Annual Technical Report 2004 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Sweden (SCIT/ATR/ID/2004/SE)
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
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The official gazette ”Industrial design Gazette” is published with 2 issues every month. This Gazette contains the announcements of the official data concerning new registrations, modifications, renewals, cancellations and corrections.
The Gazette is available in an electronic way on the homepage on Internet.
Through our Selling department it is also possible to order the Gazette in a paper format.
Word processing combined with scanned forms is used for producing the Gazette. This production has now been developed and is including in our process for examination of industrial design applications.
An annual technical report is published for the whole office.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
Industrial designs are classified according to the Locarno Classification, 7th edition. This is done by the employee in the division.
Applicants have to state the classifications according to the Locarno system. The specifications must be specified and not in general terms. The employees in the Department then convert the information into actual class. By doing this we use either the classification document or the information in the computer system.
For internal use in the Department some of the Locarnoclasses are completed with sub-sub-classes.
Bibliographic data used for search purpose are application number, registrations number, Locarnaclasses, name of applicant/holder and name of counsel.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
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Public can search for registered Industrial designs and applications when visiting the facilities in the SPRO´s office. Security is upheld via a guest password. Applications may be filed electronically (facsimile), but legal demands for a hand written signature make confirmation on paper compulsory.
Register excerpts may be ordered through our Sales department. The fee is low and should only cover the printing and paper costs.
Trademarks attorneys, law firms, other commercial entities and private persons may acquire access to a special On-line service, called Patlink. The link offers a compilation of bibliographic data from the SPRO trademark, patents and industrial designer’s registers. The Sales department administers this service. The customer has a lot of possibilities for information searching.
The work with making the SPRO homepage (www.prv.se) has continued. Besides access to the databases you can find a lot of information concerning rules, regulations, contact persons, examination times and governments goals for the Department.
The Industrial design Gazette is available, free of charge on Internet.
There is also possible to request issues of the newspaper in printed forms from the Selling department.
The administrative staff gives information from the databases by telephone, fax and e-mail.
All relevant information concerning registration of Industrial design is also reachable by the homepage (www.prv.se). This service is free of charge and is searchable by use of the terms register number, owner and Locarnoclasses.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
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In March 1998, the Department was relocated from Stockholm to Söderhamn. A completely new organization was build up. The Department now consists of the Trademark division, the Industrial design, Surname and Registry of Periodical division and Administrative division.
Furthermore there are specials for questions concerning law, information, information technology and quality.
A new vision and strategy plan for the information technology has been made for the Department. In accordance with these intentions the Department will work very hard to develop and implement new electronic processes for applying applications, correspondence and payment within modern technology.
During 2002 it was made changes in the Swedish act for Industrial designs. The EU-directive was implemented in Sweden. At the same time the Department implements changes in the process for examination of applications. The material (substantive) examination was ended. After that the Department makes only the formal examination. As a result of these changes the average time for examination has been reduced.
At SPRO level, a project is running with the objective of improving the Internet homepage. This implies that the Department will take an active part in the Internet activities. Publications such as the Industrial design Gazette are accessible via the homepage.
On the homepage there is also information for the applicants and possibilities to improve the quality when making applications in an electronic way. This process is only up and running for the trademark applications.
Since 2003 it is also possible to search in the Industrial design database by Internet. This service is free of charge. If you are in need of more sophisticated search criteria’s you are able to contact our Selling department for further instructions.