The 18th International Specialized Exhibition of tourism, leisure and hotels TOURISM, LEISURE, HOTELS(April 11 - 12, 2013, in Chisinau), etc.
A unique exhibition of engineering works of students’ innovators was organized on 17 and 18 May 2013, at the Moldavian Technical University titled - Creation opens the Universe.
In 2013, AGEPI promoted and stimulated innovative activity in the Republic of Moldova ensuring the presentation of Moldavian works of national inventors at the following International Exhibitions, namely:
- International Exhibition of research, Innovation and Inventiveness PROInvent, in ClujNapoca, Romania (19 – 22 March 2013),
- International Exhibition of Innovations, Inventions and Technologies - Archimedes in Moscow, Russian Federation (2- 5 April 2013).
- International Exhibition of Inventions, in Geneva, Switzerland (10 – 14 April 2013),
- European Exhibition of Creativity and Innovation - Euroinvent, in Iasi, Romania (9 – 11 May 2013),
- International Exhibition of Inventions and New Technologies New Time, Sevastopol, Ukraine (26 – 28 September 2013),
- International Exhibition of Inventions, Research and New Technologies - Brussels INNOVA, in Belgium (14 – 16 November 2013).
4. The 6th edition of the National Contest aimed to support and to stimulate the creative and ingenious ideas of youth - The Best Innovative Pupil, organized by AGEPI alongside of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and University of Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer, in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
5. In the year under review, AGEPI also organized the Course - Protection of Intellectual Property, which brought together 15 attendees, of which 12 obtained the qualification - Counselor in Intellectual Property.
6. On 26 April, in the festive meeting dedicated to the World Intellectual Property Day, a WIPO Gold Medal For Creativity has been awarded to Mr. Vladimir Curbet, Choreographer, People’s Artist of the Republic of Moldova, winner of the Order of the Republic of Moldova, artistic director of the National Folk Dance Ensemble – Joc, nominated by AGEPI for outstanding achievements and personal contribution to the promotion and development of choreographic art and folk dance, both in the republic and abroad.
7. Also, in the year under review, AGEPI bestowed Mr. Iuri Gomeniuk, patent attorney in industrial property with the AGEPI trophy -The Best Patent attorney of the Year 2012, considering the statistical data on the number of filed IPO protection applications and titles of protection granted.
Besides the above mentioned activities, with the view to inform the public on the evolution of the national IP system, of the special legislation nationally and internationally, events and actions, including in respect to patent protection aspects, in during the year under review, AGEPI developed and distributed about 30 press releases dispatched and more than 148 materials were published in National Mass-Media.
With the AGEPI specialist efforts were developed/published/broadcasted about 148 materials (articles, interviews, communications) on:
-Radio Moldova
- TV Moldova 1
-Jurnal TV
- Publika TV
About 148 materials were disseminated by the replica press agencies, these being taken from the AGEPI website or realized with the contest of AGEPI specialists.
To increase the degree of public information, popularization of knowledge in the field of IP, in 2013 were used new thematic information dissemination tools: www.unimedia.md, www.stireazilei.md, www.privesc.eu.md, www.allmoldova.com, www.facebook.com, and of course the official AGEPI website www.agepi.gov.md .

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

The AGEPI is sending, monthly, information to several destinations:
 European Patent Office (EPO)-(INPADOC), monthly:
• the bibliographic data and abstracts for published applications and issued patents and full patent information for granted patents, in XML, St.36,
• changes in legal status,
• images of bibliographic data for published applications and full patent information in national language for patents in bookmarked PDF (examples: published, granted)
Eurasian Patent Office, quarterly, bibliographic data in ACCESS database, abstracts, claims, images, in pdf files.
 Rospatent (CISPATENT), the bibliographic data and abstracts for published applications and issued patents and full patent information for granted patents, in both XML St.36 and MSWORD formats
- AGEPI furnished the MD patent documents and the official gazette (BOPI) on CD-ROM to 41 IP Offices and receives patent documentation and information from 35 countries and 2 regional patent organizations (EPO and EAPO).

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

With the view to increase the IP knowledge, professional background and undertake an exchange of information on various aspects of patent protection, AGEPI Experts participated at the following regional and international events:
- Study visit at the general headquarter of Eurasian Patent Office (March 13 - 14, 2013, in Moscow, Russian Federation),
- Training Seminar on Chinese IPRs and Patent System (April 15 – 24, 2013, in Beijing, China)
- Study visit to IP State Office of China (May 12 – 19, 2013, in Beijing, China),
- Conference on Cooperative Patent Classification: Classifying with the CPC, organized by the European Patent Academy in cooperation with European Patent Office (June 17 – 18, 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands),
- WIPO/NIPO Training Course on Patents, organized by Norwegian Industrial Property Office in cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organization (September 9 – 13, 2013, Oslo, Norway),
- Practical training course on Industrial Property jointly organized by the WIPO Academy and the Norwegian Patent office (September 16 - 20, 2013, in Oslo),
- Seminar - Train the trainer on plant protection under the UPOV Convention, jointly organized by USPTO and UPOV (September 16-20 2013, in Geneva, CH),
- EPO Patent Information Conference 2013 (October 22 – 24, 2013, Bologna, Italy),
- Study visit at the general headquarter of WIPO on PCT issues (November 11-15, 2013, Geneva)

Assistance to developing countries

During the year under review, AGEPI received a great assistance from international organizations, especially from WIPO and EPO speakers which participated to national and regional events sharing their experiences and contributed to the development and improvement of knowledges in the field.
Here also we have to mention the signing of the validation Agreement between the Government of Republic of Moldova and the European Patent Organization, which will allow European patent applications and patents to take legal effect in Moldova.

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.