Annual Technical Report 2004 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (SCIT/ATR/ID/2004/RU)
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The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models. Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year
In 2004, the automated system for preparing examiners’ decisions on applications for industrial designs came into operation. All examiners’ decisions are prepared and sent for publication in electronic form. A new type of industrial design patent was introduced, involving the filing of a list of essential features, which significantly facilitates the provision of proof for any infringement of industrial design rights.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
The table (attached) shows the rate at which applications were filed and patents granted for industrial designs in 2003 and 2004.
In 2004, the number of applications received for industrial designs continued to grow and stood at 111 per cent compared with 2003. This applies equally to applications filed by Russian applicants and those from foreign applicants.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
Publishing, including printing, copying techniques and electronic printing
For industrial design publications, technological processes for the production and transfer of information on machine-readable carriers have been developed with a view to being introduced for the compilation of the Rospatent gazette. Software and technology has been developed and introduced for converting industrial design application materials (list of essential features) into electronic form in XML format and transmitting them for further use in examination and subsequent publication.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
During 2004, 2,145 announcements were published for registered RF industrial design patents.
In 2004, the following official publications were issued:
Industrial Designs gazette – 12 issues;
Annual index to the Industrial Designs gazette - 1 volume;
Russian Industrial Designs optical disks - 12 disks.
Mass storage media and microforms used
Data are stored on paper, diskettes and optical disks, as well as in the form of databases or data files.
Databases and office automation
With respect to the automated system for prosecuting industrial design applications, work was completed on converting the information system data and programs from the PICK DBMS to another type of basic DBMS - UniVerse. All the examiners’ decisions are prepared in electronic form.
In 2004, the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System operated on more powerful Microsoft SQL-server software, incorporating modern search functions. In addition to the automated preparation of examiners’ decisions in the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, a closed electronic document flow is provided, beginning with the filing of an application for an industrial design and ending with the automatic preparation of data for the production of instruments providing protection and the publication of patent information. Use of the system allows the increasing volumes of application documents to be processed, without increasing the number of personnel.
In 2004, the CD-ROM collection continued to grow with the inclusion of disks from the Industrial Designs database with documents providing protection from 1993 to 2004.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification (please indicate whether industrial designs are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)
Information on industrial designs is classified in accordance with the seventh edition of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (ICID) (Locarno Classification). The Russian-language version of the ICID was published in 1999.
On the basis of the ICID, an International Classification of Industrial Designs subsystem of the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System is in operation.
Bibliographic data and processing for search purposes
Two-figure INID codes are used to index bibliographical data on standard forms and in the automated system.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
The industrial designs collection consists of individual publications or general gazettes, grouped according to the ICID indexes (Japan) or gazette issues (Bulgaria, Hungary, Switzerland, etc.). In addition, the Library has a collection of industrial designs from 11 different countries, consisting of materials containing publications from national gazettes and a translation of the name of an industrial design into Russian. This collection is grouped according to the ICID indexes with collections of varying depth for each country.
Updating
The collection is updated by means of the inclusion of current documentation on industrial designs of the Russian Federation and documentation received from foreign partners of Rospatent as part of the international exchange system.
In 2004, analog collections based on publications from the gazettes of CIS countries, were prepared and incorporated in the collection.
Storage, including mass storage media
Storage conditions for the collections correspond to the types of information carriers used:
patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
on microcarriers – in metal boxes, files-film libraries (microfilms) and in metal cabinets (microfiches);
on CD-ROMs – in catalog racks.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
In 2004, information on industrial designs was received by the FIPS All-Union Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division, both in the form of special gazettes and also sections in industrial property gazettes from 48 countries and one international organization.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
The online in-house system used since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, which is used for information searches on national industrial designs during the examination of applications for such designs. The system in question contains an information file of national patents and applications, as well as graphics files with illustrations of industrial designs and an International Classification of Industrial Designs automated subsystem.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics, administrative support, etc.)
The Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) uses an automated databank (ADB), the basic functions of which are to store information on applications received and to automate the prosecution control processes. The ADB also enables statistical information to be obtained, together with characteristics of the application examination process and the payment of fees, and the annual reports of Rospatent to be compiled. Operation of the prosecuting system under the UniVerse DBMS allowed a range of new tasks to be accomplished, in particular in dealing with questions on introducing elements of electronic document management and preparing outgoing correspondence at the examiner’s desk.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
Compaq Proliant 5000 Server
(OM – 256 MB, processors – 2, external memory – 38 GB)
Compaq 586, Р ММХ, PII, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 55 units
Switching equipment:
Equipment for lines ISDN MAX 200Plus c (8/4) WAN PCMCIA
TypeII/TypeI; SmartSWITCH 6000
Software:
SINIX, Novell, Windows95, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP operating systems.
Carriers used:
DLTtape III, DLTtape IV, SDLT magnetic tape.
VI. Administration of industrial design services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Collection management, preservation
The collection of industrial designs is divided into national and foreign sections:
- official gazettes;
- (artistic) design periodicals;
- advertising prospectuses and catalogs;
- thematic collections containing publications from national gazettes from a number of foreign countries;
- method-related and reference literature.
The collection of national and foreign journals concerned with design and new types of production contains a total of more than 32,000 copies.
A special collection of advertising prospectuses and catalogs linked to exhibitions, as well as advertising for new goods and other items, is being set up. This collection contains approximately 44,000 copies of publications.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web).
For work with information relating to industrial designs, a special room has been equipped in the FIPS All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division:
In 2004:
- the gazettes issued constituted 8,000 storage units;
- a total of 13,000 subject-based collections were issued;
- approximately 11,000 copies of design gazettes were issued.
For information users in the field of industrial designs, services are provided for the performance of various types of information searches.
Information on industrial designs registered in the Russian Federation is issued on CD-ROM, in the form of sets containing complete information in the Industrial Designs gazette (including illustrations). Disks are distributed together with the MIMOSA software, which searches bibliographical data, ICID indexes, a list of essential features, and also combinations thereof.
Internet access is granted to industrial design databases and also to the ICID.
A set of current information for 2004 was issued quarterly. A retrospective set on DVD was also provided for the period 1993 to 2004.
In addition to the Rospatent FIPS, a patent information service is provided by the Rospatent Information Publishing Center (INITS). In 2004, a publication entitled Industrial Designs of Foreign Countries was issued (arranged by subject – according to the 32 classes of the ICID). This publication contained information on industrial designs registered in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America, for 2003.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
In 2004, as part of the international exchange system, 56 annual sets of the official Rospatent Industrial Designs gazette were sent, on paper, to 52 countries.
Information on industrial designs was received from 48 countries and one international organization:
- individually published gazettes – 156 copies on paper, 327 copies on CD-ROM;
- industrial property gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 408 copies on paper, 245 on CD-ROM.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
Three hundred and twenty seven copies of gazettes published individually on CD-ROM and 245 industrial property gazettes with sections on industrial designs on CD-ROM were received.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
In 2004, two events were held, organized directly by Rospatent or with its active participation, in Moscow, including in the field of protection for industrial designs:
Conference and Round Table as part of the Seventh International Industrial Property Exhibition “Archimedes-2004”;
Scientific and practical conference on the “Problematic Issues of Theory and Practice of Intellectual Property Protection”.
In 2004, FIPS organized and held a seminar, based on a model program, on the subject of “the enforcement of rights in intellectual property subject matter, taking into account the amendments made to the legislation of the Russian Federation. Licensing-agreement relations”. Sixty specialists participated in the seminar (including representatives from Moscow, the Moscow region and other regions of Russia).
IX. Other relevant matters