SCIT.ATR.ID.2007.BG

Annual Technical Report 2007 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Bulgaria (SCIT/ATR/ID/2007/BG)

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 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

Applications
2001 - 1023 (national 449)
2002 - 1018 (national 519)
2003 - 1095 (national 534)
2004 - 1011(national 498)
2005 - 1027(national 550 and 50 from foreign applicants in national order)
2006 - 977 (national 418 and 44 from foreign applicants in national order)
2007 - 713 (national 356 and 15 from foreign applicants in national order)
Registrations
2001 - 784 (national 232)
2002 - 877 (national 303)
2003 - 879 (national 372)
2004 - 1033 (national 510)
2005 - 885 (national 411 and 54 from foreign applicants in national order)
2006 - 944 (national 335 and 35 from foreign applicants in national order)
2007 - 680 (national 243 and 22 from foreign applicants in national order)

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

The comparison with 2006 shows a further drop in the number of industrial design applications owing to the decrease in the applications filed by both Bulgarian and foreign applicants

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

http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/statistics/bpo_statistics06en.pdf

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

The Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria publishes the applications and registered national industrial designs in the Official Bulletin on paper monthly.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information

According to the Law on Industrial Design with alterations and supplements, in force as of October 6, 2006, the first industrial design application is published in issue 9A/2007 of Bulgarian Official Bulletin.
The publications comprise bibliographical data and graphical presentations or coloured images of the industrial design applications and registrations.

Mass storage media and microforms used

The dossiers are on paper and are stored following the registration number or the application number for the refusals.

Databases and office automation

The office automation, functioning as of 01.10.2001, is for administrative support, for searching industrial designs information. There are national and international (according to the Hague Agreement concerning Bulgaria) database with graphical presentations or coloured images. The database contains the bibliographic data, the legal status and correspondence, fees, forms, etc..
Functions of this Oracle Based "Industrial Design Information System" (IDIS), developed from outside company, are currently being updated.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data

Will be available in 2008.

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)

The Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria uses the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) since 1968. All the documents are classified according to class and subclass of the Locarno Classification. In 1995 the card file was reclassified. Now the Office uses and classifies according to the last edition of the Classification.

Bibliographic data and processing

The classification is used for the novelty examination search and for search purposes in the PC (IDIS - Industrial Designs Information System), paper or electronic (CD) files, for statistics and for searches in the Official gazettes.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

The BG registration process includes a novelty search.

File building

The Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria maintains an Automation Database - IDIS, Register and four paper files (archives) of the industrial designs:
1. Automation Database - IDIS.
2. Dossiers of the registered designs arranged in numerical order according to the registration number.
3. Dossiers of the rejected design applications arranged in numerical order according to the application number.
4. The other paper card file contains the bibliographic data and the graphical presentation of all expired registered industrial designs. The file is arranged according to the classes and subclasses of the Locarno Classification

Updating

The updating of the files is regular depending on the number of registrations and rejections.

Storage, including mass storage media

The storage is in boxes and storage closets

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

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file and is constituted from the following official bulletins:
WIPO "INTERNATIONAL DESIGNS BULLETIN" (WO);
"OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE" (US);
"GESCHMACKSMUSTERBLATT" (DE);
"...И ПРОМЬIШЛЕННЬIЕ ОБРАЗЦЬI" (RU);
"BULLETIN OFFICIEL DE LA PROPRIETE
INDUSTRIELLE DESSINS ET MODÉES" (FR), etc.

V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs

In-house systems (online/offline)

In the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria computer aided possibilities for searching industrial designs information and correspondences are used. There are national and international (according to the Hague Agreement concerning Bulgaria) databases with graphical presentations and coloured images. For all purposes the computerized system is used therefore.

External databases

There are Internet external databases available. RCD-online is used.

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

There is a computerized system - IDIS (Industrial Designs Information System) for administrative support - register, legal status, fees and statistics in regular using.

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

Hardware:
Server: HP K360 9000/800;
Workstations: Intel Pentium based PCs, about 60;
Software:
Server: UNIX 11.xx as OS, Oracle 8i as DBMS
Workstations: Windows'XP as OS, MS Office as documents management, etc;
Carriers used: CDs, DVDs.

VI. Administration of industrial design information products and 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)

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)

The information services available to the public through the Patent Office are as follows:
1. Searches related to the legal status
2. Subject search
3. Numerical search
4. State of the art search
5. Searches in one or several classes
6. Searches on firm names
7. Combination of the above mentioned.
All the searches are carried in house and in the available collections of documents and official bulletins and paper cards.
The Central Patent Library provides for public access to the Official Bulletins from 32 countries, containing industrial design information.
The Office works on BPO-online Project - Industrial Design Information available to the public. Deadline for the implementation of the product is April 2008.

URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications

Not available

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to industrial designs; opposition and appeal procedures related to industrial designs; etc.

http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75&Itemid=122

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., industrial design search service(s) and industrial design databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/charged%20sevices/ids_search_08.pdf

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

The international and regional cooperation is in the form of exchange of official bulletins.

Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape

There is a collection of the "WIPO International Designs Bulletin" on CD-ROM.

VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

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

In the framework of the Cooperation Programme between the OHIM and the national IP offices, an agreement for Technical Cooperation has ben signed between OHIM and BPO on March 2, 2007, with the main purpose to promote the Community Trade Marks and Designs in Bulgaria

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

- Seminars "Protection of CTM and RCD" (implementation of Technical cooperation agreement BPO-OHIM 2007);
- Creating, publishing and dissemination of guidelines about RCD;
- Creating, publishing and dissemination of brochures about RCD;
- Advertising in different media - electronic, websites

IX.Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

provide information on legislation related to industrial designs