Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2017 submitted by UK Intellectual Property Office
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
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Applications for national UK patents remained fairly static between 2016 and 2017, with 22,068 applications in 2016 and 22,072 in 2017. Of these, applications from UK residents decreased from 63% of applications in 2016 to 60% in 2017. The number of Patents granted increased from 5602 in 2016 to 6311 in 2017 (+13%).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Our website www.ipo.gov.uk moved in October 2014 to a new Government website GOV.UK and the new web address is now:
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https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-find-publication.htm
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT 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
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The IPO is an active participant in the work of the IPC Union Committee of Experts and the IPC revision working group, and meets regularly with other participating offices at WIPO to discuss ongoing revision of the IPC.
III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
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Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
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Other matters
Nothing to report.
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION
Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
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All marketing and PR is carried out within the External Communications team and we are achieving great coverage particularly on our social networking platforms. We have recently launched an Instagram account with a focus on cultivating a following and specifically targeting entrepreneurs and designers: instagram.com/ipforbusiness
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION
International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
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Assistance to developing countries
Nothing further to report.
Other activities
Nothing to report.
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
Nothing to report.
1. Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.Anchor f1 f1
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