Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2014 submitted by Industrial Property Office CZ
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In 2014 the average registration procedure time period was 11,6 months from the date of submitting the trademark registration application. This time period includes formal and substantive examination of the applications, technical procedure concerning the preparation for publication, three month statutory time limit for opposition and registration time. In comparison with 2013 the regisration registration procedure time has not significantly changed. On the other hand, there is a growth of decisions related to pending applications.
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Trademark information services for the public are provided within the information centre, in the public reading room, common questions can be addressed to the helpdesk (helpdesk@upv.cz) and search requests to the search section. The Office received a total of 71 trademark search requests in 2014.(Since 2014 there has been a change in the methodology of statistical records of searches). A total of 1200 serches searches (for patents, designs, trademarks) was provided for the State administrative bodies.
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Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Other activities
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
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Patent library stores the trademark bulletins collection (Czech and foreign bulletins). Information about trademarks valid in the territory of the Czech Republic is accessible via public database. The database can be consulted in the public reading room equipped with PC workstations which are available for visitors.
The Office cooperates with Regional Patent Information Centres (PATLIBs) on information product dissemination.
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The Office provides full range all IP kinds dedicated brochures, leaflets and guides free of charge. They can be downloaded in PDF format from the Office´s web site http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/information-brochures/information-brochures.html, picked up in the office headquarters or sent upon request. All the materials are distributed to visitors during fairs. The Office publishes its own books.
The Industrial Property Journal reflecting the current issues of IP rights is published six times a year.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Cooperation with Metropolitan University Prague on training in a bachelor´s programme in „Industrial Property“ and a master´s programme in „International and Regional Relations in Industrial Property“. Lectures were held at a number of innovation and technology centres.
The IPO CZ also cooperates with other universities. There are seminars and educational activities (various topics) for students and academic staff organised in Office’s premises or in university headquarters. University students are also regularly invited for excursions and guided tours in the Office’s premises.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
The Office presented its information activities and products at the following exhibitions and trade fairs:
- 56th International Engineering Fair (Brno, CZ)
- 13th International Trade Fair of Engineering Technologies FOR INDUSTRY 2014 (Prague, CZ)
- 19th International Interior and design Trade Fair TENDENCE 2014 (Prague, CZ)
- 22st International Trade Fair of Electrotechnics, Electronics, Automation, Communication, Lighting and Security Technologies AMPER 2014 (Brno, CZ)
- Innovation 2014 (Prague, CZ)
- 42st International Exhibition of Inventions (Geneva, CH)
- 66th IENA - Exhibition of Inventions and Innovations (Nürnberg, DE)
Training courses for national and foreign participants
The IPO CZ regularly organizes wide range of training courses and seminars - such as Trademarks - National and International Legal Protection, Searches in the National and Foreign Trademark Databases, IP Protection and National (CZ) and International Systems of IP Protection, Intellectual Property Protection in Business (SMEs), Technology Transfer, Enforcement of Intellectual Rights, IP Jurisdiction (administrative and judicial issues),. All the educational activities are organized for public, mainly for students, academic staff of universities, representatives of SMEs or research institutions and IP professionals.
Every year, a two-year distance learning study of industrial property rights begins within the Industrial Property Training Institute – Office’s own educational facility.
The Office cooperates with OHIM Academy on providing training and education.
Other activities
The IPO CZ continued in its activities for children and youth (elementary school pupils and secondary school students). The Office offers to them short training sessions on industrial rights, guided field trips to the Office's headquarters and an example search in patent databases, as well as courses for teachers interested in adding the topic of industrial rights to their curricula. A popular instructional leaflet about IP for children and youth has been prepared and a special section for youth is maintained on the IPO CZ website. The leaflet and comics books on the topics of patents, trademarks and copyright can be downloaded in this section. All the materials mentioned are also available for children and youth during their excursion to the IPO or during the fairs and exhibitions.
The IPO also kept on cooperating with the RVP.CZ Methodological Portal, operated by the National Institute for Education to support of teachers. The result of the cooperation is a webinar dedicated to intellectual (and industrial) property for teachers from elementary and secondary schools. Recording of the seminar is freely available on the portal RVP.CZ.
On the occasion of the 2014 Intellectual Property Day the IPO CZ organized a performance of ÚDIF alias Amazing Theatre of Physics. This very professional show in which its performers managed to combine individual physical effects with intellectual property issues was attended by 320 elementary school children.
A „Youth Section" was launched on the Office's website at the end of October 2014. It offers a new graphic design and brings information on discussions and excursions, offers quizzes for download, informational fliers and comics on the topic of patents, trademarks and copyright.
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
The Official Bulletin of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic has been published exclusively electronically since the beginning 2007. The Official Bulletin is published on a weekly basis (updated every Wednesday) instead of the monthly basis as before. The paper version has been discontinued.
Electronic version of the Official Bulletin has been available since 2000 (Czech version, English version has been available since 2007) and accessible at the Office’s web site:
http://www.upv.cz/cs/publikace/vestnik-upv.html (Czech version)
http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/ipo-bulletin.html (English version)
Various courses and seminars were organized for students and representatives of SMEs or research institutions; Groups of university students were accepted for excursions and guided tours in the Office’s premises.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
The Office continued its cooperation with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) and took part in a number of multilateral projects. The IPO CZ has been included in a group of so called harmonized participants in the TMclass – Harmonized Database of Products and Services project, The complete TMclass database for classifying products and services has been made accessible to users in the Czech language. The IPO CZ was also participating in the TMview project, which has as its goal to provide users free-of-charge access to information on trademarks valid in the European Union through a unified search interface.
Assistance to developing countries
The IPO CZ held a regular two-week training course for 5 – 6 participants.
Other activities
The Industrial Property Office continued to fulfill responsibilities resulting from the Czech Republic's membership in the European Union especially related to the area of industrial property protection. It participated in the meetings of the EU Council Working Group on Intellectual Property.
In 2014 the first results of the Convergence Program organized by OHIM were put into practice; its goal is the harmonization of decision practice in the trademark areas in the European Union. This is especially with regards to changes in the approach to the classification of goods and services for the purposes of registering trademarks from the point of view of assessing the specificity and accuracy of terms used, the active participation of National Offices in the setting-up and management of the TM Class common database of goods and services, the assessment of the scope of protection of black and white trademarks, and the assessment of relative grounds for rejecting trademark applications.