Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2022 submitted by the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of the Moldova (AGEPI)

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The term "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. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
2. New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
3. Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
4. Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
5. Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.

In 2022, the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova (AGEPI) received a total of 181 applications for registration of 619 industrial designs (ID). Under the national procedure were filed 46 applications (25.4%), which included 277 ID (44.7%), and under The Hague Agreement procedure - 135 applications (74.6%) with 342 ID (55,3%). Compared to 2021, the number of filed applications decreased by 31 (14.6%), and the number of ID embedded in these applications decreased – by 605 (49.4%). In the reference period, national applicants filed 45 applications (24.9% of the total number) with 274 ID (44.3%), being attested a decreased by 27.4% in the number of applications and concomitantly, decreased by 58.2% in the number of ID, compared with the previous year. Foreign applicants appertain 136 applications with 345 ID (75.1% and, respectively, 55.7% of the total filed), which is a decreased by 9.3% and, decreased, by 39.2% as compared with 2021. The absolute majority of applications proceeded from foreign applicants (74%) were filed under The Hague Agreement procedure.

Under the national procedure, most of the applications were filed by applicants from the Republic of Moldova, AGEPI also received applications from foreign applicants from two countries – Poland and Germany. Under the Hague Agreement were received applications from 19 countries, most of them coming from Switzerland, Italy and Germany. During the reporting period were also filed 335362 renewal applications for 10131141 ID, by 8% and, respectively, 12,6% more as compared with the previous year. Most renewal applications – 320 (88.4%) were from foreign applicants, of which 309 were filed under the Hague Agreement. Of the number of registrations, which term of validity was supposed to expire in 2022, the weight of renewed ones is quite high, constituting 53.8% (274 of 509) in the case of international registrations and 35.4% (34 of 96) for national ones. On 31 December 2022, of the total number of 1914 ID registration certificates, issued by AGEPI, 463 were valid (24,2%), including 261 renewed (56.4% of the valid certificates). Of the total of 8048 international registration of ID, for which protection was acquired in the Republic of Moldova, 2364 (29.4 %) were valid, including 1819 renewed (76.9% of the valid international registrations).

During the year 2022, there were subject to substantive examination:

-52 applications with 370 ID, filed under the national procedure, of which 210 ID (56.8%) were rejected;

-129 international applications with 536 ID, received under the Hague Agreement, being rejected 13 ID (2,4%).

In the year under review, 48 certificates of registration for 191 ID were issued, compared with 2021 being attested an increase by 2,1% in the number of certificates and a decrease by 18% in the number of ID.

The most important office notices and news regarding the IP objects are provided directly on our website with free access www.agepi.gov.md. Detailed information on industrial designs could be found by accessing the following link http://www.agepi.gov.md/en/content/industrial-designs.

As regard the general information about IP objects, their protection and related events organized in the view to promote them on the national and international level, the statistics data and their impact to the national economy, could be found in the Annual Report, published by AGEPI every year and distributed on the official web page http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/50.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
2. Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
3. Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
4. Other activities

Detailed information regarding requirements with respect to the documents of application in order to register an industrial design may be accessed at http://agepi.gov.md/en/node/6737

Detailed information regarding e-filing (including, a user guide to electronic service for online filing of IPO applications, guide for completion)can be accessed at the following link: https://e-servicii.agepi.gov.md/en.

AGEPI also has a Call-center and a consultancy office, which offer consultations, information and support for the applicants by phone or in person.

The Republic of Moldova became a state party to the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs (1968) on December 1, 1997. The Agency uses the International Classification for Industrial Designs since 1994. All the documents are classified according to the Locarno Classification. The classification symbols (the 14th edition of the Classification) of an application are allotted by the applicant. It is up to the Agency to afterwards check, and eventually to correct, the classification symbols.

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
2. Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
3. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
4. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

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

6. Other sources

The most important publications in the field of industrial design documentation are the following:

- The Official Bulletin of Industrial Property Protection (BOPI) – monthly publication (PDF format);

- The National Industrial Designs Register;

- The National Industrial Designs Applications Register.

The Official Bulletin of Intellectual Property is a monthly publication, which includes official information on applications for patenting/registration of intellectual property objects (IPO) in the Republic of Moldova and titles of protection granted, to the changes that occurred in the legal status of applications and titles of protection of IPO and the results of appeals examination in the Contestation Commission of AGEPI, court decisions on disputes over IPOs, general information. The BOPI is issued in Romanian, English and Russian languages on paper carrier (ISSN 1810-7095), and online on the AGEPI website http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/48. To receive the Official Bulletin of Intellectual Property (BOPI) on paper subscription fee is required.

BOPI includes Section V with information on industrial designs.

