Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2018 submitted by Slovakia
Please fill in your items before submitting your report
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.
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEMARK INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of trademark information activities and expected time frames for their realization
In 2018, the Strategy of Activities at the Office until 2022, which includes activities in the area of patent information, was adopted. The Office intends in 2018 - 2022 to pursue the following main priorities to improve the quality of services provided and to optimize the Office's activities:
- Computerization of the Office - to continue with computerization of the Office and to incorporate the current requirements of the national e-Government, to create technical means for the main principle of e-Government “once-only principle”;
- Open data - in the framework of the Government Initiative for Open Governance, to make available data of an intangible nature, which, due to the development of the informatisation of society, currently exists mainly in the form of electronic data;
- Streamlining of activities - continuation of the modernization of the Unified Information System of the Office with regard to the legislation development, international relations and information technologies, digitization of paper files for speeding up proceedings, etc.;
- Awareness-raising - aiming at transfer of knowledge and importance of using intellectual property protection to research and practice, raising awareness of industrial property protection from elementary schools to universities;
- Improving the quality of the Office services and outputs – continuing the participation in cooperation projects with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) as well as implementation of results of these projects and using tools.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
The results of the cooperation of industrial property offices of the EU member states through the European Trade Mark and Design Network within the EUIPO Convergence Programme, aimed at harmonization of the practices and eliminating differences of national industrial property offices procedures, are agreements about a common practice. The Office applies the agreed rules within the joint announcements in its trade mark law practice.
In cooperation with the EUIPO, the IPO SR participated in the Projects CP 8 Use of a Trade Mark Different from the Registered Trade Mark and CP 9 Distinctive Character of Spatial Trade Marks Containing other Elements if Their Shape Is Not Distinction in Itself. The CP 9 Project was terminated and agreed at the Liaison Meeting in October 2019. Furthermore, the Office participates in the new Project CP 11 Common Practice - New Types of Trade Marks - an examination of formal requirements and grounds for refusal.
Over the course of the year 2018 had the Office assisted in the maintenance and updating of the electronic tools that are a result of the projects in cooperation with the EUIPO. It is mainly concerning a harmonized database of the goods and services - TM Class, on which the Office is cooperating with the EUIPO within the convergent programs. The IPO SR regularly updates and votes on the submitted proposals regarding this database.
Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
Activities in trade mark information area were focused on the maintenance of the system of making data available from the Office registers on the Internet (Webregisters II), its regular updating and modifications related to changes in legislation. Selected data in record details are linked to European and international systems (eSearch, TMview, Madrid Monitor, etc.).
During 2018, the work related to the implementation of transposition of Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2015/2436 of December 16, 2015, on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks into national legislation was on-going. In terms of legislation, Act No. 506/2009 Coll. on Trade Marks, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Trade Mark Act), which entered into force on January 14, 2019, as well as the implementing regulation thereto; i.e. Decree No. 567/2009 Coll. implementing the Act No. 506/2009 Coll. on Trade Marks, as amended by Decree No. 332/2018 Coll. has been amended. Due to the change in legislation, the Office's systems have also been modified, from the implementation of changes in electronic forms for the creation of filings, through the modification of back end systems for the administration of proceedings to the modification of the Office Webregisters. These activities were completed within the planned deadline and the systems were successfully put into operation on the effective date of the amended legislation.
Operation and availability of TMview and Designview services on a new platform were ensured. In terms of cooperation with foreign institutions, tools for ensuring data conversion according to the WIPO standards were implemented for the needs of the project Data Acquisition based on Quality at Source.
Maintenance and updating the search system for trade marks – Acsepto® containing bibliographic data and images of national, international trade marks and European Union trade marks.
The projects and activities mentioned in the item above were realised in the co-operation with the EUIPO.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
In 2018, 2,737 trade mark applications were filed with the IPO SR. This is decrease by 7.6 % compared to previous year. The number of domestic applications decreased by 4.0 % to 2,233 compared to 2017.
In 2018, 1,571 trade mark applications were filed internationally under the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol to Madrid Agreement. Compared to previous year it is an increase by 11.0 %.
Total number of nationally registered trade marks increased by 18.1 % to 2,489.
The number of domestic registered trade marks increased by 23.0 % (1962); the number of registered trade marks of foreign applicants increased by 2.9 % to 527.
By December 31, 2018, there were 47,024 valid national trade marks within the territory of the Slovak Republic.
For comparison, there is the statistics on trade mark applications and registrations of the years 2014 – 2018:
Trade mark statistics_2018.docx
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Annual Technical Reports on Trade marks:
http://www.upv.sk/?vyrocne-technicke-spravy
http://www.wipo.int/cws/en/atrs/
Annual Reports of the IPO SR:
http://www.upv.sk/?annual-reports
Trade mark-related news
Useful links
http://www.upv.sk/?dalsie-uzitocne-linky
Intellectual Property Magazine
http://www.upv.sk/?dusevne-vlastnictvo
IPO SR and IPO CZ Publications
IPO SR E-Zine
http://www.upv.sk/?e-zine-upv-sr
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK 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
Basic information for applicants related to IP subject matters applications are available on the website of the Office www.upv.sk. These are mainly application forms of particular type of industrial property right, legislation, instructions of the IPO SR and information for applicant, administrative fees, contact to expert assistance, etc. Below there are the individual areas of IP subject matters and relevant information sources with links to website of the Office, where they are available:
Trade marks http://www.upv.sk/?trademarks
What Is a Trade mark?
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?what-is-a-trademark
Information for Applicants
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?information-for-applicants
Legislation
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?legislation-in-force
Administrative Fees - Trade marks
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?administrative-fees-trademarks-1
Madrid Protocol Concerning the International Registration of Trade Marks
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?madrid-protocol-concerning-the-international-registration-of-marks
Filing Abroad
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?ochranne-znamky-prihlasovanie-do-zahranicia
Renewal of international registrations(WIPO Marks E-Renewal System)
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?madridska-dohoda-a-protokol-o-medzinarodnom-zapise-ochrannych-znamok
Madrid System Fees
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?ochranne-znamky-sadzobnik-poplatkov-madridsky-system
Trade mark Classifications
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?ochranne-znamky-systemy-triedenia
Data Extracted from Registers
https://wbr.indprop.gov.sk/WebRegistre/
Downloads
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?downloads
http://www.upv.sk/?ochranne-znamky-dokumenty-na-prevzatie
Contacts
https://www.indprop.gov.sk/?contacts
Since February 1, 2014 the Central Public Administration Portal offers a form serving the general agenda, by means of which electronic filings can be made to every public institution in the Slovak Republic, thus also the IPO SR. From the 1st quarter of 2017, the Office also made specific electronic forms for trade mark available to users during the deployment of the IPO Electronic Services Project. In 2018, there were filed 2,734 national trade mark applications, 1,471 applications (54 % of total) were filed electronically.
The Office offers for electronic filing a customer service. The helpdesk contact information is available on the website of the Office http://www.upv.sk/?uzivatelsky-servis-a-helpdesk.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The Office conducts the application file only in the paper form. An overview of items of proceedings for each application is available in Webregisters in the record detail in the Protocol tab without possibility to read individual items contents.
Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
Goods and services are classified in accordance with the actual version of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification). In the IPO SR exist an obligatory classifying system of goods and services by applicant according the said Classification. The last version of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification) is used as the code system of figurative elements of trade marks, which are classified by Office's expert.
The WIPO Standard ST.60 is used for trade mark bibliographic data coding in all relevant outcomes or records. All bibliographic data are being processed in electronic database form. The fully searchable data are updated and made available to the public daily in the Internet.
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
Classification symbols were checked by internal electronic classification system.
In accordance with the Act No.506/2009 the applicant is obliged to indicate in the application the goods and services for which the trade mark is filed, according to the International Classification (Nice Classification) accompanied with the appropriate number of this Classification. But there is no obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification.
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
In case of processing non-traditional marks, the Office accepts the spatial and colour expressions of the signs applied for, which are enclosed and further processed in the two-dimensional representation in the application. Pursuant to the amended Decree No. 567/2009 Coll. implementing Act No. 506/2009 Coll. on Trade Marks, as amended by Decree No. 332/2018 Coll. the Office also accepts new types of expressions of the signs applied for, i.e. positional, pattern, audio, motion, multimedia, holographic, etc. Depending on the type, the electronic file format JPG, MP3, MP4 can be used for each type of expression of the registered signs.
Other activities
Information Centre
http://www.upv.sk/?information-centre
The Information Centre provided the clients of the Office with general information on IP protection for individual subject matters, on filing applications and related administration fees. Within the consultations also information on IP protection in the Slovak Republic and also abroad were provided (European union trade mark, international trade mark).
The information were provided personally, by phone (+421 48 4300 131), by post and e-mail address infocentrum@indprop.gov.sk.
In 2018 the Information Centre dealt with 5,551 requests for information; 4,059 thereof were provided by phone, 1,312 by e-mail, 171 personally and 9 by post.
Pre-diagnostics of industrial property rights
http://www.upv.sk/?prediagnostika-priemyselnych-prav
To increase the IP awareness, to support innovations, creativity and competitiveness of small and middle-sized enterprises is a primary goal of the IP pre-diagnostics, which have been provided by the IPO SR experts since 2008.
The IP rights pre-diagnostics was performed by three Department employees. In 2018, 32 pre-diagnostics were performed.
As in previous years, the IPO SR promoted the protection of traditional craft and food products by a geographical indication for a product, e.g. in Pukanec (Pukanec ceramics), in Čičmany (embroidery, traditional meal – chopped Čičmany gnocchi), Gápel pie in Valaská Belá and Muráň buns in Muráň village.
In cooperation with the Slovak Design Center, the Office promoted the importance of interesting design works protection. Consultations were provided to the winners of the individual categories of the National Design Award, namely SILBERMAN, spol. r. o., ski manufacturer, and authors who focused within the Crafting plastics! Studio on bioplastics research and their integration into everyday life products, in this case spectacles.
Naturally, the focus continued to be on innovative companies – Konštrukta Tire Tech, corp., Trenčín, Aweron, ltd., Dubnica nad Váhom, Alumined Industries, ltd., Sabinov, which appeared on the market with a new one-piece aluminum roof box, Hern, ltd., Námestovo, Grizzly, ltd., Šaľa, New Green Company, associaton.
In cooperation with partner organisations, in particular the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Office provided consultations to companies and entrepreneurs who took part in the Open Day with joint consultations. Among such small and medium-sized enterprises, there were e.g. slovVellness, ltd., Košice, and TU Zvolen.
III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
Publication of trade marks
The Office publishes announcements relating to published trade mark applications and registered/ renewed trade marks in the Official Gazette.
The following numbers of registered trade mark and trade mark application publications were announced in the Official Gazette in 2018:
2,491 published trade mark applications
2,238 registered trade marks without change after publishing an application
90 registered trade marks with change after publishing an application
2,374 renewed trade marks
Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR“ http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky
Trade mark information forms part of the Official Gazette - “Vestník ÚPV SR”, covering all industrial property rights in one publication.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
A free official edition of the IPO SR Gazette is available through the Office website as of January 2016 http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky. It is issued monthly. Older official editions of the Gazette published in the years 1993 – 2007 are published in printed form. In the years 2008 – 2015 the Gazette was published on CD-ROM in PDF format.
The Gazette contains trade mark announcements arranged in following main chapters:
- published trade mark applications (list of published trade mark applications and their bibliographic data including the list of goods and services arranged according to the application numbers)
- registered trade marks without change after publishing an application (list of registered trade marks without change after publishing an application in comparison to applied sign and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)
- registered trade marks with change after publishing an application (list of registered trade marks with change after publishing an application in comparison to applied sign and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)
- registered trade marks based on trade mark applications resulting from the conversion of the international registration to national application in accordance with the Article 9quinquis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement (list and bibliographic data of these registered trade marks arranged according to the registration number)
- renewed registrations of trade mark (list of renewed registrations of trade mark and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)
- termination of the proceedings on trade mark applications
- refused trade mark applications
- terminated trade mark
- international registrations of trade marks
- bibliographic data of registered trade marks replaced by an international registration according to the article 4 bis of the Madrid Agreement and article 4 bis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (arranged according to the international registration numbers)
- changes of the trade mark proprietor (on the basis of the court decision)
- trade marks declared invalid
- trade marks revoked and declared invalid for certain goods and services
- assignments of rights and other changes of owners
- partial assignments
- changes of rights of disposal to trade marks (lien)
- changes of rights of disposal to trade marks (termination of lien)
- registration of licensing contracts in respect of trade marks
- termination of licensing contracts
- registration of sublicensing contracts in respect of trade marks
- termination of sublicensing contracts
- changes of data concerning trade mark owners/ applicants
- changes in the list of goods and services
- changes of wording or reproductions of trade mark
- changes in the representation of the trade mark
- corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
- IPO SR Official Gazette http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky
- Extracted data from register https://wbr.indprop.gov.sk/webregistre/
- Internal database system „INVENTIO“ for managing the industrial property subjects
- Freely accessible foreign databases http://www.upv.sk/?zahranicne-online-databazy#znamky
External databases
Internet databases in particular:
- Registered trade marks database of the IPO CZ, coverage: CZ
-WIPO Gazette of International Marks, coverage: worldwide
-WIPO International Trade mark Information Database Madrid Monitor, coverage: worldwide
-European Union Trade marks Database EUIPO accessible via e-search at the EUIPO portal, coverage: EUTM applications
-National database USPTO, coverage US
-National database IPO UK, coverage GB
- Research system TMview, coverage: EUIPO, WIPO and national databases of certain EU countries and also outside EU (coverage changes by the access of other countries)
-System on searching and classification of goods and services TMclass
-WIPO Global Brand Database - link: http://www.wipo.int/reference/en/branddb/, coverage: worldwide
See also foreign collections of gazettes, optical discs and databases as parts of the examination file mentioned in the Chapter 4.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
ON-LINE DATABASES
http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers
IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its web site.
Freely accessible national databases are:
- "Data extracted from Registers" https://wbr.indprop.gov.sk/webregistre/ also called "Webregisters" give public access to data extracted from trade mark register, which are kept by the Office with the possibility of simple and advanced search or browsing results. Data concerning in particular pending trade mark applications, all filed applications or registered trade marks in the register are daily updated.
- “Classification Systems” http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia contains trade mark classifications used in Slovakia, links to other classifications systems for classifying trade marks used in the world and other useful information http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia-ochranne-znamky
- Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" may be viewed on the address http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette - each issue is available as a one PDF file containing the whole issue. In the archive on this webpage are available the previous volumes also in PDF format. The older volumes are gradually being added.
In the part ”International and EU databases” there are links to the most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/?zahranicne-online-databazy#znamky.
Products and services
URL addresses providing basic information concerning the information services offered and information products issued by the Office and other relevant information relating to their accession and utilization:
- IPO SR Official Gazette http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette
- magazine “Intellectual Property” http://www.upv.sk/?dusevne-vlastnictvo
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products
- IPO SR and IPO CZ publications http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products
- IPO SR E-zine http://www.upv.sk/?e-zine-upv-sr
- on-line order forms http://www.upv.sk/?online-orders
- price list http://www.upv.sk/swift_data/source/pdf/Cennik.pdf
- data extracted from register https://wbr.indprop.gov.sk/webregistre/
- IPO SR reading room http://www.upv.sk/?other-services
- searches http://www.upv.sk/?searches
- search system TMview http://tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html?language=sk
- Information centre http://www.upv.sk/?information-centre
- Contacts http://www.upv.sk/?contacts
The Office library provides following services to the public:
- providing general information and professional consulting assistance for the public
- lending service (Official Gazettes, special monographs and reference literature) in the reading room
- sale of special monographs and periodical publications (“Intellectual Property” printed and electronic form) upon request or on the place
- reprographic services upon request or on the place
- on-line searches in Office’s search system, self-service during a personal visit
- searches in International Trade marks Database Madrid Monitor, in European trade mark databases CTM-online and TMview
- searches upon request - orders in written and on-line form
- registry information provided in the reading room
Trade mark and related information on the World Wide Web:
- general information
- information about Office activities (seminars, training courses, etc.)
- application guide and forms
- administrative fees
- relevant laws
- Annual Reports
- extracted data from register
- Official Gazette
- order forms (searches, Official Gazette, special literature)
- Nice Classification (11-2018)
- Vienna Classification (8-th edition)
- trade mark classifications and related information
- annual technical reports on trade mark information (2002-2018)
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Information on the legal status is in the internal register of trade marks. The Office provides information on the request in the form of an extract from the Register. In addition, data of this type are also published in the IPO SR database on the internet https://wbr.indprop.gov.sk/webregistre/ but have only informative character and do not substitute the extract from the Register; similar to the system TMview where the data are mentioned by the EUIPO based on the information from the IPO SR within the common project.
Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In the 1st quarter of 2017, the Office terminated the IPO Electronic Services project and deployed the solution in full operation. The result of the project is the Unified Information System of the IPO SR, which integrates the following systems operated by the Office: Inventio, Fabasoft, Webregisters and Electronic Forms Module.
The Inventio system is used to manage the data related to the process of proceeding on individual industrial property subject matters, i.e. central management of registers of individual industrial rights subject matters in electronic form. It is a specific system developed by the Office with an external contractor exclusively for the needs of the Office. The system includes export and import mechanisms for exchanging and updating certain data, in particular with international institutions such as the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). Exports and imports are based on international WIPO standards.
Fabasoft is a certified system (certificate of Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic on compliance with the standards for electronic information systems for the administration of the registry defined in the Act No. 525/2011 Coll.) for electronic processing and keeping of files, records, documents and work procedures. The Document Management System (DMS) and some of the data required for Webregisters publishing have been moved to Fabasoft from Inventio. The Fabasoft system is also a central system integrated into some common modules of the Central Public Administration Portal (electronic mailbox module, authentication module, payment module, central electronic mailbox module, electronic delivery module and process integration and data integration module) to declared reference registers within the Slovak Republic (Register of Legal Entities, Entrepreneurs and Public Authorities; Natural Persons Register; Register of Addresses) and also with other systems of the Office such as the Electronic Forms Module and Webregisters.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
LAN sieť je vybudovaná na technológii Cisco, Fast ETHERNET 1000/100/10 Mbit/s,
2012 R2 Server; MS SQL Server 2012; Zotac Zbox.
CENTOS 7
Citrix XenApp 7.1906
SAN HP MSA P2000, G3, EMC VNX 5100
HP MSL LT04 4048, MSL LZ05 2024
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.09.05
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
The online trade mark database kept by the Industrial Property Office serves for national trade marks searches and purposes of proceedings on trade mark applications. Selected register data are available to the public in the Internet http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers.
International trade marks searches were performed in the Madrid Monitor Internet database and in the Office management system “INVENTIO” for administration of international trade marks with designation for SK.
In the beginning of 2006, the Office implemented a new search system Acseptoâ. It enables performing the professional trade mark searches for designations of products and services in databases of national, international and European trade marks as well as in other selected trade mark databases.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
The Office builds, keeps and completes regularly the examination file containing national trade mark applications and national registered trade marks, international trade marks with designation of the Slovak Republic under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol and trade marks conversed from European Union Trade marks applications or European Union Trade marks via the internal system Inventio. Selected data are available to public in webregisters and are being updated daily.
It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for the trade marks.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file: Trade mark gazettes form also part of the available search files of the Office. In 2018, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR continued in receiving trade mark gazettes from the following states: Bulgaria and Kyrgyzstan.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Official automated system for managing the industrial property subjects “INVENTIO II”contains registers of national and international trade marks (data since 1990 - national trade marks and data since 1947 - international trade marks).
Administrative management system is based on Lotus Domino and Fabasoft eGov Suite. In January 2017, the Fabasoft specialised registry system was put into operation.
Other matters
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
In 2018, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 102 users. In total there were provided 104 borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 1,380 copies of patent documents and other industrial property documents for the manual and computer search purposes, as well as copies from technical periodicals and other associated and non-patent literature were made. In 2018 there were performed 322 trade mark searches, 3 searches on bibliographic data and 754 EUTM searches were performed for the EUIPO.
The Office’s reading room serves as a WIPO deposit library as well. The deposit library fund includes 300 volumes of publications issued by WIPO, which are available for study in reading room.
The Office’s reading room including the search workstation opens daily from 9:00 to 15:00.
In 2018, within the frame of mutual exchange of industrial-property information, the IPO SR continued in receiving of trade mark information in the form of official gazettes. Non-patent literature was acquired mostly by purchase or as a gift and processed, stored according to librarian rules and made available via in-house database system “Knižnica” to the staff.
Patent Information Centres and Contact and Information Points
Since 2003 the Office has cooperated with Contact and Information Points, while some of them are also the Patent Information Centres (PATLIB). They are located in state, regional and district libraries as well as in the Slovak National Library (SNK) in Martin and Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI) in Bratislava and within the University of Žilina as the Centre for Technology Transfer. Nowadays 11 Contact and Information Points are located in Slovakia and 5 of them are Patent Information Centres. A list of centres and points is available on the Office’s web site http://www.upv.sk/?partners.
The main goal of patent information centres is to provide complex information services in the field of patent, trade mark and industrial design information, search services, consultation and methodical assistance concerning the searching of information, making copies of required patent documents, printing records from electronic form etc. Every patent information centre serve as a contact and information point.
The main goal of contact and information points of the Office is to inform the public about where can apply for protection of the results of creative activity, and particularly to inform the general public about the existence of the national institution, which protects immaterial goods, industrial property.
The Office supported the activity of centres and contact and information points by regular sending Slovak patent specifications in paper form and the Official Gazette in electronic form, as well as all information materials and recourses made available to the public, publications published by Office, information pamphlets, documents and forms relating to applying for protection of industrial property rights, access to office¢s databases via Internet etc.
Information and Advisory Points for Innovations (InnoInfo)
The role of fourteen INNOINFOs located in the Slovak regions is to raise awareness on IP protection among SMEs. INNOINFO are placed in business incubators (Incubator Malacky and BIC Bratislava, spol. s r. o.), regional information and advisory centres – RPIC Komárno, Poprad, Prešov, Regional Development Agency Kysuce in Čadca and regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at technical universities– Technical University of Košice, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and University Science Park, University in Žilina. Currently five regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry – Bratislava, Trenčín, Banská Bystrica, Košice and Prešov are partners of the Office as the ”innoinfo”.
Within the first half of 2018 the cooperation with the Patent Information Centres (PATLIB) and Information and Advisory Points for Innovations (innoinfo) continued based on the cooperation agreements.
The Office approached almost all partner organisations and preliminarily agreed another form of cooperation. On April 5, 2018, the training focused on performing search services was prepared for contact persons and attended by nine participants.
In the second half of the year, an open day was organised in the Banská Bystrica and Košice Regional Chambers of the SCCI, where the Office provided to the members of regional chambers consultations on the appropriate IP protection for their latest solutions. Within the seminar, the Office provided a survey of the system of IP protection, especially the possibilities of protection of technical solutions to the PhD students of the Technical University Košice. On September 29, 2018 the seminar focused on the company IP protection was held in the premises of the Bratislava Regional Chamber of SCCI, while representatives of the IPO SR informed mainly on trade marks, their characteristics, the amendment of Trade Mark Act and on new types of trade marks.
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The Office publishes classifications, miscellanies, expert monographs, acts and related commentaries, promotional and information brochures, leaflets or translations of the WIPO and the EPO original publications providing valuable information on industrial property field to public.
Publication activities of the Office during 2018 include:
- Annual Report of the Industrial Property Office of SR 2017;
- The magazine Duševné Vlastníctvo - currently is the only Slovak periodical focused on the issue of industrial rights and copyright. In 2018, the Office issued four issues of the magazine in electronic and printed form.
For more information please see the list of publications issued by the Office http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie
WEBSITE OF THE OFFICE – www.upv.sk
The website of the Office www.upv.sk is a complex source of information for public. In addition, it has been becoming the effective means of communication. It allows the public to access quickly to information and databases related to IP. Both Slovak and English versions provide information about upcoming conferences, seminars and other events.
The Office regularly publishes selected data from Registers in its Webregisters. Databases contain selected data from IP subject matters Registers kept by the Office and are updated daily. Details of the records provide bibliographic data, data on the state of applications and legal status, full texts of published patent documents in PDF format, trade mark and designs representations and sequence items.
PORTALS www.patentovat.sk and FACEBOOK
The Office also uses the portal www.patentovat.sk, linked to the social network Facebook to raise public awareness of the IP importance and protection. The Facebook page named The Industrial Property Office of SR – patentovat.sk is updated daily. The number of visitors, fans of the Facebook page increased by 70, at the end of 2018 this number reached nearly 480.
PORTAL http://www.dusevnevlastnictvo.gov.sk/
The IPO SR cooperates with the Ministry of Culture of SR in keeping the portal http://www.dusevnevlastnictvo.gov.sk. This information portal is a digital platform to give a basic overview, orientation and information resources across all IP subject matters. It contains information on copyright and rights related to copyright, IP rights, the law against unfair competition, it also includes information on the legal regulation of trade names, trade secrets and know-how.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Recently the IPO SR recorded increased interest in the lectures on the IP protection by both secondary schools and universities, as well as by the business community and professionals. The Office also in 2018 continued in educational activities on IP protection importance for elementary and secondary schools pupils and also for academics and business community. 9 lectures were held for elementary schools, 15 for secondary schools and 6 for universities. Most of the lectures, particularly for elementary and secondary schools, included the Office excursion and Scientific Toy. 12 lectures were held for entrepreneurs.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
The Slovak Chamber of Patent Attorneys in cooperation with the Industrial Property Office of SR organised a seminar IP Protection XIV, which took place at the hotel SOREA TRIGAN in Štrbské Pleso. On the first day, the lectures were presented by the IPO SR representatives focusing on trade marks: The Amendment to the Trade Marks Act and the Decree, Opposition Proceedings after the Amendment to the Trade Marks Act, Proceedings on EU Trade Mark Application vs. Proceedings on Trade Mark Application at the IPO SR. At the end of the day, Mark Gardonyi (VPI) presented the Visegrad Patent Institute.
The Seminar WIPO Services and Initiatives organised by the Industrial Property Office of SR in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took place in Bratislava on October 15, 2018. The Seminar was intended for the general public interested in the development of global services provided by this international Organization.
The Seminar organised by the European Patent Academy working at the European Patent Office (EPO) in cooperation with the Industrial Property Office of SR, aimed at the effective dialogue between patent experts and patent attorneys or applicants, took place in Bratislava on October 16-18, 2018.
PROMOTIONAL EVENTS
The IPO SR tries to get closer to public via several popularisation activities. The most important events are those organised on the occasion of the World IP Day, Researchers´ Night, various exhibitions in the IPO SR premises or educational programme Intellectual Property.
World IP day V
On the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day the Office has prepared several activities. On Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in cooperation with the Financial Directorate of SR and the civic association Scientific Toy, the Office prepared a lecture series with creative workshops for pupils and students. The main themes were creativity and counterfeiting. The accompanying program consisted of an exhibition of counterfeit goods secured by customs authorities and a creative workshop - making scientific toys (C.A. Scientific Toy). On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, the traditional Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia XVIII, which focused on trade marks this year, followed. On Thursday, April 26, the Office's activities culminated in a seminar prepared by the Office in cooperation with the EUIPO – EUIPO Boards of Appeal.
On September 28, 2018, the Office joined the twelfth year of the Science Festival in Slovakia – European Researchers' Night 2018. The IPO SR employees participated in the project in Banská Bystrica and Košice, where they provided information on the IP protection to both laic and professional public. Quizzes about inventions and inventors were prepared for children.
For the first time the Office in cooperation with the Banská Bystrica Information Centre prepared for the public the Town Wandering, regularly organised by the Banská Bystrica Information Centre and this year it focused on the Industrial Property Office of SR and its activities. The actions had more than 60 participants.
The IPO SR representatives participated at five the international fairs in Nitra and Bratislava (Furniture and Living, Danubius Gastro Exposhop Gastropack, CONECO, the International Engineering Fair and Agrokomplex in Nitra), where they promoted the Office's activities.
An Exhibition of works by Július Ciglan Colours and Curves of Poľana was made available in the premises of the Industrial Property Office of SR. The author emphasised the depiction of the colour of the extinct Poľana volcano in its various times and seasons. In April this Exposition was replaced by the Exhibition of paintings ATELIÉR 3G – Art Inspirations. In the end of the year, the premises of the Office were relieved by the presentation of the hand-painted screens by the author, Ing. arch. Ingrid Krajčovičová from graphic studio INAK Banská Bystrica.
Last year the Office repeatedly participated in the competition National Design Prize 2018 - Communication Design, organised by the Slovak Design Centre with the Ministry of Culture of SR.
Education Programme Intellectual Property
IPO SR provides the education programme Intellectual Property accredited by the decision of the Ministry of Education of the SR of April 30, 2014 and the accreditation certificate No. 1308/2014/44/1.
In the first half of 2018 the Program Intellectual Property continued with the Module D – Industrial Property Law. In May 2018, the final exams were held in Module D, which was successfully completed by 22 participants. Since September the Program continues by the Module A - Intellectual Property and Copyright Basics. 21 participants successfully passed the exam. From December 2018 the program Intellectual Property continued with the Module B – Creativity – its Management, Marketing and Economics. Eight participants successfully defended their final work.
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
In 2018, the tools implemented through the European Cooperation Projects (ECP) of the EUIPO continued to be actively used and were available not only to national experts but also to the public. These include tools in application CESTO (Common Support Tool for Examiners), Quality (Centralising Information on IP Office Quality Standards), Seniority and Similarity (IP Office Assessments of Similarity between Goods and Services), also TMview and (Trade Mark Search Tool) and TMClass (Trade Mark Classification Tool) portals.
Since 2014, the Office's Information Centre experts have been using the results of the Common Central Database project, which was implemented in the EUIPO to build up the so-called Knowledge Database. It means that questions about EUTM or RCD or related questions are transferred by the Office´s experts to EUIPO experts to harmonise answers about EUTM or RCD.
EUTM searches
According to the Council Regulation No. 2424/2015 on the Community trade mark the Office carries out the searches on EU trade marks. The number of requests under the system applicable to applications for the EU trade marks has been stabilized at an average of 15 trade marks per week and 754 searches were processed in year 2018.
Similarly as in case of the services provided to the public the search system Acsepto® has been used also for EUTM searches. It enables making searches of word, picture and combined trade marks within all designations applied for or protected in the territory of the Slovak Republic.
Project TMview
In 2018 the Office made Slovak trade marks available periodically in the search system TMview http://tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html. It is a database of trade marks of the EU member states aimed at searching and informative searches on interchangeability with references and links to national databases in languages of all participated countries and with the system TMclass for the assistance in classification of goods and services.
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities