Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2016 submitted by the
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Rospatent
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
(a) Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
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http://www.rupto.ru/about/strategy.
(b) New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
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In 2016, Rospatent and FIPS pages were created on Facebook, containing interesting material on the topic of patent law, the most striking current inventions, and answers to users’ questions.
(c) Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
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In 2016, work was carried out to update the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal in respect of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’) in order to comply with the Guidelines on the use of ESIA version 2.5.
(d) Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
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The main factors influencing the substantial growth in electronic filing of applications in 2016 were the promotion of electronic interaction with Rospatent, and the implementation of a number of projects to integrate electronic filing systems with the prosecution systems of applicants and representatives thereof.
(e) Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
The following pages of the Office’s websites contain:
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II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
(a) Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
One of the most important tasks of a patent office, including Rospatent, is to provide an environment conducive with filing patent applications for industrial property subject matter, thereby promoting inventive activity in the country.
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Details of seminars and other similar events held in 2016 can be found in Part 5(e).
(b) Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Access is provided on the Rospatent and FIPS websites to the following resource:
- A database of invention applications filed between 2007 and 2016 (containing a brief summary of the prosecution of applications, and updated daily).
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As part of the automated paperless prosecution information system for examining inventions, access is provided to primary materials for applications for inventions and utility models, versions of the application components (invention claims, descriptions), bibliographic data and versions of documents sent to applicants, images of incoming correspondence, and outgoing correspondence, signed electronically.
(c) ClassificationClassification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
With regard to the revision of the International Patent Classification (IPC), in 2016 Rospatent prepared a new full version of the IPC 2017.01. It was issued in machine-readable form in Russian for internal use, and as web-publication for external users of patent information. For that purpose a total of 1,483 amendments to the previous version of the IPC-2016.01 were processed by specialists.
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- amended entries with subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein - 49 49
- amended entries without subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein - 452.
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International applications received by the International Patent Cooperation Division of Rospatent in its role as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority are assigned a preliminary IPC index classification, which determines the appropriate examination division for each application. In 2016, 3,212 international applications were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions for the purposes of conducting an international search.
(d) Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
In 2016, abstracts continued to be published in Russian and English for RF patents granted for inventions as part of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette . The Gazette is posted on the FIPS website. In addition, abstracts in Russian are published as part of the publication Descriptions of Inventions for RF Patents on paper (identical to publications in the Gazette posted on the website).
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III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
(a) Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
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Table 5 contains data on the main types of Office publications in the field of patent information, carriers and also the frequency of publications.
Тable 5
Publication Title | Form of Publication | Frequency of Publication |
Official publications of Rospatent on inventions and utility models | ||
Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette, including the sections: RF Invention Applications - (primary publication section) RF Invention Patents - (secondary publication section)
RF Utility Model Patents - (primary publication section)
USSR authors’ certificates and patents for previously unpublished inventions (Information on de-classified inventions previously recognized as secret by the State, for which USSR copyright certificates for secret inventions were issued (1) and Information on copyright certificates and USSR invention patents not previously published (2)))
RF Invention Patents for previously unpublished inventions
Notifications
Republications
Court decisions on the infringement of patent owners’ rights | Bibliographic data and claims. Two options for the presentation of information: 1. On the title page -bibliographic data and claims; 2. Full descriptions for patents in the form of bibliographic data, abstract of a description, text of a description, drawing(s), claims. Abstracts of invention descriptions translated into English. On the title page - bibliographic data, utility model claims and drawing (where appropriate).
Two options for the presentation of information: 1. On the title page -bibliographic data and claims; Full descriptions for patents in the form of bibliographic data, abstract of a description, text of a description, drawing(s), claims. Abstracts of invention descriptions translated into English.
2.Bbibliographic data and claims
Two options for the presentation of information: 1. On the title page -bibliographic data and claims; 2. Full descriptions for patents in the form of bibliographic data, abstract of a description, text of a description, drawing(s), claims. Abstracts of invention descriptions translated into English. (the data are equivalent to those in RF Invention Patents)
Information is published on the insertion of amendments into published information on invention applications, or on amendments recorded in the State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models of the Russian Federation. Information is supplied by the relevant subdivisions of the FIPS and Rospatent in the established form. Corrected descriptions of inventions for RF patents and corrected title pages for the descriptions of utility models for RF patents are published.
Court decisions on infringement of patent owners’ rights (at the request of a patent owner) | Three times per month
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Annual Rospatent Activity Report for 2015 (on CD) | Structure and composition of data determined by Rospatent | Once per year |
During 2016, the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS), which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7436.
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http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.
(b) Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
The Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, is published three times per month.
The forms of notifications on inventions and utility models published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, are presented in Table 6:
Table 6
1. Forms of notifications relating to published invention applications |
НZ9А Change of designation or first name, surname or patronymic of the applicant |
HC9A Change of information on author(s) |
НЕ9А Change of correspondence address for applicant |
FA9A Review of invention application at applicant’s request |
FA9A Recognition of invention application as withdrawn |
FZ9A Invention application, of which withdrawn status has lapsed |
GA9A Conversion of invention application to utility model application |
2. Notifications containing communications on changes to information on State registration of inventions/utility models |
PD4A/PD1K Change of designation, first name, surname or patronymic of patent owner |
ТС4A/TC1K Change of information on author(s) |
ТЕ4A/TE1K Change of correspondence address |
Withdrawal of statement concerning obligation to conclude agreement on alienation of a patent in accordance with Article 1366(3) of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation |
3. Notifications containing communications on termination and restoration of validity of an invention/utility model patent |
MZ4A/MZ1K Premature termination of validity of a patent for an invention/utility model (group of inventions/utility models) on the basis of an application by the patent owner |
ММ4А/MM1K Premature termination of validity of a patent owing to non-payment within the prescribed period of the fee for maintenance of the patent in force |
MG4A/MG1K Termination of validity of a patent for an invention/utility model (group of inventions/utility models) as a result of the grant of a patent for identical subject matter |
MF4A/MF1K Revocation of a patent |
NF4A/NF1K Restoration of validity of a patent |
4. Notifications containing communications on extension of the term of validity of a patent for an invention/utility model or grant of a duplicate patent |
ND4A/ND1K Extension of term of validity of a patent for an invention/utility model (group of inventions/utility models) on the basis of an application by the patent owner |
RH4A/RH1K Grant of a duplicate patent |
5. Notifications containing communications on agreements relating to disposal of the exclusive right in an invention/utility model, transfer of an exclusive right in an invention/utility model, without the conclusion of an agreement with the patent owner |
PC4A/PC1K State registration of an agreement on the alienation of an exclusive right (extension code 01) |
PC4A/PC1K State registration of transfer of an exclusive right without an agreement being concluded |
QB4A/QB1K State registration of an agreement for disposal of an exclusive right |
QZ4A/QZ1K State registration of changes to a registered agreement (extension code 01) |
QZ4A/QZ1K Registration of a request for withdrawal of a statement on an open license (extension code 02) |
QZ4A/QZ1K Insertion of amendments in a registered agreement (extension code 03) |
RL4A/RL1K Recognition of a registered agreement as invalid |
QC4A/QC1K State registration of cancellation of a registered agreement (extension code 01) |
QC4A/QC1K Cancellation of a registered agreement (extension code 02) |
QC4A/QC1K State registration of termination of validity of a registered compulsory license (extension code 03) |
QA4A/QA1K Registration of an open license |
6. Notifications containing other communications on registered inventions/utility models |
ТK4A/TK1K Correction of obvious and technical errors in publications of information on inventions/utility models in the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette |
TK4A Corrections to publications of information on inventions in English |
BF4A/BF1K Cancellation of earlier publication of information on registered inventions/utility models |
RZ4A/RZ1K Other changes relating to registered inventions/utility models |
TH4A/TH1K Republication of descriptions of inventions for patents/title sheets of descriptions for utility model patents |
The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site providing access to online publications:
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Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Utility Model Patent.
(c) Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
Examiners primarily gain access to patent information through the in-house search system, PatSearch. The search arrays of the PatSearch system include patent documents from Russia and the USSR going back to 1924, of the CIS countries, foreign countries in the PCT minimum documentation, as well as a DWPI array. If the information contained in the PatSearch system is insufficient, examiners may consult patent-office databases that are freely available on the Internet (mainly Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE, EAPATIS, and the databases of USPTO and the patent office of Japan). In order to view correspondence relating to applications in the patent offices of Japan and Korea, examiners can access the AIPN and K-PION databases, respectively.
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Electronic resources of non-patent literature, acquired on a commercial basis, are available to Office experts via the inter-library subscription service, and electronic document delivery systems.
(d) Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
In 2016, development of a continuous publication system from Rospatent’s Electronic State Registers (EGR) was completed. Since January, 2017, the system has been available to a wide range of users.
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- a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2016 (contains information on the prosecution of 126,000 applications, updated daily).
Users’ work with the information-search system
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(e) Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on current legal status that is updated three times a month.
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IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
(a) Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2016 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.
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Extensive use has been made of the opportunity to document search histories, including an indication of search arrays, search query transcripts, and the number of documents located and viewed, as well as a list of documents included in the examiner’s final selection.
(b) Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Equipment used:
Fujitsu M10-4S server
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Carriers used:
Ultrium magnetic tapes.
(c) Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
In 2016, the main search tool was Rospatent’s in-house search system, PatSearch, which is available at each examiner’s workstation. The search array of PatSearch includes patent documentation from Russia, the USSR, and CIS countries, and countries included in PCT minimum documentation, as well as an array from DWPI. In total, PatSearch includes more than 70 million original patent documents. Full texts of patent documents not yet loaded into the system may be viewed via built-in online reference to Espacenet.
The PatSearch system supports non-patent literature searching in external sources: genetic sequences searching in the European Bioinformatics Institute databases and non-patent literature searching in the Electronic Scientific Library of the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (eLIBRARY.RU).
(d) Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
The main source of information for the principal functions of Rospatent is the State Patent Collection (GPF).
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Information downloaded from the FTP servers is temporarily stored on the local network before being subsequently uploaded onto PatSearch.
(e) Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
The Automated Databank (ABD), designed to prosecute applications and protection titles for inventions and utility models, has subsystems that manage the work of examiners and support staff, as well as capturing statistical information on various aspects of the activities of Rospatent subdivisions.
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V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION
(a) Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
The main functions of the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) is the establishment of the State Patent Collection (GPF), including patent documentation on all industrial property subject matter, scientific and technical and legal and patent literature on all carrier types, and also providing them to all categories of users. In so doing, VPTB fulfills the functions of a public library and the library of the Office at the same time. The main source for the GPF is international exchange, which ensures updating of patent documentation and Official Gazettes of foreign offices, while national and foreign scientific and technical, and legal and patent, literature is updated through subscription and obtaining books and periodicals.
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As part of international exchange of patent information, it cooperates with a number of foreign patent libraries, including the Library of the Patent Office of Austria, the Central Patent Library of the Office of Bulgaria, the State Patent Technology Library of the Republic of Tajikistan, National Library of Great Britain and other libraries.
(b) Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The VPTB offers a unique collection of legal and patent, and dictionary and reference literature (PPL collection), which is an important constituent part of the GPF is available. The PPL collection on paper and electronic information carriers includes publications on a wide range of theoretical and practical issues of intellectual property protection in the Russian Federation and abroad, including issues relating to the creation, legal protection, and commercialization of the results of intellectual activity, jurisprudence, protection of intellectual property on the Internet, activity of international organizations, and international cooperation in the field of intellectual property, etc.
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For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the “What is Intellectual Property?” heading in the For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.
(c) Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
The PROMT translation system, installed on the IPS PatSearch and at the examiners' workplaces, is used at Rospatent in order to provide translation of foreign patent information and non-patent literature from the Internet, as well as Word files. In 2016 the PROMT Automated Translation System was updated with the latest version of PROMT PTS 11.
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Training and consultations for examiners of using the new version of the PROMT PTS System were carried out both at examiners' workplaces and in the "Training and Computer Search" class.
(d) Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Given the importance of knowing the basics of intellectual property and in order to train new specialists in the skills for successful work in science, economics and industry, the VPTB Division holds a range of different events in cooperation with universities, research centers, Technology and Innovation Support Centers, etc., including:
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The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 259 organizations in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2016. Access was provided to: 47 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 36 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 13 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nanotechnology Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 140 TISC and 19 other organizations.
(e) Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Organization of education and advanced training for FIPS specialists is carried out within the Unified Training System (UTS) under the principle of continuity with the use of internal and external forms of education starting from the date of hiring. Ensuring of conditions for continuous advanced training for employees is provided by the Statute of FIPS.
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http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/science/teach/;
- the "Training seminars" section for TISCs of the RF:
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http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/archiv_meetings;
- conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2016:
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VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION
(a) International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts trademark documentation on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to the documentation to the offices of 47 foreign countries and four international organizations.
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Acting as International Preliminary Examining Authority, Rospatent transferred 65 of the international preliminary examination reports to WIPO electronically by means of ePCT.
(b) Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Active participation continued in the work to establish and refine both new and existing WIPO standards in the field of patent information under the relevant Task Forces of the Committee on WIPO Standards.
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During the conference, 8 papers were presented, and a round table was held on the subject of the conference. Employees of Rospatent, FIPS and Federal State Budgetary Institution, FAPRID, addressed the conference.
(c) Assistance to developing countries
In accordance with the Agreements between Rospatent and the International Bureau of WIPO, Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, prepares search reports with preliminary examination reports on applications filed with the International Bureau of WIPO by developing countries. In 2016, Rospatent received no such applications and no search reports were prepared.
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VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
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Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:
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