Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2014 submitted by ARIPO

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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

• The main policies and plans of ARIPO in 2014 were anchored on the Consolidated Medium Term Strategic Plan 2014 - 2015 biennium adopted by the Administrative Council of ARIPO at its 37th Session held in Kampala, Uganda from November 25 to 26, 2013. The Consolidated Strategic Plan approved by the Administrative Council reduced the strategic goals to five, and the implementing programmes to 15.

Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization

• Despite the relevance of the utility models in innovation in Africa and its importance for the protection of local inventors, applications are low. However, it’s worth highlighting that the utility models filed in 2014 originated from patent agents, thus showing a growing interest on this right by the specialists on IP.
• The industrial designs, although maintaining the positive trend did not show significant difference with the previous years.
• The most designated States in industrial designs in the year 2014 are: Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Zambia.

New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks

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Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

• There was a decline in new applications received in 2014 compared to 2013. Only 154 new applications were received for 2014 compared to 217 in 2013

Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc-

• Website: www.aripo.org

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• Face book account under African Regional Intellectual Property Organization

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

Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs

To ensure compliance with the ARIPO patent procedures, a number of national roving seminars under the theme "making better use of intellectual property for business competitiveness and development in Africa" were held as follows:

• Swaziland from March 24 to 28; Mozambique from April 21 to 25; Liberia from April 28 to May 2; Sierra Leone from May 19 to 23 and The Gambia from August 4 to 8 benefiting a total of 655 participants.

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

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Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

• ARIPO uses the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) system

Other activities

• Digitization of documents under the WIPOScan project continued.

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

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)

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Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.

• The ARIPO Journal is published monthly and is available in print and in electronic format

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

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

Other sources

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

Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

• The POLITE Database

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

• PCs and Laptops, Network printers, Photocopiers, Scanners, Servers

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

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Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

Other matters

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

Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

• The Anderson Ray Zikonda Library is available and stocks patent and non-patent literature by the Office and from cooperating partners like the WIPO, EPO, EAPO, UK-IPO, JPO, KIPO, ROSPATENT, SIPO
• ARIPO also purchased some non-patent titles for research work.
• Currently, officers can access the library online public access catalogue (OPAC) via the Office intranet

Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

• Procedure for Filing Industrial Design Applications at the ARIPO Office (Brochure)
• A step by step Guide to the Registration of A Utility Model at the ARIPO Office.

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

• The ARIPO Academy provided 10 scholarships to selected students from the member states, which pursue the Master of Intellectual Property (MIP) degree program at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. A total of 33 students have been offered scholarships by ARIPO since the inception of the Program in 2008.
• Students from various Universities and R&D centres, in member states continue to seek and use the services and facilities of the ARIPO Office Library for information in their research work free of charge. These can be walk in users or those who wish to be assisted through the virtual library.
• A Workshop on Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) on February 12, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

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

Other activities

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

International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

• Information published monthly in the ARIPO Journal

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

• The 31^st Session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademark, Industrial Designs and the Geographical Indications from March 17 to 21
• The 4^th Session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs from June 16 to 20
• Bilateral Meetings between ARIPO and The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM)

Assistance to developing countries

• Sponsoring workshops in the member states.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS