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The Office procedures for filing and examining applications for the grant of Russian Federation patents for industrial designs did not change in 2006.
In order to increase the effectiveness of examinations, recommendations were devised for examining industrial designs relating to objects, the particular external features of which do not allow them to be distinguished from known solutions in visual terms. Furthermore, recommendations were prepared relating to the aspects of verifying the patentability of an industrial design in which a trademark is used, for which the rights belong to another person, as well as the possibility of granting legal protection as an industrial design to separable and inseparable parts of an object.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
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Statistical information on all forms of industrial property is provided on the Office site in the About Rospatent section, Reports, Reviews, Statistics subsection:
- archive of statistical information http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/reports_archiv.htm;
- Rospatent Annual Reports, statistical information http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/reports.htm
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
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During the reporting period the following were published in Official Gazettes:
- 2,675 announcements concerning industrial design patents.
Documents providing protection were prepared and sent to rightsowners for all types of industrial and intellectual property subject matter.
CD-ROMs containing the Official Gazette were printed by a firm which specializes in publishing such products.
The paper gazette is printed on the FGU FIPS polygraphic base by polygraphic means using a Romajor-314 printing machine and a Docutech 6100 operational printing system by electrographic means.
All printing materials are transferred electronically in PDF format.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
Table 2 (attached below) shows Rospatent publications on industrial designs.
In 2006, the annual index to the Gazettes for 2005 was issued:
- For the Industrial Designs Official Gazette – one volume.
The Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with a search system and the corresponding paper Gazette are distributed by subscription. The latest Gazette is available on the Rospatent site.
Mass storage media and microforms used
Data are stored on paper, diskettes and optical disks, as well as in the form of databases or data files.
Databases and office automation
As part of the comprehensive program of modernization of the automated systems of Rospatent, in 2006 the following work was completed:
- a unified automated system was brought into operation for the prosecution of agreements (Agreements Automated System) for all forms of intellectual property subject matter;
- the Judicial Decisions Automated System was devised and introduced, constituting a system of electronic document exchange, linked to procedures for participation in court hearings and to the implementation of court decisions on different forms of intellectual property subject matter.
In 2005, the CD-ROM collection continued to be updated with disks from the Industrial Designs database containing documents providing protection from 1993 to 2006.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data
Web page addresses on the Rospatent site provide access to:
- Official Gazettes online – Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section www.fips.ru/el_bl/default.htm
- other industrial design information sources, including downloading of the main data file – in the
Information Search System section of the subsections Databases http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm;
Classifications http://www.fips.ru/russite/classificators/classificators.htm#pro;
Register of Russian Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rude.htm;
Register of Applications for Russian Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rudeap.htm
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
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In the Rospatent system the International Classification for Industrial Designs (ICID) (Locarno Classification) is used.
The eighth edition of the ICID is used in the publication of patent documents.
Rospatent helped to prepare corrections to the current edition of the ICID, which will be inserted into the ninth edition. All the changes and updates to ICID-8 adopted by the Committee of Experts are currently being translated into Russian and prepared for inclusion in both the electronic and paper versions of the ICID.
In the transition to the new edition of the ICID, the collection of industrial designs is not reclassified.
Bibliographic data and processing
Two-digit digital INID codes are used to index bibliographical data on standard forms and in the automated system.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
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The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:
- national and foreign special or general gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various types of carriers, grouped in accordance with ICID indexes or gazette issues;
- a specialized collection of a wide range of titles of industrial design publications, which comprises materials containing publications from national gazettes with a translation of the name of the industrial design into Russian and other literature. This collection is grouped according to the ICID indexes and varies in depth according to each country.
Updating
The collection is updated by means of the inclusion of current documentation on industrial designs of the Russian Federation and documentation received from foreign partners of Rospatent as part of the international exchange system, and also through the acquisition of literature by subscription from major foreign publishing houses.
Storage, including mass storage media
Storage conditions for the collections correspond to the types of information carriers used:
- patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
- on microcarriers – in metal boxes, files – film libraries (microfilms) and in metal cabinets (microfiches);
- on CD-ROMs – in special cabinets.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
The All-Union Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division receives information on industrial designs from 49 countries and three international organizations.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
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The in-house system used since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, which is used for information searches on national industrial designs during the examination of applications for such designs. The system in question contains an information file of national patents and applications, as well as graphics files with illustrations of industrial designs and an International Classification of Industrial Designs Automated Subsystem.
Rospatent uses the following databases on CD-ROM and DVD optical disks:
- the Russian Industrial Designs electronic Gazette on CD-ROM;
- a set of Russian Industrial Designs for the period 1993-2006 on DVD (contains information on approximately 25,000 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2006 inclusive);
In 2006, the Rospatent Internet site provided access to:
- an industrial designs database (contains information on 25,000 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2006 inclusive; updated – monthly);
- the ICID database.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics, administrative support, etc.)
Since 1986 an automated system for prosecuting applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs – the FGU FIPS Automated Database – has operated within Rospatent.
The system is designed to monitor the prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, account for the payment of patent fees, draw up plans and reports relating to the activities of examination divisions, prepare data for publication and obtain responses on Rospatent activities included in the Rospatent and WIPO Annual Reports.
The system guarantees the entry and registration of application materials and incoming correspondence, prepares outgoing correspondence, inputs data according to application processing procedures and monitors all processes in the life cycle of applications, beginning from application filing up to the examination decision (grant, refusal, withdrawal).
The automated database is a UniVerse relational-type database management system, functioning under the management of an OS Reliant Unix V5.45 operating system on an RM600 computer and consisting of a series of data files, dictionaries and programs.
The number of simultaneously connected system users is 300. Access to the system is provided from more than 700 workstations.
Since 1997 application documents have been scanned and downloaded into the Electronic Applications Archive. In 2005-2006, software for managing documents and tasks for users in the Electronic Applications Archive, means of preparing outgoing correspondence, and of processing incoming correspondence and creating an Electronic Applications Archive for inventions and utility models were devised. The Electronic Applications Archive system has a web interface and is closely linked to the FGU FIPS Automated Database.
At the beginning of 2007, the Applications section of the Rospatent site was expanded with information on the prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs. The aim of expanding this section of the site is to increase the openness of information from Rospatent for applicants and other external users. Interested persons may follow the prosecution of applications of interest to them and, following publication of invention applications, have access to information on published applications for Russian inventions, beginning from 1992. Access to data on the site is provided through subsequent entry in the following sections: Information Resources – Open Registers – Register of Applications.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
- Compaq DL380 server – 2 units: (OM – 2GB, processors – 2, external memory - 200GB)
- Compaq DL580 server – 1 unit: (OM – 8GB, processors – 4, external memory – 300GB)
- Compaq 586, P MMX, PII, P4, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations – 90 units
Switching equipment: SmartSWITCH 6000; 3Com CoreBuilder 3500; Cisco
- Software: SINIX, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems
- Carriers used: SDLT magnetic tapes
VI. Administration of industrial design information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
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The specialized collection of industrial designs includes:
- (artistic) design periodicals;
- advertising prospectuses and catalogs;
- thematic collections of publications from the national gazettes of a number of foreign countries;
- method-related and reference literature.
The overall volume of this collection is 1.9 million editions, including:
- national and foreign journals on designs and new types of products constitute more than 32,400 copies;
- thematic collections of publications from national gazettes of a number of foreign countries constitute more than 1,800 collections;
- a special collection of advertising prospectuses and catalogs linked to exhibitions, as well as advertising for new goods and other items, containing 45,900 copies of publications.
The collection of official industrial design publications in the Central Patent Collection is provided by various countries and covers various periods.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web).
In the FGU FIPS VPTB a special room has been equipped for work with information on industrial designs, primarily for examiners but also accessible to external users.
Access to official publications of patent offices is unlimited for all categories of users.
In 2006:
- the number of gazettes issued constituted 29,800 storage units;
- the number of thematic collections issued constituted 9,700 collections;
- the number of design journals issued constituted about 10,200 copies;
- the number of advertising prospectus and catalogs issued constituted 16,200 copies.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to industrial designs; opposition and appeal procedures related to industrial designs; etc.
- in the Industrial Property section; Industrial Designs subsection http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/design.htm
- in the About Rospatent section; Fees subsection, Regulations on fees for the patenting of inventions, utility models and industrial designs, registration of trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin, and grant of the right to use appellations of origin
http://www.fips.ru/potrf/poshl.htm
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., industrial design search service(s), industrial design databases, etc.), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
- in the Information Resources section; Services subsection
http://www.fips.ru/russite/uslugi/podp.htm
- in the About Rospatent section; FIPS Services and Tariffs subsection, tariffs for services relating to inventions, utility models and industrial designs
http://www.fips.ru/potrf/tarif01.htm
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
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Within the framework of international exchange, in 2006 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent to 51 foreign countries in 55 annual sets.
In 2006, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 178 copies on paper,<.li>
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 264 copies on paper.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
Within the framework of international exchange, in 2006 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent on optical disk to 51 countries in 55 annual sets.
In 2006, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 300 copies on optical disks and 469 copies downloaded from the Internet;
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 375 copies on optical disks and 125 copies downloaded from the Internet.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
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In 2006, three seminars, held in different regions of Russia, were devoted to trademark-registration problems:
- the Conference and Round Table as part of the Archimedes-2006 Ninth International Exhibition at Sokol’niki, devoted to current issues of theory and practice of the protection and use of intellectual property subject matter.
Representatives of the following took part in the work of the Conference and Round Table: All-Russian Society of Inventors and Rationalizers (VOIR), the Moscow Chamber of Trade and Industry, Parliamentary Center attached to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Moscow Region, Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan’, Izhevsk, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol’, Tambov, Tver’, Tula, Rostov-on-Don and other cities in the Russian Federation, together with representatives of the patent offices of Armenia, Moldova and Romania. Conference participants included patent attorneys, representatives of industry, scientific organizations and the press.
- the tenth scientific and practical conference on the situation of and prospects for the legal protection, defense and use of intellectual property subject matter, held in the premises of Rospatent and FGU FIPS.
Representatives of the following took part in the work of the Conference: international organizations (WIPO, European Patent Office (EPO), Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), the European Commission in Russia, International Scientific and Technical Center (ISTC)); patent offices of foreign countries (Finland, Japan, Moldova, People’s Republic of China, Poland, Republic of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine); Federal Patent Court of Germany; the Embassies of France, the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America; a number of State bodies (Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Parliamentary Center of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Moscow Court of Arbitration, etc.); public organizations and associations (VOIR Republican Council, the Association of Russian Patent Attorneys, Russian Association of Trademark Owners, Russian Authors’ Society etc.); Russian Academy of Sciences; higher education institutions and higher research institutions; industrial firms; administrative and managerial bodies, information centers and other organizations from a number of regions of the Russian Federation; individual foreign organizations, companies and firms. The leaders and specialists of the central authorities of Rospatent, FGU FIPS, the FGU Chamber on Patent Disputes, Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property (RGIIS) and also RGIIS students were widely represented.
- A seminar on the protection of utility models and industrial designs. Problem issues of trademark registration (the Nizhniy Novgorod Scientific Research Center);
Training courses for national and foreign participants
In 2006, two distance learning sessions were held in Russian on the WIPO Worldwide Academy Program Foundations of Intellectual Property for Russian citizens and Russian-speaking citizens of other countries, where the fundamental aspects relating to all forms of intellectual property subject matter were discussed.
In 2006, of the 1,582 registered persons, 825 successfully completed the training. In comparison with 2005, in 2006 the number of those registered for the WIPO Worldwide Academy distance-learning course increased by 276. The results of the distance learning are available on the site http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/Regions/dist_itog.htm.
IX.Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
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Main News section http://www.fips.ru/Rospatent/index.htm, News section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/news.htm
X. Other relevant matters