Annual Technical Report 2011 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Canada (CWS/ATR/ID/2011/CA)
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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Year Residents Non-residents Total % change
2007 569 4,500 5,069
2008 664 4,618 5,282 4.20
2009 825 3,444 4,269 -19.2
2010 868 4,274 5,142 20%
2011 790 4,437 5,227 1.65
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year
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DesignPlus, the automated processing system of the Industrial Design Office, includes pending and registered information regarding Industrial Design applications and registrations. DesignPlus is the main internal tool for maintaining industrial design application and registration information. It is from this system that the electronic internet database information is supplied.
The archival of industrial design documents is available electronically in ‘DesignPlus’ as well as on paper, microfiche and CD-ROMs.
A complete database of Industrial Design registrations since inception December 1861)is available on-line since November 2007.
Databases and office automation
CIPO’s Industrial Design Office uses MS-Word 2003 as its word processing package operating in a Windows XP Professional environment.
All outputs of industrial design information are generated through a combination of MS-Word and Oracle reports produced from DesignPlus the CIPO Industrial Design Processing System (database).
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data
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Industrial design documents are classified according to the Canadian Industrial Design Classification Standard.
The Canadian Industrial Design Classification Standard is in need of updating and simplification. In 2005-2006, CIPO conducted an analysis of the Locarno Classification and a comparison study of other IPO classification standards. This initiative has put forward recommendations that CIPO could take to improve the classification process. Since 2008 CIPO’s Industrial Design Division is actively participating, with both member and observer countries, in the LOCARNO pilot working group. This Group has the mandate of proposing enhancements to the existing international industrial design classification system. The Group is working to improve searching within the classification system and to produce more effective search results.
Bibliographic data and processing
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The Canadian industrial design prior art search file comprises approximately 137,000 registered designs.
All registered designs are stored electronically in ‘DesignPlus’. Access to these registered designs is available for public search via the CIPO’s web site (Industrial Design Database).
The Industrial Design Division maintains a searchable record of registered industrial designs as follows:
On-Line Electronic search file All designs registered in the ‘DesignPlus’ system, this search file includes the application as registered (owner name/address, title, description, agent and/or representative for service in Canada), drawings, and bibliographic data (filing date, priority date, registration date, classification). Registrations are searchable by registration number, title, agent name, owner name, and by class.
Microfiche / CD-rom search file: For designs registered prior to June 2002, this search file includes microfiche and CD copies of the registration certificate, the application as registered, assignments and maintenance documents. It is maintained in numerical order by registration number.
Paper correspondence file: This search file includes a complete file document history including prosecution and correspondence. These files are maintained in numerical order by application number.
Index cards: For designs registered prior to June 2002, an alphabetical index card system arranged by owner, assignee and licensee is maintained as a means of obtaining the registration number of a particular design.
Updating
The Canadian industrial design prior art search file is updated on a daily basis.
The online searchable database available on CIPO’s website is updated weekly (every Thursday night).
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X. Other relevant matters