Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2015 submitted by STATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SERVICE OF UKRAINE
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
The main documents that determined directions for the development of industrial design information activities in 2015 are the annual plans of activities of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine (SIPS) and the State Enterprise "Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute" (Ukrpatent) taking into account the Priorities of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine for 2015-2017. The plans contain strategic directions "Patent information support in the sphere of intellectual property and provision of wide public with access to the information related to intellectual property rights acquisition" and "Implementation of modern information technology" which in particular include:
- comprehensive development of the main directions of information support in the sphere of intellectual property;
- introduction of new editions of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) translated into Ukrainian, creation of information and reference systems that are in free access to the public through the SIPS and Ukrpatent web-resources;
- implementation of series of actions aimed at ensuring the continued acquisition of patent information resources of Ukraine with the national patent documentation on electronic carriers;
- elaboration and implementation of series of actions aimed at development of the digital patent library;
- participation in the activities on unification and harmonization of the patent documentation of Ukraine with taking into account the world experience and in accordance with the international standards of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current legislation of Ukraine;
Besides, development of industrial design information activities is stipulated by the Concept of the development of information and technical support of the main activities of Ukrpatent for the years 2013-2015 and by project schedules on expansion of the Industrial Designs Automated System (IDAS).
The mentioned documents envisaged implementation of the following tasks for 2015:
- development of the special software for the technological IDAS for automatic preparation of statistic reports for WIPO;
- integration of the IDAS with the general Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) for inter-system transport of documents;
- creation of the key certification center at the premises of Ukrpatent for provision of electronic digital signature for documents in the IDAS;
- increasing productiveness, functionality and security of the IDAS operation by means of putting into operation of the modern computer and communication equipment, operational systems and the database management system (DBMS).
All the mentioned tasks were completed over the course of 2015.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In 2015, development of specialized software in the environment of the IDAS was completed for the automatic generation of statistical reports to WIPO and on requests of state authorities. Sub-databases, statistic data collection and upload procedures, classifiers and server procedures of the classifiers updates were created within this task. Program modules for user interface for statistic reports composition and review, convenience and service functions of software tools for automatic composition of reports were also developed.
Specialized software is designed for use in the following processes:
- preparation of statistical reports for WIPO;
- composition of statistical data on requests of state authorities;
- formation of statistical indicators on the status of industrial property rights (IPRs) examination (industrial designs).
Specific software implementation provides for the automation of work process of the IP Economics and Statistics Unit as well as the Division for Examination of Applications for Industrial Designs.
The software is put into commercial operation.
Development of the first stage of the general EDMS (within the internal document flow) was completed and put into operation at the end of 2015. All workstations of employees were connected, directories of Ukrpatent divisions and employees as well as user accounts were formed, images of personal signatures were collected and uploaded into the database. The intersystem integration is performed to ensure documents transfer from the general EDMS to the technological automated systems.
The works on creation and implementation of series of actions aimed at the development of the Digital Patent Library (DPL) were continued in the state system of intellectual property legal protection within the subcomponent "Improvement of the Digital Patent Library" of the EU-funded TWINNING project "Strengthening the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Ukraine" which was launched in April 2014. Therefore, separate directions of work were devoted to the optimization of functioning of the DPL as a part of the project, by the results of which the experts of the project provided a number of corresponding recommendations.
The DPL is available on the Internet at http://iii.ua/uk/cifrova-patentna-biblioteca.
Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
The main types of industrial design information activities include examination of industrial design applications, formation of search databases for internal use in the examination body, publication of information about registered industrial designs in the official bulletin, creation of the interactive databases and information and reference systems for information support of the wide range of users via the Internet. Publication of information on industrial designs is also performed on optical carriers.
Processing of industrial design applications is carried out by means of the IDAS which has full functionality of the text processing and record keeping at all stages, from filing of an application to completing the examination and maintenance of the state register of patents of Ukraine for industrial designs.
An automated workplace of the Editorial Department is used for formation of the information arrays which are included to the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" (Industrial Property).
In 2015, the following activities were implemented in the direction of the IT-infrastructure development towards productivization, controllability, functionality level and security of the information and computer system operation at Ukrpatent.
In particular, in the second half of 2015 modern computer and communication equipment was put into operation which provided for:
- additional volume of the primary HP 3PAR StoreServ 7200 disc storage to maintain a constant growth of databases;
- high-speed storage of information using HP MSA 2040 SAN;
- organizing of fault-tolerant network storage SAN with two independent factories on the basis of the HP SN3000B and HP SAN switch 8/24;
- additional protection and improvement of reliability of the power supply of critical systems built on clustered systems and data warehouses.
Testing of software from the System Center 2012R2 product family has been completed and put into operation – the Configuration Manager which enables central operating systems and software installation, establishing security policies, implementing technical inventory of computers and software, as well as monitoring the status of computers (workstations).
Standard software was put into operation that provided:
- upgrade of server operating systems to Windows Server 2012R2;
- upgrade of the database management system (DBMS) to Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise 2014 and achievement of a new level of functionality, in particular, the ability to break up large databases into separate parts to increase the capacity and safety of operation and reducing the time of the backup;
- using of the System Center Configuration Manager – IT infrastructure managing product based on Microsoft.
A unified mechanism for automatic registration of incoming documents regardless of the way of their receipt (on paper, by email to the official address of Ukrpatent (office@ukrpatent.org), by Fax or other telecommunication networks) was implemented at Ukrpatent in 2015.
A full cycle of works on creation of the Key Certification Center (KCC) was completed at the premises of Ukrpatent. The certificate of accreditation of the KCC was received. Operation of the own accredited KCC provides electronic digital signature services in the full scope to the employees of Ukrpatent, as well as other physical and legal persons who file applications for IPRs through the electronic filing system.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Applications filed:
in 2014 – 2,664, in 2015 – 2,080 i.e. 21.92 % less than in the previous year.
Patents granted:
in 2014 – 2,464, in 2015 – 2,521 i.e. 2.31 % increase with respect to the previous year.
Distribution of the registrations on industrial designs in 2015 according to the following classes of the Locarno Classification:
Class 9 "Packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods" 389 (15.4 %);
Class 12 "Means of transport or hoisting" 377 (15.0 %);
Class 19 "Stationery and office equipment, artists’ and teaching materials" 345 (13.7 %);
Class 32 "Graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns, ornamentation" 213 (8.5 %);
Class 15 "Machines, not elsewhere specified" 159 (6.3 %);
Class 23 "Fluid distribution equipment, sanitary, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, solid fuel" 123 (4.9 %);
Class 5 "Textile piecegoods, artificial and natural sheet material" 118 (4.7 %);
Class 8 "Tools and hardware" 111 (4.4 %).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Annual Reports, statistical information, the Annual Technical Reports of the Office:
http://sips.gov.ua/ua/plans_reports.html
http://sips.gov.ua/en/plans_reports.html
News of the Office on the issues related to the industrial designs:
http://ukrpatent.org/en/indexhtml
Information on patent legislation related to the industrial designs
http://sips.gov.ua/ua/normative_acts.html
http://sips.gov.ua/en/normative_acts.html
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 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
Information for users on different procedures and sources of information on industrial designs, in particular information on legislation in the sphere of industrial designs, services and Office activities related to the information on industrial designs, statistical information etc. is published on the web-portal of SIPS (http://sips.gov.ua) and the web-site of Ukrpatent (http://ukrpatent.org).
Information on patent-information services, including paid services which are provided by Ukrpatent and its Innovations Department is published at the Ukrpatent and department's (http://iii.ua) web-sites.
Information for applicants on filing applications is available at the web-site of Ukrpatent (http://ukrpatent.org).
Information and means for filing electronic applications for industrial designs (within the test operation of the online system) are posted in special section at the web-page for electronic filing of applications (http://efiling.ukrpatent.org).
Access to online publications containing information on industrial designs is provided through the web-portal of SIPS (http://sips.gov.ua/ua/info_resurses.html) and the web-site of Ukrpatent (http://ukrpatent.org/ua/bases.html).
In 2015 external users had an opportunity to take advantage of the software product "Applicant Off-line Module" which helps applicants by means of automatization of the secondary documents creation process.
It can be downloaded for free from the web-site of Ukrpatent at http://base.ukrpatent.org/off-line/.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
All application materials for industrial designs filed on paper are turned into electronic form by scanning at the database forming unit. Applications and specific documents (regardless of the way they are filed – on paper or electronically) are registered by means of the unified registrar. After registration all the documents in electronic form are entered to "electronic application dossiers" stored in the central electronic archive of documents.
Further, all the procedures within the pendency of an application are carried out with electronic documents.
Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
The International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), Tenth Edition, translated into Ukrainian was used for classifying industrial designs.
Within the IDAS there operates a software system for checking classification symbols. It includes classification guides and specialized software for checking the allotted classification symbols and performing reclassification.
For information support of the wide range of users the IRS "International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification). Tenth Edition" was posted on the official web-portal of SIPS and the web-site of Ukrpatent and accessible free of charge.
Other activities
III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
Information of the Office on industrial designs is provided in the following publications (official editions, patent information products on optical carriers, free electronic databases (DB) and information and reference systems (IRS)):
The Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" (Industrial Property) – printed periodical edition;
The analogue of the printed edition – the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" on CD-ROM with search system;
DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" (http://base.ukrpatent.org/searchBul/);
Interactive DB "Industrial Designs Registered in Ukraine" (http://base.ukrpatent.org/searchBUL/search.php?dbname=certpp);
IRS "Industrial Design Applications Prosecution State";
(http://base.ukrpatent.org/searchPPStat);
IRS "Information on Patents of Ukraine for Industrial Designs to be Invalid or Expired" (http://base.ukrpatent.org/searchPPRevoke/);
IRS "International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification). Tenth Edition" (effective from January 1, 2014) (http://base.ukrpatent.org/locarno10/);
IRS "International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification). Ninth Edition" (not effective, for information purposes only) (http://base.ukrpatent.org/locarno9/).
Information concerning industrial designs is published in Book 2 of the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" in the following sections: "Information on the Grant of Patents of Ukraine for Industrial Designs" (contains bibliographic data and images (set of images) of the industrial designs (variants) in black-and-white), in the Indexes to this section and in the section "Notices". Color images of the industrial designs (if any) are published in the appropriate section.
The Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" was issued twice a month – 24 issues of the bulletin were issued during 2015. The Annual Index to the Official Bulletin for the previous, 2014, year was also published.
Publications in the electronic information resources:
- DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" contains information on industrial designs to the same extent as in printed edition. Moreover, information concerning legal status of patents (as an extra operational element) is provided in the section "Information on the Grant of Patents of Ukraine for Industrial Designs";
- interactive DB "Industrial Designs Registered in Ukraine" includes bibliographic data and images (set of images) of the industrial designs (variants).
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
In the section "Notices" of the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" with the periodicity of its release announcements in respect of industrial designs (to the extent provided by the respective applicable Law of Ukraine) are published including information on changes in the information entered into the State register of patents of Ukraine for industrial designs, information on issue of patents of Ukraine for industrial designs duplicates, information on modifications due to the correction of errors and other information relating to the registration of patents of Ukraine for industrial designs.
The said information is available at http://sips.gov.ua and http://ukrpatent.org.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
Information on information resources available to examiners is given in Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
For information support of the wide range of public free access to the information concerning industrial designs is provided through the web-portal of SIPS and the web-site of the Ukrpatent – the List of DBs and IRSs is provided in the section Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URLs).
According to the Registries of free-of-charge distribution approved by SIPS, the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" on CD-ROM was sent free of charge to the specified organizations of Ukraine (bodies of national system of scientific and technical information, in particular state and national libraries, as well as to the universities, departments of which are entrusted with the appropriate information functions) with the purpose of constant updating of their patent collections by national patent documentation.
External users could also purchase the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" on CD-ROM with a search system and Cumulative Optical DVD "Industrial Designs Registered in Ukraine" containing information on all registered industrial designs in Ukraine from January 1993 to the date of the last publication in the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist".
Access of the external users to the Tenth edition of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) translated into Ukrainian was provided through the official web-portal of SIPS and the web-site of Ukrpatent where the IRS "International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification). Tenth edition" is placed and access to which is free of charge.
Moreover, external users had the opportunity to purchase the Ukrainian-language edition of the Tenth edition of the Locarno Classification on CD-ROM with search system which was issued in 2014 and can be distributed till the new edition of the classification is introduced.
Annual Reports of the Office (in Ukrainian and English), Annual Technical Reports of the Office in Ukrainian, quarterly review "Industrial Property in Figures" which includes basic indicators of the activities of SIPS and Ukrpatent are also accessible for free on their web-resources.
Information on services, available to external users, is provided in the first part of section 5 Promotion activities aimed to support users in access and efficient use of industrial designs information.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Information concerning legal status of the registered patents of Ukraine for industrial designs to the extent prescribed by the applicable law of Ukraine is published in the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnit" in section "Notices" both on paper and in electronic form (CD-ROM "Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnit" and DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnit").
In addition, such information is provided in the IRS "Information on Patents of Ukraine for Industrial Designs Deemed to be Invalid or Expired" and (as an extra operational component) in the relevant sections of the DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnit".
Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
The main activity within the Office is processing of industrial design applications. Support of this process is performed by means of the IDAS. The IDAS software is built according to the Client-Server technology. The structure of the IDAS database provides for the managing function of the documents relating to the industrial design applications, stores all bibliographic data and offers wide range of search options.
The IDAS is integrated with other computerized systems, in particular, the Central Electronic Documents Archive (CEDA), the Output Documents AS, the Fees Accounting AS etc.
In 2015 further increasing the functional capabilities of the IDAS was provided. Integration functions with the general EDMS for inter-system transport of documents.
For the electronic filing system the Industrial Design Applications Module was created and passed for complex tests in 2015. Implementation of the electronic filing system for the industrial design applications is planned for 2016.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
The network infrastructure consists of the WatchGuard XTM-520 device which contains the VPN and Firewall modules for connection with the Internet and the internal router (designed on the Unix server) to support the internal network. Having two firewalls enhance overall security.
The Cisco and HP equipment is used as network switches.
The internal network is divided into ten virtual networks (Vlan).
The network uses the following technical means:
- HP (DL380G5, DL380G7, DL380Gen8), Intel (SE7520JR2, SE7501WV2) servers;
- HP (3Par StoreServ 7200, MSA2040, P2000, MSA2324fc, MSA1000), IBM (ProFibre Storage Array) and Infortrend (EonStor A16F-G2430, EonStor S12F-R1420, EonStor S16F-R1430) information storage;
- equipment for the SAN network (Qlogic SANbox 5600, HP SAN Switch 8/24, HP SN3000B);
- equipment for the HP local area network (Procurve 2910aI-24G, Procurve 2510-48, Procurve 2530-48).
Operating systems and software:
- on physical servers – operating systems Windows Server 2012R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Unix;
- virtualized servers on Hyper-V Server 2012R2 (Microsoft) and VMware ESXi;
- database management systems – MS SQL 2014, MS SQL 2008R2, MS SQL 2005.
Domain structure of the Active Directory (AD) was designed which allows for central managing of all the information resources, including users, computers, files, peripherals, and access to the services, network resources, web-sites, databases etc.
Multiple domain controllers are used for organization of the domain structure fault tolerance.
The WSUS server provides updating of the servers and client computers operational systems.
The anti-virus server "Eset Endpoint Antivirus" provides centralized control of all anti-virus programs on the users computers, anti-virus databases updates, report generation on database updates and existing threats.
The Microsoft software product – System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) – which provides continuous data protection for reliable recovery of Windows servers is used for data backup. The plan of all servers and services upgrading after a failure was adjusted.
Measures for the IT infrastructure improvement were aimed at building a fault-tolerant core of the computer network, increase of its capacity, security and manageability, replacement of obsolete hardware infrastructure components, consolidation and virtualization of servers. Virtualization servers are combined into clusters providing high availability of all systems.
Series of actions were introduced to ensure compliance of the IT infrastructure with requirements of the complex information security system. Security feature is enabled at the network switch ports, making it impossible to connect unauthorized devices to the corporate network. Changes are introduced to the password policy that meets safety requirements. Two-factor user authentication system was implemented and is based on hardware-software device for generation and verification of digital signatures. To manage network equipment, information storages and SAN switches a secure HTTPS protocol and the SSH application layer network protocol were introduced.
In general, the corporate network consists of 600 PCs, 30 physical and 40 virtual servers, 10 information storages and commutation equipment.
Connection to the Internet for search and view of information was implemented for information systems users.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
For examination of industrial design applications the following in-house information sources are used:
- the CEDA database with information on all applications and registered industrial design patents in Ukraine for the 1992-2015 period;
- the internal database of international registrations of industrial designs including all international registrations of industrial designs protected in Ukraine.
In-house databases are updated in the course of processing applications and within maintenance of the State Register of Industrial Design Patents of Ukraine.
Replenishement of the database of international registrations of industrial designs is carried out daily by automatic downloads from WIPO web-site ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/hague/.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
The search file consists of the arrays of applications entered into the technological IDAS database, database of international registrations of industrial designs and reference and search tool to it.
Documents of other Offices are not included to the industrial designs search file.
Information on the search file updates is provided in the previous section.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Administrative support is provided by regular means of the DBMS MS SQL Server 2005.
Other matters
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
In order to satisfy public needs for patent information in Ukraine the Public Patent Documentation Collection (PPDC) functions within the structure of the Innovations Department of Ukrpatent (Innovations Department). The PPDC is the most comprehensive patent library in Ukraine available to the public (intellectual property office library).
International exchange with foreign patent offices has been the main source of foreign industrial property documentation of the PPDC, including information on industrial designs, over extended periods of time. Such international cooperation allowed accumulating a considerable amount of current and retrospective foreign patent documentation, primarily on optical carriers, with information on industrial designs.
During 2015 the PPDC was updated by national and foreign patent documentation, primarily on optical discs. As of 31.12.2015 the PPDC numbered about 21 thousand copies of official bulletins that have sufficiently deep retrospective.
In the PPDC the users had access to information on industrial designs published in the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" (on paper and optical carrier) and official bulletins of foreign offices.
In 2015 the PPDC was attended by 105 users, 10% of which were legal entities and 90% – individuals.
Information concerning the contents of the PPDC and its quarterly updates was published in the "Information resources" section on the web-portal of SIPS (http://sips.gov.ua), web-sites of Ukrpatent (http://ukrpatent.org) and the Innovations Department (http://iii.ua).
Proper storage of the PPDC documents meeting specified requirements and guaranteeing their safety was ensured during 2015.
The PPDC is located in the premises of the Innovations Department in the three specially adapted and equipped areas (two depositaries with a total area of 81 sq. m. and a reading room of 40 sq. m.). The PPDC is equipped with 12 up-to-date computers with appropriate licensed software, as well as scanners, printers and xerographic copying machines.
To enable users to make online access to the electronic patent information resources, such as the Digital Patent Library, the Internet access based on Wi-Fi technology was provided in addition to the traditional Internet access for users convenience.
All necessary consultations and services were provided by the Innovations Department, including on the PPDC basis, both free of charge and commercial, including different types of information and documentation searches.
Particularly, the PPDC provided the following services in 2015:
- 25 consultations on writing application materials for industrial design registration;
- consultations on the correctness of the application materials composition (383 in total, 44 for industrial designs);
- 10 searches of industrial designs;
- 193 title (firm) searches as for all IPRs, including industrial designs, upon requests of arbitration managers and liquidators of enterprises in default.
Consultations were provided on a free-of-charge basis concerning better ways to carry out information search, qualified making retrieval schedule, search on CD-ROMs and in the free remote databases of patent documentation via the Internet and consultations on the most common issues relating to procedure of legal protection with further detection and cessation of unlawful use of IPRs.
Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Information on industrial designs is published in Annual Reports and Annual Technical Reports of the Office available at the SIPS web-portal. Statistics on industrial designs is also published in quarterly issues of the Internet review "Industrial Property in Figures" which includes basic indicators of the activities of SIPS and Ukrpatent and is accessible for free at the SIPS web-portal and Ukrpatent web-site.
Methodological recommendations on certain matters relating to industrial design applications examination are available at the Ukrpatent web-site.
Periodicals, e.g. scientific and practical magazine "Intellectual Property in Ukraine", which is distributed as paper and electronic edition over the territory of Ukraine (by subscription), publish articles (including by the SIPS and Ukrpatent specialists) on various matters and in particular relating to legal protection of industrial designs.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Over the reporting year, with the purpose of updating patent collections of certain bodies of national system of scientific and technical information, in particular the state and national libraries and universities, departments of which are entrusted with the appropriate information functions, the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" on CD-ROM was sent free of charge to the specified and some other organizations of Ukraine.
Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
SIPS pays a lot of attention to the skills upgrading of experts involved in the state IP protection system.
During the past year, as the part of exchange of experience, training and skills upgrading, officials of the state IP rights protection system participated in numerous events arranged by international organizations, governments and foreign IP offices, studied at the higher educational institution – the Intellectual Property Institute of the National University "Odessa Law Academy" in Kyiv.
In 2015, within the TWINNING Project, SIPS hosted working meetings with European experts, as well as training sessions and courses for SIPS and Ukrpatent experts, patent attorneys, officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Office of General Prosecutor of Ukraine, customs authorities of Ukraine, judges of the economic and administrative courts, and local courts of general jurisdiction, attorneys, Internet providers and other professionals involved in IP.
In 2015, with the aim of spreading knowledge on intellectual property, SIPS together with Ukrpatent held seminars and roundtables on the topics: "Specifics of Examination of Applications for Marks and Industrial Designs", "Practice of Forensic Examination: Problems and Solutions", "Practice of Disputes Settlement on Intellectual Property in Courts of Ukraine", "Practice of Handling Objections by the Chamber of Appeals of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine", "Execution of Judgments: Practice and Problems".
Within the educational events under the title "Exercise and Enforcement of Human Rights in the Sphere of Intellectual Property" conducted in the framework of the All-Ukrainian Week of Law – "Intellectual Property and Pharmaceutics" – the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a special research-to-practice conference of the School of Young Scientists of the FARMAK PJSC covering a wide range of intellectual property issues, including industrial designs.
On July 20-26, the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU) welcomed the Summer School on Intellectual Property. The work of this year's Summer School was supported by the Scientific and Research Institute of Intellectual Property of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine jointly with the Department of Intellectual Property of the KNU, along with SIPS.
During the course, the participants, among them the final-year students, teachers and young intellectual property specialists, mastered a theoretical course on intellectual property and had the opportunity to participate in thematic workshops.
The full list of events of the state system of intellectual property legal protection dedicated to intellectual property issues, held in 2015, is contained in the Annual Report.
In the reporting year, SIPS received 35 applications for certification of potential patent attorneys, the consideration of which resulted in 35 candidates admitted to pass qualifying examinations and certification by the Certification Commission.
Qualifying exams for potential patent attorneys were held in the higher educational institution, specified by SIPS – the Intellectual Property Institute of the National University "Odesa Law Academy" in Kyiv. This institution is licensed to conduct educational activities related to the preparation and training of specialists with a degree in "Intellectual Property" and it has the relevant material and technical resources for such qualifying exams.
As a result of qualifying exams 28 persons were certified as professional intellectual property representatives (patent attorneys).
As of December 31, 2015 there were 467 registered patent attorneys in Ukraine, who render services in the field of intellectual property rights protection.
Other activities
Detailed information on other activities of SIPS, Ukrpatent and the Innovations Department in 2015 is contained in the appropriate sections of the 2015 Annual Report (http://sips.gov.ua/en/year_reports.html)
In 2015 the Innovations Department ensured the functioning of the Industrial Property Internet Exchange the aim of which is to promote domestic IPRs to the market, including industrial designs, to encourage development of inventive and innovative activities, to increase the level of public awareness on the intellectual property importance, to inform the wide range of interested public.
The Industrial Property Internet Exchange is available at http://exchange.iii.ua.uk.
VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
The functions of patent documentation international exchange are performed by Ukrpatent, recognized in 2003 by the law as the Centre of International Exchange of Publications according to the Convention on International Exchange of Publications, adopted on December 3, 1958 by the UN General Conference on the matters of education, science and culture.
In the framework of international exchange, the Official Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist" on CD-ROM containing information concerning industrial designs was sent to 15 foreign patent offices and organizations.
Ukrpatent received official bulletins concerning industrial designs from 7 foreign patent offices.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information
In 2015 in the framework of international cooperation the SIPS and Ukrpatent representatives took part in sessions and meetings of the WIPO Committees and Working Groups.
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
One of the priority objectives of SIPS is to ensure effective functioning of the quality management system (QMS) of the examination procedure for industrial property rights applications introduced in 2012 at Ukrpatent (International Certificate № 321012076 of 17.10.2012).
In September 2015, an independent certification organization carried the audit (re-certification audit) of the QMS compliance with the ISO 9001:2008 standard requirements at Ukrpatent. On the results of the audit the QMS corresponds with the ISO 9001:2008 standard requirements.