Page History

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Inventions

Table 1 (see attachment) shows the data for 2001-2002 for the filing of patent applications in the Russian Federation (RF), for inventions by national and foreign applicants.

The largest number of applications for inventions by Russian applicants were filed under Section A of the International Patent Classification (IPC) – Human Necessities, and by foreign applicants under Section C – Chemistry and Metallurgy.

The least popular both among Russian and foreign applicants was Section D – Textiles and Paper. The number of applications filed under this section in 2002 was less than one per cent of the overall number of applications for inventions received.

Utility models

In comparison with 2001, the growth in the overall number of applications filed in 2002 by approximately 11.6 per cent should be noted. The number of applications filed by foreign applicants also increased by 11.4%.

The leading section of the IPC in the past year was Section B – Performing Operations and Transporting, where the number of certificates issued in this area increased in relation to the previous year by 15.7 per cent and was at a maximum. Section A – Human Necessities can also be considered a leading category (15.3 per cent). The lowest number of applications was again filed for Section D – Textiles and Paper, which was the least numerous in terms of the number of certificates issued, and also for Section C – Chemistry and Metallurgy (see Table 2 of attachment).

Tables_1_2_ru_pi_2002.doc

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

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During 2002, Rospatent published 32,037 invention-related announcements, including: 18,114 patent claims; 13,698 application claims; 225 previously unpublished inventions; and 5,611 utility model claims.

All the information published in official Rospatent paper editions is issued on optical CD-ROMs and DVDs, and is available on the Internet.

Table 3 (attachment) shows the rate of orders for full annual sets of descriptions of inventions both on paper and CD-ROM. During the past five years, the number of sets distributed annually on CD-ROM has increased two and a half times. The table shows that in the past year the number of orders for this information on CD-ROM has increased by 20 per cent, compared to the previous year.

In addition to subscribing to current acquisitions, it is possible to order retrospective information arrays on inventions. Prices for official editions on CD-ROM in 2002 were reduced by 15 per cent and, in that regard, all types of discounts provided continued to be offered.

In 2002, permanent CD-ROM database subscribers were given the possibility to carry out free searches of Internet databases.

Table_3_ru_pi_2002.doc

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

In 2002, official publications included the following titles:

 Inventions and Utility Models gazette – 36 issues;
 patent specifications – 18,114 descriptions;
 annual index to Inventions and Utility Models gazette;
 CD-ROM optical disks “Russian Patents” – 12 disks (monthly) containing official information on patents in the Russian Federation (bibliographical data, claims, abstracts in Russian and English, texts of descriptions with graphs and tables)
 CD-ROM optical disks – four disks (quarterly) containing information on Russian Federation patents (bibliographical data, abstracts in Russian and English, basic diagrams illustrating abstracts) and on utility models (bibliographical data, claims in Russian, basic diagrams illustrating claims);
 title pages of utility model descriptions for Russian Federation certificates;
 official text of the current edition of the International Patent Classification in Russian;
 Rospatent activity report.

Disks previously produced in the “Diapat” system currently continue to be re-issued in the form of cumulative annual DVDs in the MIMOSA system.

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

Data on inventions and utility models are systematized and thoroughly checked in technical databases.

Data are also stored on paper information carriers. A significant portion of the information received and produced in the past few years is also stored on optical disks. Archive information and information which is not part of the PCT minimum documentation is also stored on microforms.

In the past few years, CD-ROM and DVD optical disks have become more and more widely used.

Word processing and office automation

Computerization linked to publishing processes has given the opportunity to automate fully the whole cycle of preparation of official Rospatent editions.

For invention and utility model publications a bibliography is used, prepared during the examination process in the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) automated database (ADB), as well as text information transferred to an electronic carrier at an early stage of application processing. Software is developed and tested, and allows experts and specialists from the publication subdivision to work in a single programming environment, thereby ensuring that the documents on electronic and paper carriers, transferred for publication, are identical.

The scanning of a retrospective collection of descriptions of inventions of the USSR/Russia, covering the period 1924 to 1993, was completed. A machine-readable array of the re-established part of the collection of missing Russian documents for the period 1924 to 1993 has been produced. The production of the historical portion of the Russian collection up to 1924 is continuing. In total, 1.5 million documents (six million pages) have been processed and 460 GB of facsimile information has been recorded on machine-readable carriers.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.)

The automated system of preparation for publications facilitates fully automatic production of mock-ups of formatted editions, by using computer technology with peripheral devices for high-resolution and rapid scanning and printing.

The following technical equipment, which allows ready printed items to be produced in the form of printed editions and facsimile (photo) copies, is used for printing and production (reproduction) preparation purposes in relation to secondary patent information sources:

- equipment for printing processes;
- equipment for producing (printing) patent information in facsimile form;
- equipment for microfilming and printing microfilms (microfiches).

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

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In 2002, abstracts continued to be included in published patents in the Russian Federation:

 in Russian, as part of full texts of patent documents on paper and CD-ROM;
 in English, as part of CD-ROMs with full texts of patent documents;
 in Russian and English, on CD-ROMs containing only abstracts.

In accordance with users’ requests, thematic reviews are compiled on the basis of collections of patent and scientific and technical documentation available to Rospatent, and foreign patent documents are translated into Russian.

In 2002, the Information and Publications Center of Rospatent continued to issue the Russian edition of Inventions of Countries of the World, which contains information in abstract form on inventions from WIPO, the EPO, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America in 2001, published in the official gazettes of these countries. In 2002, this publication also included information on inventions currently registered in the Russian Federation and on assimilated patents in foreign countries. In 2002, 1,688 thematic publications relating to the edition of Inventions of Countries of the World were prepared in paper form and distributed. Eighteen full sets of the publication (24,192 issues) and 1,958 separate thematic editions were produced on machine-readable carriers.

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

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The structure and composition of the State Patent Examination File (SPEF) are determined on the basis of its purpose and are regulated by Rule 34 of the Regulations Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The SPEF in paper format consists of current and retrospective portions, and is divided into national and foreign patent documentation collections. Since 2000, a separate array has been formed containing a patent documentation collection for CIS countries. The file also contains patent-associated literature in the form of books and scientific and technical periodicals.

The national patent documentation includes descriptions of inventions of the USSR (from 1924 onwards), descriptions of inventions and utility models of the Russian Federation (applications, patents and certificates), and the official gazettes of the USSR and the Russian Federation. National patent documentation up to 2001 was compiled in two arrays: one was organized according to the IPC with subgroup divisions and the other was in numerical order. As of 2001, a single array is being compiled, based on the IPC.

The collection of foreign patent documentation is organized according to the headings of the IPC – by country and, within countries, by year of publication, and thereafter in numerical order.

Updating

The current portion of the collection is updated annually both for national and foreign patent documentation. In 2002, the SPEF received 571,500 descriptions, including 512,400 foreign and 59,100 national descriptions.

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As of January 1, 2003 the SPEF contained 17.5 million documents from ten countries and three international organizations, included in the “minimum documentation” (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation and USSR, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, as well as WIPO, EPO and EAPO).

New additions in 2002 were databases on CD-ROM with patent documentation from Armenia (abstracts), Benelux (bibliographical data), Mexico (bibliographical data), Romania (abstracts and bibliographical data), CIS (full text) and the United States of America (full text and abstracts), as well as new thematic databases on CD-ROM with information relating to various areas of legislation and practical activities.

V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

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In 2002, work was done for the automatic downloading of bibliographical information on inventions and utility models into the publishing system, with automated production of examiners’ decisions.

Rospatent uses databases containing national patent information on CD-ROM optical disks, issued since 1994, and also databases supplied through the Internet, which include information published previously on the CD-ROMs in question.

A foreign patent collection on CD-ROM has been created for and is widely used by Rospatent experts. By the end of 2002, the Institute’s CD-ROM collection contained 87 databases, stored on 10,381 disks (CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs), with information from 28 countries and four international organizations.

External databases

In 2002, FIPD experts already had access to several tens of patent and non-patent databases for online searches. These databases included GLOBALPAT, containing patent documents from five countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America) and two international organizations (EPO and WIPO), the PAJ database, containing abstracts in English of patent applications from Japan, the ESPACE ACCESS database representing an information search system for the full-text collections ESPACE EP and ESPACE WORLD, the USPTO (USA) database, the Esp@cenet EPO database, the IPDL - PCT WIPO database, the Russian Patents database, the All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information RZH database, and also other databases on expert-related subjects.

Access for experts was granted to the remote databases of the firms Questel-Orbit (since 1997), Lexis-Nexis (since 1999), Patolis-e (since 2000), STN (since 2001), Delphion (since 2002) and the Derwent World Patent Index.

As part of the cooperation program between Rospatent and the European Patent Office (EPO), use of the workstation of the EPO EPOQUE information search system continued.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics, administrative support, etc.)

Since 1986, the FIPS automated databank has functioned within the Rospatent system based on FIPS, which is designed to regulate business correspondence relating to applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, patent fee payment accounts, and the compilation of plans and reports connected with the activities of expert departments. The FIPS automated databank also allows statistical information to be obtained on the activities of FIPS subdivisions and the features of the process for examining applications and fee accounts, as well as the production of Rospatent annual reports.

The automated databank uses the Siemens RM-600 computer, functions in the OS PIK 6.0 environment, and has more than 250 users. Fourty program series of various types are used as finished subsystems in the automated databank.

The FIPS automated databank contains information on 1,017,633 applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, as well as approximately 294,106 protected documents.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

 RM600 Server
(OM- 512MB, processors – 4, external memory – 54 GB)
VT320 monitors - 100
 RM600-E80 Server
(OM – 1GB, processors – 3, external memory – 360 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 1000 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 3.5 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 3000 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 36 MB)
 Compaq Proliant 5000 Server
(OM – 256 MB, processors – 2, external memory – 38 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 6000 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 4, external memory – 70 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 7000 Server
(OM – 256 MB, processors – 2, external memory – 27 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM – 32 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 8 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 12 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM - 64 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 9 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 1600 Server
(OM – 64 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 3 GB)

Compaq 486, 586, PMMX, PII, PIII Fujitsu-Siemens workstations – 620 units.
Switching equipment:
Equipment for lines ISDN MAX 200Plus c (8/4) WAN PCMCIA Type II/Type I;
Smart Switch 6000; 3 Com CoreBuilder 3500

Software:
SINIX, Novell, Windows95, Windows NT, Windows 2000 operating systems.

Carriers used:
DATA 4mm, DLT tape III and DLT tape IV magnetic tapes

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

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The All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) forms part of the Rospatent system as a division of FIPS and provides access to the Central Patent Collection for a wide circle of information users in Russia, and neighboring and other foreign countries.

In 2002, the overall area occupied by the Library was:

- working premises: 2,030 m2
- reading rooms and other premises for serving information users: 315 places for readers, including 17 computerized workstations: over 950 m2.
- storage facilities: about 4,800 m2.

The Library building is equipped with an alarm system and an automatic fire-fighting system.

In the VPTB an information-search system (ISS) is in operation in both the conventional and automated modes. The large volume of information received annually and the increase in the amount of documentation on CD-ROM require a high degree of automation of library and bibliographical processes, primarily the development of the “electronic catalog” system.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

The main sources in the formation of the State Patent Collection, accounting for 98 per cent of new acquisitions, are the official publications of Rospatent and patent documentation received through international exchange with patent offices in foreign countries and other information centers. The documentation received is registered, classified and grouped for storage purposes.

The collection of Library patent documentation currently contains more than 125 million copies of documents in various formats, including the foreign patent documentation collection with 95 million copies and the national patent documentation collection with more than eight million copies. The collection of patent-law, normative-methodological and information-related literature contains about 60,000 copies.

In 2002, further growth was observed in the amount of documentation acquired by the library on CD-ROM. The VPTB currently receives optical disks from 43 countries, five international organizations and the information firm Derwent. As of the end of 2002, the VPTB CD-ROM collection contained more than 34 million copies of full descriptions of inventions for applications, patents, utility models, and official and abstract publications of patent offices for all industrial property subjects. The collection increases in size by about six million documents a year.

Collection management, preservation

The Library collections are arranged along geographical-systematic-numerical lines. The conditions for storing the collections are determined primarily by the type of format:

The conditions for storing collections correspond to the different formats used:

 patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
 on microcarriers – in metal boxes in files-film libraries (microfilm) and in metal cupboards (microfiches);
 in automated cabinets;
- on CD-ROMs, in special cabinets.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

In 2002, State patent information resources were stored in the collections of the:

 Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks;
 intersectoral territorial scientific and technical information centers (STICs);
 libraries (national libraries of subjects of the Russian Federation, regional universal scientific libraries – RUSLs).

The Russian Federation has 69 STICs, 67 of which hold Russian (USSR) and foreign patent documentation up to the beginning of the 1990s. 30 STICs hold information on Russian patent documentation from 1994 to 2002 on CD-ROM. The RUSLs in the Russian Federation hold only Russian (USSR) patent documentation. A trend is observed whereby information centers in the Russian Federation supply patent collections on a machine-readable carrier.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

After re-registration, the Library’s overall readership stands at more than 10,000. In 2002, 3,700 people registered with the library and in the past year 95,400 readers visited the library, to whom around 54 million copies of patent documents were issued, including more than 42 million copies of such documents on CD-ROM.

General and specialized reading rooms operate in the Library for the comfort of readers who wish to work. These rooms provide:

 patent documentation from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region;
 patent documentation on microcarriers;
 an information-bibliography service;
 access to CD-ROM databases.

Visits to the Library and service for all categories of users are free of charge. In addition to conventional forms of service, in 2002 access for readers to databases in the VPTB was improved. One hundred and fifty one databases are currently fully installed and in use, including 138 on CD-ROM.

Service for internal users as part of the selection and distribution of information (SDI) system continued. In 2002, 24 SDI subscribers were served and received monthly information on matters relating to the legal protection of industrial property. The overall volume of bibliographical data, available to users, was 12,700 units.

In order to expand the scope of the patent-information service provided by the VPTB, a whole range of fee-paying information services are on offer including a thematic selection of patent documentation, a search for systematic indexes, a search in automated databases, a search for patent-analogs, and others representing more than 30 designated services. Services are provided directly in the Library, at the request of readers, and also to remote users of patent information.

In 2002, 748,300 pages of copies of patent documentation were made at the request of users.

Around 1,000 remote users of patent information subscribe to the VPTB.

Through the Internet (www.rupto.ru), Rospatent provides databases containing Russian patent information including descriptions of inventions and abstracts in English.

On the basis of official information concerning inventions and utility models, databases are produced in accordance with users’ special orders.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

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In 2002, the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks conducted an international exchange with patent bodies in 60 countries, six international organizations and the information firm “Derwent.”

In order to enhance the international exchange of patent documents, agreements on information exchange were drawn up and signed with the patent offices of a number of countries from Central and Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam. A Protocol on Cooperation with the Patent Office of Germany was signed.

The volumes of acquisitions of foreign descriptions are determined above all by the scales of activity of national patent offices and international organizations. Leading positions in this area are occupied by Germany, Japan and the United States of America, as well as the EPO and WIPO.

In 2002, as part of the international exchange the VPTB Division received 75,518,100 copies of foreign patent documents and sent to foreign patent offices 1,153,600 copies of national descriptions of inventions.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

The exchange of patent documentation on various types of carriers (paper, microfiches, optical disks) continued in 2002, as did the active replacement of all other types of information carriers with optical disks:

In 2002, the following were received from patent offices in foreign countries:

 767,200 copies of patent documents on paper;
 1,600 copies of patent documents on microcarriers;
 6,749,300 copies of patent documents on optical disks.

The following were sent to patent offices in foreign countries:

 34,300 copies of patent documents on paper;
 17,700 copies of patent documents on microcarriers;
 1,101,600 copies of patent documents on optical disks.

Medium allowed for filing applications

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All the databases containing official information relating to current registration have now been transferred to the MIMOSA system, while the retrospective information arrays are being transferred to DVDs.

In 2002, Internet access to the information-search system for national patent documentation was granted and included the following databases:

 full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 226,000 patents from 1994 to 2002 inclusive);
 abstract database of Russian inventions (contains information on 370,000 applications and patents from 1994 to 2002 inclusive);
 abstract database of Russian inventions in English (contains information on more than 225,000 patents from 1994 to 2002 inclusive);
 abstract database for Russian utility models (contains information on 25,000 Russian utility model certificates from 1996 to 2002 inclusive).

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries

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In 2002, as part of the implementation of agreements concluded previously with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and jointly with the WIPO Worldwide Academy, a series of events was conducted for the organization of distance learning for Russian intellectual property specialists, using the Internet, together with an experiment to train 55 specialists.

On the instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation, in 2002 training for the program “Intellectual Property: fundamental issues” was organized for employees of the State authorities, who are responsible for resolving matters relating to intellectual property. A cycle of lectures was produced and given by leading specialists in the Rospatent system. Fifty nine employees from 20 ministries and offices underwent training for the above program.

Part of the Rospatent system is the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property (RGIIS) where, in 2002, 473 undergraduates and 219 postgraduates trained. In 2002, within the RGIIS the in-house training and employee retraining system continued to operate. Fifty five people participated in vocational retraining programs and 259 people completed retraining programs.

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

In 2002, Rospatent organized the (sixth) ordinary annual scientific and practical conference on the problems of theory and practice in the protection of industrial property and certain copyright subjects in the Russian Federation. In addition, with the assistance of WIPO, the EPO, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Federal Patent Court of Germany, seven seminars on various subjects were held for competent authorities, interested organizations and business representatives.

In 2002, regional scientific and practical conferences and seminars were held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ryazan’, Kaluga, Tver’, Tula, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Ufa and the Leningrad oblast.

For the purposes of publicizing invention-related activities and devising measures for the moral stimulation of inventors, Rospatent participated in the International Inventions Exhibition (“Lenin Competition”), in the scientific and practical conferences of the Second International Exhibition on Innovations and Investment, the third International Forum on High Technologies for the Defense Complex, the Fifth International Industrial Property Exhibition “Archimedes-2002,” and the International Inventions Exhibition “Brussels-Eureka 2002.”

IX. Other relevant matters

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