Annual Technical Report 2013 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Poland (CWS/ATR/TM/2013/PL)
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I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEMARK INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
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The works are still pending on implementation of the following projects:
• BackOffice - The Polish Patent Office (PPO) has completed the final stages of the parallel go-live of the Back Office project. The Back Office, developed by OHIM´s Cooperation Fund, is a workflow-based system for handling trademarks and designs throughout the whole lifecycle of the process, from application to registration and publication. It also streamlines the working process, by helping users to create and monitor correspondence with clients. Its auto completion system automatically fills in trademark and design data into letters. The tool calculates fees, holding all information on one single page, and handles files, organising notes and correspondence. The PPO team has already begun to register trademarks through the system, and has migrated many more. The Back Office was implemented thanks to huge efforts from Warsaw-based IT and IP experts, with support from OHIM in Alicante and on the ground in Poland.
• Similarity - the tool gathers and shows assessments from the participating IP offices on similarities between goods and services. In opposition and cancellation procedures the comparison of goods and services plays a crucial role in the examination procedure. Similarity is a central point where it is possible to consult the assessments of the participating offices with regards to the comparisons of goods and services.
• Cesto - The Common Examiners Support Tool providing a harmonized search of several databases to support examiners. CESTO is an automated and harmonized search tool which will perform searches for any given trademark application and in turn provides information in relation to similar trade marks from an array of participating offices (who have their trade marks in TMview), similar trademarks from the same or similar owners from the same array of offices, emblems and other heraldic devices held by WIPO, Geographical Indications at EU and national level, International Non-Proprietary Names for active pharmaceutical ingredients from WHO (MedNet), as well as any specific information provided by the participating offices (on a dashboard). Some of the most commonly used webpages containing English language and specialized dictionaries will also be included.
• TMeFilling - a system for applying trademarks electronically
The RegisterPlus software application for trademarks was further developed and enhanced in 2013.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
In 2013, the Polish Patent Office received in total 14,492 trademark applications under national procedure.
In 2013, the Patent Office received from domestic applicants:
- 276 applications for international registration of Polish trademarks under the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol to that Agreement.
- 11 applications for Community trademark, which were transmitted to the OHIM.
After completing formal examinations the Office issued 13,294 positive decisions concerning the grant of trademark protection rights under national procedure.
The number of trademark registration rights in force on 31 December 2013 was 236,331 (133,695 under national procedure and 102,636 under international procedure).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Statistics are accessed at the following URLs:
http://www.uprp.pl (Annual Reports' box)
Detailed statistics may be bespoke provided (write to http://ipu.uprp.pl/portal/web/guest/kontakt).
News page: http://www.uprp.pl/aktualnosci/Menu01,16,7,index,pl/
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
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In December 2013, IP Info Centre was created - new division within the PPO Receiving Department.
Current PPO information and support options include:
1) Via website: http://www.uprp.pl/przedmioty-wlasnosci-przemyslowej/Menu02,12,4,index,pl/ (all information about patents, trademarks, designs and instructions.)
2) via telephone: (+48 22 579 02 20, +48 22 579 01 53)
3) via e-mail: http://www.uprp.pl/Text01,205,161,1,index,pl,text/
4) in PPO (personally)
In the future the IP info project will be enlarged with two additional clients' communication options:
- live chat
- callback.
The project will provide new possibilities of customer relations in our new IP Info Center, including implementation of the contact center and CRM systems.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
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The Polish Patent Office uses the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification) 10th 2013 edition as well as International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification) 7th edition.
During the procedure, the Office's staff amends the goods and services classes
III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
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PPO provides access to trademark data in the reading room where external users can also search free of charge in online databases and databases on CD and DVD.
Information provided upon payment include:
- bibliographic data of trademark applications and registered trademarks
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
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Trademark data are stored on the specialized, regularly updated internal databases, where image information and bibliographic details are held, for example:
- Marpol – system supporting the process of granting rights of protection for trademarks;
- Marmad - system supporting the process of maintaining rights of protection for international trademarks;
- databases supporting the process of publication of trademarks.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
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Within promotion of knowledge on industrial property the Patent Office issues various publications such as guides, informational-promotional brochures addressed to wide audience, among others to entrepreneurs, students, school youth. Those publications are available free of charge both in electronic version and PDF format as well as on paper on the premises of the Office.
Publication titles are as follows: Your world of intellectual property, What is intellectual property, Trademarks, Intellectual property in information society, Industrial protection in a nutshell, Trademarks (comic book), 10 reasons to use the system of Community Trademark.
In 2013 the PPO started implementation of the project aimed at preparing and distributing a few dozen booklets on different aspects of intellectual property. The booklets were distributed as training and conference materials at different events and in the future will be posted on the Internet Educational Platform still under construction.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
The Patent Office collaborates with various institutions in the scope of promotion of knowledge on Intellectual Property (organisation of conferences, workshops, trainings, granting patronage of the PPO President over numerous initiatives etc.)
In 2013 the Office collaborated with the following entities, to name a few:
- collaboration with universities (Jagiellonian University in Krakow, University of Warsaw, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Lodz University of Technology, Kielce University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology, Krakow University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow etc.)
- collaboration with science and business related institutions, including: Polish Federation of Engineering Associations, Association of Polish Inventors and Rationalizers, Polish Union of Inventor and Rationalizer Associations, Polish Economic Chamber of Advanced Technologies, Lewiatan Confederation, Polish Patent Attorney Chamber.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
In 2013, within industrial property protection the PPO organised or participated in the following events:
- International Conference on World Intellectual Property Day "Intellectual Property in the Internet. How to use it without infringement. How to protect it without restricting" organised in Warsaw in cooperation with WIPO.
- 9th International Symposium "Intellectual Property in Innovative Economy. Launching innovations on the market: converting knowledge into profit" held in Krakow in cooperation inter alia with EPO and WIPO.
- Regional trainings on computer software protection.
- Trainings on industrial property protection for MSEs and business-related institutions.
- Specialised Seminar on intellectual property valuation.
- 32nd Seminar for Patent Attorneys of Schools of Higher Education in Cedzyna.
- Lectures and consultancy and advisory meetings within 16th Science Festival and open days of the Patent Office.
- Annual "Scientific Picnic" of the Bis Radio and Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.
- 9th Fairs of Industrial Technology, Science and Innovation "Technicon Innovations 2013" in Gdansk.
- Ceremony of prize award in the 11th edition of the competition for the best artistic poster as well as post-doctoral, doctoral, master's and student's theses on the subject of industrial property organized by the Patent Office.
In 2013 The PPO continued implementation of the project Internet Educational Platform which constitutes compendium of knowledge on intellectual property issues. The target group comprises enterprises (especially MSE) business related institutions (including schools of higher education) and other entities.
- The Knowledge Zone will include information, publications and other materials addressed both to entities with advanced knowledge on IP issues and entrepreneurs looking for basic information on IP protection, procedures and management.
- Training Zone will comprise e-learning course divided into 10 modules on intellectual property protection. Each module will end with a test to verify the acquired knowledge.
Within systemic project, in 2013 The PPO organised a series of advisory-informational meetings with renowned experts in the field of intellectual property, which gathered in total 950 guests.
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
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Community Trademark information is downloaded using the XML data which is then passed to PPO's search systems.
XML trademark files are downloaded from WIPO and are also passed to PPO's search systems.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
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VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS