Annual Technical Report 2008 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Serbia (SCIT/ATR/TM/2008/RS)
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I. Evolution of registration activities
In comparison with 2007, the total number of national trademark applications filings in 2008 has increased for 44 applications; we had 3135 applications in 2007 and 3179 in 2008. At the same time, the number of trademark applications filed under the Madrid Agreement increased for 604; we had 5754 applications in 2007, and 6358 in 2008.
On the other hand, the Trademark Department granted 8767 registrations in 2008 against 7624 in 2007.
Filed Trademark Applications:
Year..... Madrid Agreement.....National.......Total
2006...............5211......................3012..........8223
2007...............5754......................3135..........8889
2008...............6358......................3179..........9537
Registered Trademark Applications:
Year.......Madrid Agreement........National.....Total
2006...............4964.........................1923........6887
2007...............5162.........................2102........7264
2008...............5659.........................3108........8767
On December 31st, 2008, there were 144613 registered and valid trademarks in Republic of Serbia, including 13677 trademarks entered in the national register and 130936 trademarks registered through the Madrid Agreement.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
The Intellectual Property Office of Serbia (henceforward “Office”), on the basis of Trademark Law, publishes its official gazette: Intellectual Property Journal. The Intellectual Property Journal is published bimonthly, 6 times a year in 480 copies per year. The Intellectual Property Journal, in the part referring to trademarks, is prepared by means of computer, using an IPAS system. The following information and bibliographical data concerning registered domestic and international trademarks are published in the Intellectual Property Journal: registration number, registration date, expected expiration date of registration, application number, date of filing of the application, date concerning exhibitions, data relating to priority under the Paris Convention, list of goods and services according the Nice Classification of Goods and service, disclaimer, reproduction of the mark, information concerning the colors claimed, indication relating to the nature or kind of mark, name and address of the holder of the registration, name and address of the representative. Trademarks are published in grayscale and color technique. In 2008, 4433 registered national and international trademarks were published.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
The Nice Classification is used for the similarity examination search, for commercial search and for statistics.
We have been using Vienna Classification in trademark procedure for years, but from the beginning of 2010, Trademark Department will start to use Vienna Classification through the IPAS system.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
In the Office, it is not possible to search manually the signs, because all searches are done by computer.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
Since January of 2006. Trademark Department uses an IPAS system in order to examine conflict with prior trademarks rights. Industrial Property administration system (referred to as IPAS) is developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (referred to as WIPO). IPAS basically serves for:
1. reception applications, user documents, notification of Office documents, corrections, daily logs;
2. file management (marks, user documents, auxiliary Registers, delivery lists, file renumbering, missing files detection, import data from the article 6ter);
3. application and pre-application search;
4. process management;
5. journal;
6. Statistics.
By using an IPAS system, Trademark Department improves quality and efficiency of its work.
ICT infrastructure supprting trademarks database:
Local Area Network: L3 switches and VLANs, Microsoft Active Directory, DHCP, WSUS, ISA proxy services implemented, WEB VPN towards EPO (EpoqueNet), Windows XP workstations;
Internet connection: Direct optical connection to the provider at 8Mbit/sec, 2xCisco ASA 5510 in active/standby firewall configuration;
Server for IPAS: FujitsuSiemens Primergy TX200 server, 4GB RAM memory, 5x146GB hard disks in RAID 5 configuration, 2 NICs;
Software: MS Windows 2003 R2 Server Standard Edition, application software is IPAS (proprietary), database is Oracle 10g.
Publication server for trademarks:
Hardver: FujitsuSiemens Primergy TX300 server, 4 GB RAMS 5x146GB hard disks in RAID 5 configuration, 2 NICs
Software: MS Windows 2003 R2 Server Standard Edition, web browser as a client, application server Apache/Tomcat, MySql database.
Intranet access:
Hardware: IBM workstation as a server (2 GB of RAM, 2x146GB hard disks).
Software: MS Windows XP as an operating system, Active Directory database member, web browser as a client, application environment is IPAS, database is Oracle 10g.
VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
All relevant data considering the trademark protection in Republic of Serbia are on our web site on www.zis.gov.rs. That includes 1) frequently asked questions about trademarks, 2) TM legislation, 3) guidelines and forms, 4) fees; 5) statistics; 6) reports.
National trademark database is on our web site as well.
Third parties can make trademark research in our Office through the intranet.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
During 2008, the Official Gazette of the Intellectual Property Office of Republic of Serbia, “Intellectual Property Journal” has been delivered to the following countries:
Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, England, United States, Macedonia, South Korea, Venezuela, San Marino, Croatia.
The Office has received gazettes from the following countries: Russia, Romania.
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)
Through 2008, Intellectual Property Office of Republic of Serbia organized many lectures concerning trademark legal protection. Experts from Trademark Department and Section for International Trademarks attended many professional meetings, both in country and abroad, including Committee on Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications-SCT and Madrid Union Assembly.