Section V contains:

-   BA1L Applications for registration (bibliographic data and graphic reproduction);

-   List of industrial designs applications containing a request on publication delay;

-   FF4L List of registered industrial designs;

-   FG4L List of industrial design certificates,

-   ND4L List of renewed industrial designs;

-  FG4L List of industrial designs registered in the Republic of Moldova according to the Hague Agreement, ranged in numerical order and in the order of the ICID.

Section VI contains various types of notices referring to all amendments that occurred to the legal status of the protected industrial property objects (List of amendments, List of cession contracts, Errata, FC9L List of rejected industrial designs, FA9L List of withdrawal industrial designs, MK4L List of industrial design registration certificates the term of validity of which has expired, etc), etc.

The Annual Report reflects the activity of the AGEPI during the whole year. It includes data on the registration/patenting of intellectual property objects, the most important events organized with the participation of the AGEPI as a partner and implemented projects and goals for the following year. The Publication is issued and distributed to regional IP Offices andnational public authorities on the paper carrier and is available online at the following address: http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/50

 “Intellectus”- is the journal of intellectual property which has been regularly published as a quarterly journal since 1995(ISSN 1810-7079 –on the paper carrier and ISSN 1857-0496 – on CD-ROM). According to joint Decision of the Supreme Council for Science and Technological Development (CSSDT) of ASM and the National Council for Accreditation and Attestation (CNAA) No. 3 of 30 January 2014 "On the results of evaluation and classification of scientific journals in the field" ,  "Intellectus" journal was accredited to “B” classification category, law, technology, biology, chemistry and economics profiles. “Intellectus” journal pursues the competent and multilateral reflection of intellectual property aspects, elucidation of provisions of the national and international IP legislation, publication of scientific and methodological materials, providing the public with information on the country`s intellectual treasure, etc. The journal also covers the procedures for acquiring intellectual property protection, reveals the mechanism of enforcement and observance of rights, exploitation of IP objects, and publishes studies signed by researchers in various fields of science, economy and technology.

The journal is available online at the following address: http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/49.

"AGEPI Info"– is a supplement to the “Intellectus” journal and deals with different aspects of IP protection quarterly, reproduces certain IP-related materials of the written and online press. The publication is distributed within the main IP promotion actions, seminars and exhibitions, training courses for employees organized by AGEPI.  Through the heading “Stock of Inventions” the best domestic patented inventions proposed by inventors for implementation are promoted. The publication is available on the paper carrier and online at the following address: http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/51.

“AGEPI Expo” – is a supplement to the “Intellectus” journal. The publication is devoted to the results of each edition of the International Specialized Exhibition "INFOINVENT". It includes more interviews with participants from home and abroad in this forum of inventions. It reveals the mechanism of exploitation of intellectual property objects, provides business people with useful information on conclusion of assignment and license contracts in order to implement the latest scientific and technical achievements in production. The publication is issued on paper carrier and available online at the following address: http://agepi.gov.md/en/publication/52.The information products available to examiners, including external documentation and databases are:

- MD - internal database daily updated;

- EUIPO, RO, UA – online databases;

- RU – internal database monthly updated;

- WIPO – internal database weekly updated.

External users have access to public Industrial Designs Database at http://www.db.agepi.md/DMI/Search (monthly updated). The access is free of charge and doesn’t require authentication.

The Database contains such compartments as:

-Issued decisions;

- Expiring ID;

- Expired/forfeited ID, in the grace period;

- List of owners with expiring ID;

- List of patent attorneys representing owners with expiring ID;

- List of Industrial Designs for which a decision of the Commission was issued (use of the official or historical name of the state).

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
2. Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
3. Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
4. Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
5. Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
6. Other matters

AGEPI uses an in-house built IT system to handle national cases. It manages online filing workflow, electronic dossier and electronic archive, data exchange, internal and public search engines, and their daily updates. Microsoft Word is used for various purposes like processing information and documents, generating correspondence letters, publication files and miscellaneous reports.

The office uses workstations and notebooks with Microsoft Windows 10. All devices are connected via the 100 Mb/s or 1 Gb/s network into the Microsoft Active Directory Domain. AGEPI has a fiber channel link into the internet with 1 Gb/s. The IT infrastructure is being moved off premises into gouvernemental data centres (MCloud).

Within the examination of the applications for registration of industrial designs submitted by the international procedure (The Hague System) all documents are issued and signed in electronic format and the communication with WIPO is also made only in electronic format.

For applications of registration of industrial designs submitted through the national procedure on paper, all documents are scanned in the "Electronic file".

At the disposal of examiners in their daily practice, there are the following databases:

- National database “Industrial Design” (daily updated);

- RU – internal database (monthly updated);

- WIPO – internal database (weekly updated).

The office maintains a complete history of its industrial design files in paper and electronic form. Information from the internal databases is available in:

• public database (updated monthly);
• DesignView, GDD (the data are uploaded on a daily basis);
• The IT platform for improving enforcement of IPR in the Republic of Moldova.

The industrial design information is disseminated in WIPO ST. 96 XML format.

Informational Services rendered by AGEPI

http://agepi.gov.md/en/services/information-services-provided-agepi

Industrial designs.

http://agepi.gov.md/en/design/presentation

Search in ID Databases

http://www.db.agepi.md/DMI/Search.aspx

Industrial Designs.

Guides:

Guide for the examination of applications for registration of industrial designs http://agepi.gov.md/ro/ghid_dmi/introducere

Guides on filling in forms:

http://agepi.gov.md/en/formulare/design

http://agepi.gov.md/sites/default/files/formulare/ghid/gh-2112-0038_.pdf

http://agepi.gov.md/sites/default/files/formulare/ghid/gh-2109_0039.pdf

http://agepi.gov.md/sites/default/files/formulare/ghid/gh-2110_0040.pdf

http://agepi.gov.md/sites/default/files/formulare/ghid/gh-2113_0041.pdf

fhttp://agepi.gov.md/sites/default/files/formulare/ghid/gh-2116_0043.pdf

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
2. Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

3. Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

4. Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
5. Other activities

AGEPI provides  Bibliographic Information Services.

The national collection of documents in the field of intellectual property includes databases (DB) with industrial designs of the Republic of Moldova; books and serial publications in the field of IP, etc.

The Collection is annually supplemented with new documents in different fields, which are reflected in the electronic Catalog and in specialized DBs.

Beneficiaries of the bibliographic information services in the field of IP are the experts and other employees of AGEPI, as well as all interested persons outside the institution: researchers, inventors and rationalizers, teaching staff, students, etc.

They benefit from:

• access to the National Collection of patents, patent applications, trademarks, utility models, and new varieties of plants;
• informational assistance in support of their creativity;
• the possibility of using the electronic Catalog of the book collection (DB BOOKS) and that of the articles from the periodical editions in the field of intellectual property (DB ART-IP), as well as access to the electronic databases of AGEPI and offices abroad;
• methodological assistance in information retrieval in electronic DBs;
• information and bibliographic servicing;
• the opportunity to participate in information promotion activities in the field of IP carried out at local and republican level

Collection

The national Collection of documents in the field of intellectual property owned by AGEPI consists of the following types of documents:

• Databases on electronic support in the field of intellectual property;
• Books in the field of intellectual property, legislative documents, normative acts, international treaties and agreements, dictionaries and encyclopedias in different branches of the economy, official and methodical publications of AGEPI, periodicals;
• In 2011, the “WIPO Depositary Library” was established within AGEPI, with the aim of creating a specialized book fund in the field of IP.

List of specialized journals:

• BOPI
• Intellectus
• Revista română de Proprietate Industriala (CD-ROM)
• Revista română de dreptul proprietăţii intelectuale
• Contabilitate și audit
• Dreptul muncii
• WIPO Magazine
• Magazine de OMPI etc.

Starting with 01.03.2019, AGEPI launched the e-learning platform that will allow for the uploading of online specialized training courses in the field of intellectual property (IP) for different categories of users: pupils, students, professors, researchers, as well as for public authorities with responsibilities in the enforcement of IP rights, business environment.

With the launch of this platform, the first distance learning course “How to Protect Intellectual Property Rights in the Republic of Moldova” is being launched. It provides an overview of the fundamental principles of intellectual property law and is indispensable for conducting more advanced courses in this specific field.

The course contains several modules:

- Introduction to Intellectual Property;

- Patents;

- Trademarks;

- Industrial designs;

- Copyright and related rights.

Each module is accompanied by a self-evaluation tool to help participants evaluate their level of knowledge and the progress achieved, as well as the ability to apply them. The course also contains a final test that allows the assessment of the knowledge gained throughout the course. In case of successful completion of all course modules, the participant will obtain a confirmatory certificate.

Both the e-learning platform and the launched distance learning course aim to improve and modernize the training process in the field of IP, promoting and disseminating information on the protection of intellectual property in the Republic of Moldova.

Access to the platform is on http://elearning.agepi.gov.md/.

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

1. International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
2. Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

3. Assistance to developing countries

4. Other activities

AGEPI performs an international exchange of information on industrial design with:

- DesignView (EUIPO);

- Global Design Database (WIPO).

During the year 2022, AGEPI has participated in the following international and regional activities related to industrial designs:

-          The 46th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, organized from November 21 to 23, 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland;

-          The 11th session of WIPO Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for international registration of industrial design, organized from December 12 to 14, 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland.

During the year 2022, AGEPI implemented the Common Practice (CP) 10 Evaluation criteria for the disclosure of industrial designs on the Internet EUIPO (https://www.tmdn.org/#/practices/1819730 ).

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS