SCIT.ATR.PI.2008.PL

Annual Technical Report 2008 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Poland (SCIT/ATR/PI/2008/PL)

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

The term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year

The Industrial Property Law of 30 June 2000 applies in the field of industrial property protection in Poland.
In 2008, additionally the following implementing acts were issued:
- Regulation of the President of the Council of Ministers of 20 May 2008 on registers kept by the Polish Patent Office (Dz.U. No 91, item 564), in force from 12 June 2008;
- Regulation of the President of the Council of Ministers of 15 May 2008 on filing in an electronic form of applications for the protection of inventions, medicinal products and plant protection products, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and topographies of integrated circuits, and on carrying out correspondence in an electronic form (Dz.U. No 89, item 540), in force from 7 June 2008;
- Regulation of the Council of Ministers on fees relating to the protection of inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and topographies of integrated circuits
- Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 26 February 2008 amending the Regulation on fees relating to the protection of inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and topographies of integrated circuits (Dz.U. No 41, item 241), in force from 26 March 2008.
In terms of IT changes, the Office started receiving patent and utility models applications online under the national procedure.

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

In 2008, the Polish Patent Office (PPO) received 2 720 patent applications under the national procedure, out of which 2 488 were filed by domestic applicants and 232 by foreign applicants.
A slight increase in domestic and foreign patent applications under the national procedure was observed in comparison with the year 2007 (of approx. 4.3%).
58 applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty entered the phase of examination carried out by the Office (so-called national phase).
Under the international procedure, as the receiving Office, the PPO received from domestic applicants 117 patent applications under the PCT procedure and 57 European patent applications with the aim of seeking protection abroad.
The total number of patent applications filed in 2008 amounted to 2 778, which is of 0.9 % less than in 2006.
In 2008, the Office received from foreign applicants 18 applications for the grant of supplementary right of protection for medicinal products and plant protection products (SPC). The Office settled 8 SPC applications.
In 2008, 8 174 decisions in cases concerning grant of patents were issued, out of which 4 543 positive on granting patents.
The number of cases pending on 31 December 2008 - as compared with the same period in 2007 - decreased by 5 286 (that is 16.9 %) and amounted to 25 941.
In 2008, the PPO received and examined formally 3 029 translations into Polish of European patents, which is the pre-condition for validating the protection of the related inventions on the territory of the Republic of Poland. 2 155 patents entered the separate section of the Patent Register for the European patents.
In total, in December 2008, 21 048 patents have remained in force, out of which 4 588 were European patents.

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

http://www.uprp.pl/English/About+the+Polish+Patent+Office/annual
http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Wydawnictwa/Raporty+Roczne.htm
http://pubserv.uprp.pl

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)

In 2008, the following publications were issued:
a) periodicals
"Biuletyn Urzedu Patentowego" (first level Official Gazette - bi-weekly) 26 numbers, i.e. 8 509 copies;
"Wiadomosci Urzedu Patentowego" (second level Official Gazette- monthly) 12 numbers, i.e. 3 896 copies;
"Dziennik Urzedowy UPRP" (The PPO Journal-annual) 2 issues and index i.e. 241 copies;
2007 Annual Report of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, 3000 copies;
Patent Specifications (3970 titles) - 108 596 copies;
List of utility models which were granted protection right by the PPO in 2007 - 65 copies;
List of patents granted by the PPO in 2007, volume I and II- 132 copies.

b) non-periodicals, single brochure publications:
Miedzynarodowa Klasyfikacja Towarow i Usług czesc I, II (International Classification of Goods and Services, part I , II ) - 1600 copies.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

Announcements on patents and utility models are mainly published in the official gazettes on paper carrier: "Biuletyn Urzedu Patentowego" (information on patent and utility models applications) and in "Wiadomosci Urzedu Patentowego" (information on granted patents and granted protection rights on utility models). Announcements containing ordinances of the President of the Patent Office, official announcements and communications are published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office. In 2008, 2 309 announcements on filed patent and 560 announcements on utility model applications were published in "Biuletyn Urzedu Patentowego" (first level Official Gazette) and 3 970 announcements on granted patents and 654 granted protection rights on utility models were published in "Wiadomosci Urzedu Patentowego" (second level Official Gazette). All these publications are forthwith available in PDF format either on the PPO's official web site or the PPO's Online Services Portal.
Announcements regarding non-procedural matters, but coupled with the Office's activity like: general information on the PPO's tasks, references, organizational structure, HR matters are published on the Internet version of "Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej" which falls under the official PPO's web site. Many non-regular, important announcements are immediately published within the content of the web site.

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

The PPO uses the following carriers of patent documentation to collect national and international holdings: CD-ROMs, DVDs, HDs which can generate conventional paper copies for various either in-house or outside purposes; paper has a gradual decrease as a carrier.

Word processing and office automation

Formerly integrated in co-operation with the EPO software for the online filings in the online system - eOLF was started and two plug-ins within production environments were launched and are running under eOLF platform enabling electronic patent and utility model filings under the national procedure.
The electronic filings to the Office went live on 1 October 2008. The set of tools for the electronic dossier management (patents and utility models) - e-Phoenix was implemented and is permanently monitored in the production environment; the digital representation of patent and utility models documentation is delivered directly to the staff's workstands. Tests regarding integration of the application software with e-Phoenix and Soprano systems are performed. In the sequel of implementation and configuration of Soprano system - tests and installations of the subsequent versions; integration processes regarding imports of EP, PCT and national applications to the Online Services Portal's environment.
Preparing exports coupled with the settlement and clearing procedures under Online Services Portal.

Start configuration and adaptation works with regard to the RegisterPlus application software in order to disseminate the PPO's procedural data and information.

All staff is equipped with networked PCs which are connected to a local area network. Standard automation products available to all staff include Microsoft Office products such as MS Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. The office intends to upgrade to Windows XP operating system at the beginning of 2009.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), etc.)

The constantly modernized publication system enables production of the Office's publications on its own. The publishing process is based on the DTP system and covers preparation of data contained in the Office's databases, text editing in MS Word programme and picture processing in Adobe Photoshop CS. Final typesetting is made in InDesign 3.0 programme. Printing is performed on the offset machine and digital reproducer. The text of patent specifications is scanned in OCR technique and pictures are scanned in Adobe Photoshop programme. Then, the text is combined with the pictures and the first page with bibliographic data. Finally, the patent specification is proof-read and printed in Ms Word programme. Printing is performed on the digital reproducer.
Parallel to publishing in paper format, patent specifications are posted in PDF format on the PPO's website and in Online Services Portal.
Additionally, in association with the Hungarian Patent Office, the PPO published PL B-documents on CD-ROM on a monthly basis - ESPACE-PRECES and also the cumulative index - ACCESS-PRECES updated twice a year. The CD-ROM collection covers the years 1991 to 2008.

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

IP information on patents and utility models: http://www.uprp.pl/English/PPOs+databases
Publication Server - Polish patent (B), utility model (Y) and EP translation into Polish (T) documents: http://pubserv.uprp.pl
Online services portal with access to patent gazettes, classifications, e-filings and patent attorney's directory: http://ipu.uprp.pl
Legislation: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Akty+prawne; http://www.uprp.pl/English/Law
Annual Reports (the content has both EN and PL versions): http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Wydawnictwa/Raporty+Roczne.htm

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

Patent literature collection was enlarged by the 2 361 pdf files of European patent specifications, translated into Polish (available online).
Additionally, 299 abstracts of patent specifications published in the first level Official Gazette were translated into English.

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), and reclassification³ activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

In 2008, the subsequent versions of the eight edition of the IPC were applied at the PPO. All documents were classified according to the updated versions of the advanced level.

Coordinate indexing (domestic deep indexing systems, keyword indexing)

n/a

Hybrid system indexing

n/a

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

n/a

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

In 2008, the increase of patent documentation was as follows:
-2 602 533 copies on CD-ROM and DVD (1 482 cassettes), including specifications of inventions, patent specifications and utility model specifications;
-21 titles of bibliographic and thematic databases within the scope of patents;
-on paper carrier 18 132 copies of Polish patent specifications, 2 354 copies of Polish industrial designs specifications, 1 362 copies of Polish utility models specifications;
-3 115 booklets of patent, technical and legal literature on paper;
-128 volumes of books - fulfilling the orders of PPO examiners.
Within patent documentation field, the PPO uses professional databases: "World Patent Index" (DWPI Derwent/Thomson) and "EMBASE".
The Office started a process of disposing of some of its paper search files (domestic and foreign) to save space, in view of the extensive use of online searching in respect of the Office's patent holdings.

Updating

In 2008, the PPO continued collecting, storing, and preparing patent and technical literature by:
-purchasing and introducing 128 volumes of books into the ZBILNI database;
-registering and providing access to 3 115 booklets of patent, technical and legal literature on paper.
Upkeep of search files is carried out centrally by administrative staff, in a process that includes comparing the search file contents with the electronic records.

Storage, including mass storage media

Mass storage media: hard disks, disk arrays, CD-ROMs, DVDs, paper (until complete replacement by the electronic storage).

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

See IV, item 1 above.

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

In-house own systems:
The Office has its own internal retrieval system (TULIPAN) with access restricted exclusively to examiners. The system offers procedural data concerning patents and utility models in the course of the whole procedure.
The integrated data base is also maintained for searches on filing and granting procedures with regard to patents and utility models, supported by the fee control system.
In-house systems in co-operation with others:
In co-operation with the EPO, the software for submitting applications online was integrated in the online system - eOLF, and also the set of tools for the electronic dossier management - e-Phoenix was implemented (see II, item 4 above).
In-house CD-ROM databases:
The Office has CD-ROM/DVD collections containing the major collections of patent documents, like Espace family, GlobalPat, Cosmos etc. These collections are searched under MIMOSA software and are also available to public visitors at the in-house Patent Library. The patent examiners and the information centre unit staff have also access to those collections.

External databases

External databases
The PPO uses regularly the external on-line retrieval resources:

For the in-house purposes (restricted access):
- data bases and applications under the EPO’s EPOQUEnet system;
- hosted by Elsevier Information Systems - the CrossFire Database Suite comprised of CrossFire Beilstein, CrossFire Gmelin and Patent Chemistry data bases - accessible at the PPO since November 2008.

Many data bases accessible via Internet such as:
DEPATIS, JAPIO, US Automated Patent Information, EPOline facilities (including EP Patent Register), etc.

As the esp@cenet family member, the Office:
-maintains the PL esp@cenet retrieval system with regard to the Level 1 national holdings (Polish patents and utility models);
-enables, through the PL esp@cenet interface, access to the Level 2 information on the complete EPODOC and BNS collections held at the EPO.
Information is accessible through both Polish and English interfaces.


For external users the PPO provides:
Web site: Both the Office's website ( http://www.uprp.pl ) and the Online Services Portal
( http://ipu.uprp.pl ) offer facilities for accessing information on Polish patents and utility models. Functionality is also offered to customers who have free access to periodic information as well as information on procedure and fees from the PPO's databases.
Publication Server ( http://pubserv.uprp.pl ): The system was introduced in 2007 with the necessary preparatory work for launch and adaptation to the Polish system of dissemination of patent information. The national version of Publication Server - the PPO's data base -is an independent and managed independently service offering integrated facilities to search PL patents (B), utility models (Y) and translations into Polish language published by the EPO patents which are valid on the territory of the Republic of Poland (T). Mostly external users are targeted by the service. Facsimile images are fully searchable PDFs.
Data coverage: B docs: 1924 onwards; Y docs: 2001onwards; T docs: 2005 onwards.

The Office web site is linked to many patent and non-patent online search facilities world-wide.

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

The legacy system based on the Revelation technology was providing administration of bibliographic data of patents and utility models in the course of the whole procedure. Works under way were made to move to the Soprano system in the year 2009.
The production environment under e-Phoenix for purposes of the electronic data storage of patents and utility models was run.
Offline systems providing information to examiners, lawyers and the accounting staff, including:
legal information system; patent attorneys information system; payroll and finance-accounting system.

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

The PPO workstations infrastructure includes around 4 different types of workstations configured specially to meet the EPO applications requirements. All of those workstations (approximately 580 PCs) are secured by McAfee antivirus and antispam system. All network connections are based on CISCO and Alcatel equipment with 20 Mb access to the Internet.
Server infrastructure for the On-line Portal includes 9 application servers; 5 database servers; 10 TB build-up array; back-ups for Tivoli Storage Management, Fujitsu FI-5900C scanner, 125 packages for the purposes of qualified signatures. On-Line Portal servers are supported by local UPSs and they are also hooked to Main power supply unit for the PPO.
Back office hardware located in secured/zoned Data Centre with fire alarm and CTV system, redundant air-conditioning and technical floor.
Most of workstations run under Windows 2000, and server's operational systems are Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10. The SAN mass memory network was configured in order to make matrices available to the computing systems. Efforts were made to initiate changes with regard to the running in-house operational system. Scheduled to be completed in early 2009, all workstations are going to be upgraded and run under Windows XP environments.

Existing online thesauri; their structure, presentation and usefulness for computerized searches

Preparations were made to establish and publish the Catchword Index to the regular use by examiners.

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings

Automation processes were continued with regard to paper holdings which are consequently digitized.

The public can visit the library and use dedicated workstations for searching patent and non-patent literature on paper and Internet and get assistance from qualified staff. The public may also use a collection of the CD-ROM data bases. Visitors are also allowed to use the data base for Polish patents and utility models. SPC information is temporarily offered in the manual fashion. To some extent the public is allowed to use the classified documentation of other countries.

The collections are located in our main building and are therefore secure.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

In 2008, in the field of organisation and upkeep of the files available to the Office's examiners and the public, the following documentation was included in the files:
- 2 602 533 copies of patent documents on CD-ROM and DVD containing abstracts of patent and utility model applications, from 27 countries and 2 international organisations;
-575 CD-ROM discs i.e. 28 titles of bibliographic and thematic databases;
- 6 084 cards of patent and utility model application abstracts published in the "Patent Office's Bulletin" and not published or given a negative decision.

Collection management, preservation

Patent documentation collection on paper carrier is stored in the storage rooms on movable bookshelves in numerical and class arrangements, with division to respective countries. Class collection is stored in special files, adjusted to this type of collection. Numerical collection is stored in bound volumes. The storage rooms meet all the requirements for collection's safety. Polish patent documents arranged according to the patent classification symbols are available in the general reading room, while foreign patent documentation in class arrangement is available in the examiners' reading room.
Collection of patent documents on CD-ROM and DVD is stored on special bookshelves adjusted to this type of collection. It is available in the reading room also to external users.

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

Within the co-operation with the PATLIB centres in Poland, the Office continued supplying them with foreign and Polish patent documentation and literature. In 2008, the Office sent:
-832 discs with full text databases on CD-ROM
-86 discs with patent literature
-272 titles of patent bulletins
-1 936 copies of Polish industrial design and utility model specifications
-1 375 copies of first level Official Gazette
-741 copies of the second level Official Gazette
-129 copies of the "Official Journal of the PPO"
-43 copies of Index of the Official Journal for the year 2007
-43 copies of International Classification of Goods and Services, IX edition
-134 copies of 2007 Annual Report of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland
-34 copies of List of utility models for which protection rights were granted by the PPO in 2007
-70 copies of List of patents granted by the PPO in 2007, volume I and II

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

The Office had launched formerly announced projects: the Online Services Portal - the most important project within the Integrated Service Platform executed by the Office through the Patent Office's Measure 1.5 - Sectoral Operational Programme - Improvement of the Competitiveness of Enterprises "Development (Advancement) of the On-line Access by the Businesses Community to the Public Information and Services System"; in collaboration with WIPO, the electronic version of the IPC (8 edition) in Polish language went live as another one non-authentic language version, available either directly from the Online Services Portal or through the WIPO's IPC web site (the Bridge Connection).
URL: http://ipu.uprp.pl/ipcpub .

The Office website is linked into the EPO esp@cenet search facility offering the possibility of accessing ca. 60 million documents online, including Polish patent information.
See also V, item 2.

Within the services rendered for the users in 2008 the following were made accessible:
- 23 060 retrievals on the patent and trademark databases on CD-ROM for 3 426 outside users;
-1 672 files with foreign patent documentation were available for examiners and 1 468 for outside users and 6 016 copies of single Polish and foreign patent specifications, 517 volumes of books and 342 booklets. Free access to Polish and world patent documentation was also provided. A significant drop in the number of information requests on paper carrier results from easier access to online data bases, including those in the EPOQUE system for examiners and other free of charge databases.

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

Patents and utility models:
http://ipu.uprp.pl/portal/web/guest/main
http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/uslugionline/Zgłaszanie+on-line

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.

General information:http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Informacje+o+UPRP/Podstawowe+informacje+i+poradniki
National procedure: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Procedura+krajowa
International procedure: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Procedura+miedzynarodowa

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

Data bases: http://www.uprp.pl/English/PPOs+databases
Publication Server: http://pubserv.uprp.pl
Products and services offered by the Online Services Portal: http://ipu.uprp.pl

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information

The Office provides several patent offices and organizations with its bibliographic data and abstracts in the flat text machine-readable format, and also xml format. Facsimile images of the full-text information are provided in PDF fully searchable format. Continual efforts are made to decrease paper carrier for the exchange purposes.
Electronic filings submitted to the PPO under EP and WO procedures are transferred on CD optical media to the EPO and WIPO respectively.

In 2008, the exchange of patent documentation and information with foreign patent offices was continued. We sent to libraries abroad:
- to 25 countries - 306 copies of second level Official Gazette;
- to 14 countries - 380 copies of first level Official Gazette;
- to Belarus - 4 042 copies of full text Polish patent specifications.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

paper

Medium allowed for filing applications

Although filing is mainly in paper form, the Office has online filing facilities for applications which allow patent and utility models applications to be filed electronically.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means

In 2008, the PPO participated in trainings and conferences organised by the European Patent Office (25 people). The events focused on issues, such as: Patent procedures and automation tools, Networking in PR and Marketing on IP, Search matters, EPOQUEnet functionalities and use, Administration of European patent applications, Strategic use of IP information, IP management, User oriented website concepts, Technology transfer from university to industry, Advanced search strategies in pharmacy and biotechnology.
Every year, the Polish Patent Office organises trainings to raise professional skills of its staff.
In 2008, after completing two-year training, 19 Office's employees obtained examiner's qualifications and 13 employees, who completed their training and passed the qualifying examinations, obtained assistant examiner's qualifications.
Additionally, language courses for PPO employees (languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian) were organised.
Within the framework of the training program for assistant examiners, and for newly recruited civil service members, 5 lectures for 150 participants were given on industrial property law and responsibilities of the PPO.
Moreover, staff members benefited from many specialist training courses organised by professional educational centres such as: National School of Public Administration, Institute of Accountancy and Taxes, Mazovian Voivodeship Centre for Personnel Training. The subject matter of the trainings included the issues of public procurement, management, finances, information technologies and labour law.

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

n/a

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

In 2008, within industrial property protection the PPO organised or participated in the following events:
- Conference "Intellectual Property Protection Influential on the Success of Women in Science and Business" organized in Warsaw by the Patent Office in cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organisation, UN European Economic Committee, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, National Economic Chamber and Association of Private Employers Lewiatan;
- 15th Exhibition of Inventions awarded at international exhibitions in 2007 in the Museum of Technology in Warsaw (the PPO's informational - promotional stand);
- International conference on educational platform IP Panorama for increasing the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises in IP management, co-organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization and Korean Intellectual Property Organization;
- International scientific conference "Poland and European System of industrial Property Protection" organized by the PPO on the 90th anniversary of its foundation;
- Conference on "Combat Against Intellectual Piracy" co-organized in Warsaw by the Polish Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Anti-piracy Association, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Authors Association ZAIKS;
- International Conference of users and producers of patent information PATLIB 2008 in Warsaw, organized by the PPO in collaboration with the European Patent Office and Warsaw University of Technology under the auspices of the minister of Science and Higher Education;
- Annual "Scientific Picnic" of the Bis Radio in Warsaw (promotional stand);
- International Fairs in Poznan (promotional stand);
- 27th Seminar for patent attorneys from universities and academies in Cedzyna near Kielce, organized by the Patent Office together with the Council of Patent Attorneys of Universities, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, European Patent Office, Kielce University of Technology, and Kielce School of Trade;
- International Symposium in Krakow on "Industrial Property in Innovative Economy - Evaluation of Patents Risks Related to Implementation" co-organized by the Patent Office, European Commission, European Patent Office, Krakow University of Technology and Jagiellonian University, Marshal of Malopolskie voivodeship, under the auspices of the Minister of Economy and Commissioner of the EC Prof. Huebner;
- Industrial Technology, Science and Innovation Fair in Gdansk (promotional stand);
- 8th National Educational Forum for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Warsaw organized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (promotional stand);
- 13th Academic Conference on "Patent Information for Science and Industry" organized for PATLIB centers in Swider/Warsaw;
- Ceremony of prize award in the 6th edition of the competition for the best artistic poster as well as postdoctoral, doctoral, master's and student's theses on the subject of industrial property organized by the Patent Office.
Awarded Posters as well as posters from previous editions were exhibited in the Museum of Posters in Warsaw.

Within the scope of promotional activities the PPO, in collaboration with OHIM and Polish Agency of Industry Development, prepared and printed the followig publications:
-"Inventions in Business Operations of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises"- 10 000 copies;
-"Your World of Intellectual Property"- 5000 copies.

Studies to identify trends in new technology, e.g., by the use of patent statistics and preparation of monographs

n/a

Assistance furnished by offices to facilitate the changing over of receiving offices to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents (see also fourth sub-item of item VI, above)

The continual efforts were made in order to launch in the near future the Data Disclosing System for purposes of the Police, the Customs, and the Border Guard. The main task of the newly being designed system is making available on-line information on the subject of industrial property protection and optical carriers that are produced in Poland.

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 patents

http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Akty+prawne/Obowiazujace+akty+prawne/default.htm http://www.uprp.pl/English/Law

contain the Annual Report of the Office

PL interface: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Informacje+o+UPRP/Raporty+Roczne
EN interface: http://www.uprp.pl/English/About+the+Polish+Patent+Office/annual

if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR

n/a

provide open source codes related to patent information systems

n/a

contain patent-related news regarding the Office

The PPO's News: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Wiadomosci%20i%20ogloszenia/Aktualnosci
The PPO's press review: http://www.uprp.pl/Polski/Przeglad+prasy

X. Other relevant matters