Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2014 submitted by
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
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
Guidance manuals for patent filling on paper are available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/portal/artigo/guia_basico_patentes
Information regarding on-line patent applications can be obtained at:
http://epatentes.inpi.gov.br/modulo2/edeposito/
Additionally, the Directorate of Patents offers a customer care sector to support the user with general information and orientation by phone, e-mail or face to face.
Electronic filing, which started in March 2013, represented in 2014 75% of all the patent applications filed in Brazil. The Directorate of Patents started to work on an easier, web-based platform to accept patent applications, and intends to release this platform by the end of 2015.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The dossiers of the application are now indexed and can be accessed on the internet through a patent search system (https://gru.inpi.gov.br/pePI/jsp/patentes/PatenteSearchBasico.jsp), when available in electronic format. The Directorate of Patents is making a strong effort to generate a digital version of all the information that is currently on paper.
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
The official classification system used in INPI is the IPC, available in Portuguese at http://ipc.inpi.gov.br. In parallel, since 2014, CPC classification is also being used to classify applications in some areas. On 9 December 2014 the first document with a CPC symbol was published in our magazine under INID (52).
Examiners are being trained in the CPC classification system since 2013. The training was done in parts, first a general training was held in Brazil and thereafter groups of examiners, two per area, were filed specific trained at the EPO. In total, eight areas were covered with 16 examiners trained in The Hague and Munich.
Regarding IPC projects, the INPI was Rapporteur of several projects, including definitions, maintenance and C-projects (C468, C478). We continue our engagement in the IPC-forum and IPC meetings.
The WIPO systems related to classification were used in 2014, i.e. IPCA6TRANS for translating IPC 2015 and IPCRECLASS for reclassification due the IPC 2015 new version.
INPI pre-classifies an application by allotting an administrative unit, i.e. a technical area, using automated means (neural network algorithm). All administrative units are automatically ranked for every application and the application is then routed to the first technical area ranked. If this first choice is incorrect, the application can be rerouted to another unit, usually the second one ranked.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Other activities
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)
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Nowadays the legal status of a patent can be obtained only by consulting the historic of legal events of the application. Starting in May of 2014, the Directorate of Patents started a working group to automatically provide and track in real time the legal status of all the applications and patents filed in Brazil.
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
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Other matters
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
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Cooperation with universities, research centers, 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 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
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
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.
2. Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner). Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
3. Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC). The new symbols are available on patent databases.