Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2020 submitted by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the Russian Federation (ROSPATENT)

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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.

The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models.

Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.

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

Among the activities specified under the Digital Economy program development of the State Information System entitled Smart Examination System of Means of Individualization (SIS MI Examination) continues. The System follows one of the national economic development tasks, namely improvement of quality of the State services, namely speeding up the processing of applications for registration of trademarks and industrial designs.

SIS MI Examination will allow fully automated searches for trademarks, well-known trademarks and appellations of origin and industrial designs both in the course of examination of these IP rights carried out by the Office’s experts and to enable external users (applicants, representatives of the business community, federal executive entities and other interested persons) to get such information.

The System being developed will be made publicly available to a wide range of users, allowing citizens and business organizations to independently find information on registered trademarks and industrial designs. Up to now, due to some technical limitations, users have not had access to the search engine for the means of individualization as it is used by experts. There is such a need, especially in the case of the professional community, particularly patent attorneys. The new System will meet this challenge and provide external users with a modern and flexible tool to obtain information on existing means of individualization, search for applications and registrations within national data sets consisting of about 1’000’000 trademarks and about 360’000 industrial designs.

External users can be divided into 5 categories depending on the search purpose.

1) Creators of such IP rights objects who need to verify what objects are already registered before coming up with their own;

2) Potential applicants and their representatives who wish to ensure that the objects that they have created do not overlap in characteristics and features with those already registered;

3) Rights holders who wish to make any changes to previously registered IP rights;

4) Representatives of the business community interested in dealing with rights holders, for example in concluding a license contract for the use of the IP rights;

5) Other stakeholders.

Thus, the introduction of an Information System will not only facilitate the work of the Office’s experts and help applicants better prepare for the creation and registration of unique and distinct IPR objects but could also indirectly influence the revival of the IPR market turnover, as additional participants could be attracted by providing them with information on potentially interesting IPR objects.

The key feature of the SIS MI Examination is the use of deep learning of neural network. The network will make it possible to check for identity or confusing similarity of a claimed trademark or industrial design with the symbols entered in the registers of registered individualization means of the Russian Federation, foreign registrations and applications. In addition, the functionality of the new system provides extensive search capabilities for the verbal elements of the declared designations and full-text bibliographic data searches.

Furthermore, the functional features of the new System provide an extensive search for verbal elements of the claimed designations and full-text bibliographic data search.

Automatization of these processes using the new technologies will improve the quality of examination and speed up the issuance of trademark certificates and patents for industrial designs, which in turn will have a positive impact on the development of the entire area of intellectual property in the Russian Federation, making the procedure transparent and more understandable for citizens.

In 2020, along with activities within the Federal project “Information infrastructure”, Rospatent carried out activities aimed at reducing the time needed to provide public services on State registration of objects for IPRs protection; activities aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens who use the digital format of the public services”. Further work on optimization of the Office’s workflows and the development of electronic services will show significant results.

Last year the automation of preparation for publication of information on applications for industrial designs was provided.

In 2020, the work aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens who use the digital format of public services” was continued. The conducted activities were focused on the improvement of the functional range of personal accounts for electronic services and information user support, including answering the questions receiving through the technical support service. Regular meetings covered how to use digital services and update information published in the “Filing Application” section on the webpage of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Federal Institute of Industrial Property” (FIPS), subordinate body of Rospatent (https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/).

The above-mentioned activities allowed to enhance the filing rate, with 70% of all applications filed in an electronic form.

Goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the "Plans" section of Rospatent official web page (https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/about/plans).

For the optimization purpose of the technological processes in the electronic document management system for industrial design applications, the following services have become available:

• Registration and processing of industrial designs visual representation in 3D formats;
• Development of software that will enable the transition to electronic protection titles and notification of patent holders about the electronic protection titles folder.

In 2020, an automated case management system for international registration of industrial designs under the Hague Agreement was commissioned.

In order to enable electronic record-keeping in course of the provision of State services, FIPS:

- ensured operability and fitness for purpose of the FIPS information systems and resources, including the Electronic State Registers (ESR) for industrial designs (hereinafter referred to as ESR).

- ensured operability of electronic filing for industrial design applications.

- put into full operation the system of the official publication of ESR information on IPR objects on the internet.

In 2020, the automated system of paperless document flow for reviewing industrial design applications has been continued. The system ensures electronic correspondence and signing the document through the electronic signature.

Transition to electronic workflow has resulted in a gradual decline in the use of paper-based information, reduction in time required to process documents and search for the needed information, thereby leading ultimately to increased productivity and better public awareness of patent rights, amendments thereto and the legal status of patent documents.

The number of ESR ID records has continued to grow, with 83’439 patents at the end of 2020.

Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year

In 2020, the number of requests for the provision of public services (hereinafter referred to as requests) for registering applications for industrial designs filed with Rospatent electronically increased by 13% compared to 2019. The following measures aimed at increasing applicants’ interest in applying electronically for the provision of State services have been taken: 

1. Expanding the functionality of electronic interaction services. In 2020, a new version of the FIPS Personal Account service, which provides a comfortable environment for filing applications, was made available to users of the service. 
2. Conducting monthly thematic meetings for FIPS specialists with users of electronic filing services for applications for inventions and utility models, applicants and representatives thereof, as well as all those wishing to participate in the process of electronic interaction with Rospatent and FIPS when submitting and reviewing applications. 
3. Posting of educational video materials and programs on the FIPS website. Users become more interested in e-filing mechanisms and digital interaction, this brings the increased number of views under tutorial videos, posted within the “Application Filing” section, which exceeded 45’000 views, this shows the triple boost in contrast to the last year. 
4. The FIPS technical support service is conducting a review of requests from users of electronic services. In 2020, about 5’000 requests were considered. 5. Any interested person may obtain the necessary knowledge and practical experience in preparing documentation electronically for applications for the grant of a patent for an invention or utility model. One-to-one training is conducted in the computer room of the patent library and is free of charge.

In 2020, 4’663 applications for State registration of industrial designs were filed in an electronic form.

In 2021 there are plans to continue work on the development of electronic filing services and promoting the use of electronic filing and electronic communications among applicants and patent attorneys. This will make it possible to expand the circle of users of electronic filing services and maintain growth in the number of filed applications.

Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

Table 1 shows the trends in the filing of applications and grant of patents for industrial designs in 2019 and 2020.

Table 1

* The actual number of the received international applications for industrial designs (under the Hague Agreement) are included in the total number of industrial designs, starting from the first half of 2019.  

The total number of applications filed for industrial designs increased by 11.85% compared to 2019, while the number of applications filed by Russian applicants under the national procedure grew by 13.71%, for foreign applicants - by 4.66% and under the Hague Agreement - by 26.83%.

The number of granted industrial design patents decreased by 6.62% as compared to 2019.

Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.

Details on the Office’s website:

• The legal information on industrial designs: regulations (in Russian):

https://fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/promyshlennye-obraztsy-normativnye-dokumenty.php

• Rospatent annual reports:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/reports

• Rospatent Annual Report 2020: Transforming the IP Business Environment:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2020-short-version-en.pdf

• Guide to the resources of the FIPS All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (in Russian):

https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/putevoditel-po-fondam-otdeleniya-vptb-fips-i-internet-resursam.php

• Information notificationon industrial designs (in Russian):

https://fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/

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

In 2020 the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division of FIPS (Library) held a thematic training on electronic filing system for industrial design applications. The online recording of the event was viewed 320 times.

https://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-na-2020-g.php

(in Russian)

Free one-on-one training for users of electronic industrial design filing systems was held in the computer room of the Library.

The following Office's web pages provide information on applications filing:

• Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and using the electronic filing service for industrial designs:

https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php

(in Russian)

• State registration of industrial designs, grant of patents on industrial designs and copies thereof:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices/gosudarstvennaya-registraciya-promyshlennogo-obrazca-i-vydacha-patenta-na-promyshlennyy-obrazec-ego-dublikata

(in Russian)

• Access to documents related to patent applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, as well as the issuance of copies of said documents:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-vydachu-patenta-na-izobretenie-poleznuyu-model-promyshlennyy-obrazec-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov

(in Russian)

• Methodological recommendations on the examination of applications for industrial designs:

https://www.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php

(in Russian)

• Forms:

https://new.fips.ru/documents/formy-dokumentov/index.php#3 

(in Russian)

• Personal account for correspondence related to the applications:

https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php

(in Russian)

• Fees: 

https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/dues

• Fee calculator:

https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/kalkulyator-poshlin/index.php

(in Russian)

• Frequently Asked Questions:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy

(in Russian)

Details on seminars and other similar events held in 2020 can be found in Part 5(d).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Within the framework of the paperless document management system for industrial designs, access is provided to the primary materials of the applications received in paper and/or electronic form, lists of goods and/or services, designations applied for registration, bibliographic data on applications and versions of documents, as well as incoming and outgoing correspondence signed with an electronic signature.

Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

In 2020, Rospatent examiners continued to use the twelfth edition of the Russian version of the Locarno classification for current patent documents related to industrial designs. The Russian version of the Classification has been significantly revised and improved during 2020 to be closer to the original WIPO version. 

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)

Rospatent publications on industrial designs are shown in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2020, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette has been posted on the FIPS website in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7460.

Gazette materials are in PDF format. 

All issues of the Industrial Designs Official Gazette in Russian dated from 2005 to 2020 are available in Russian at: https://www1.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:

• Regulations on the Industrial Designs Official Gazette:

https://www.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/polozhenie-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-promyshlennye-obraztsy-utverzhdeno-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-31-12.php (in Russian)

• Official Publications section:

https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO (in Russian)

• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

https://www.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/ (in Russian)

Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.

The Official Gazette Industrial Designs is published once per month.

The forms of notifications on industrial designs published in the Rospatent Official Gazette Industrial Designs are presented in Table 3:

Table 3

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information relating to access to online publications:

• Industrial Designs in the Official Publications section

https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO (in Russian)

• International Classification for Industrial Designs

https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/classification/mkpo?view=index (in Russian)

• Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents subsection

https://www.fips.ru/registers-web/ (in Russian)

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources using an appropriate link:

Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation;

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Industrial Design Patent.

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

FIPS examiners can access all free available web resources containing information about industrial designs.

The minimum scope of the search includes industrial design documentation from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and WIPO. Nevertheless, the scope of the search may include any generally available documents regardless of the language, age and type.

Minimum search depth is at least 25 years and national applications for industrial designs filed in the Russian Federation are also included in the search.

In addition to the mandatory patent documentation, the information search includes supplement resources containing information on industrial designs registered in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania and all of Europe including non-EU countries. Supplement resources comprise continuously updated online patent databases, as well as printed publications in the form of periodicals. Furthermore, the search scope comprises any available information from any source, such as web resources, non-patent periodicals and other publications that have become publicly available in the world before the priority date of the claimed industrial design, as well as the patents on inventions and utility models granted in the Russian Federation.

Additional resources cover industrial designs information about more than 30 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO. For each resource, there is information on its web address, retrospective, and a brief description of search and browsing options.

Furthermore, the paper publications related to industrial designs are available for the examiners (21 periodical publications, including 6 foreign publications).

Assessment of the claimed industrial design also covers trademarks, both verbal and pictorial, registered in the Russian Federation. Based on the claimed images, the search for identical trademarks (i.e. trademarks that comprise or produce the same general impression and do not belong to the applicant).

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

In 2020, subscribers were provided with the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, based on official Rospatent information, on CD/DVD with the search system. They are distributed with a frequency of 12 issues (disks) per year.

For new subscribers, and also to keep patent collections up to date, series of Industrial Designs Official Gazette published in previous years (2017-2019) were offered on CD/DVD.

In 2020 in addition, users were offered sets of information on industrial designs for 1993 to 2019 on DVD/USB Flash Drive (only 13 disks and 4 USB flash drives), as well as a retrospective set of an array of information on industrial designs for 1993 to 2019 by FTP. All products on CD/DVD/ USB Flash Drive and by FTP were distributed along with MIMOSA information-search system software, which provides searching of bibliographic data, ICGS indexes, the verbal elements of marks, and also combinations thereof.

The Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the FIPS website, and the upkeep of the registers of Russian industrial designs with an indication of legal status continued.

Users are also provided with free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation patents for industrial designs received after January 1, 2005.

On the FIPS website, the official bulletin "Industrial Designs" was published and the registers of Russian industrial designs continued to be maintained, indicating their legal status.

The Internet resources of Rospatent comprise the following databases:

- an industrial designs database (includes information on 87,000 patents from 1993 to 2020);

- the LOC database.

Third-party users are free to enjoy the following trademark databases:

- database containing information on industrial designs of the Russian Federation, for the past 30 days;

- the LOC database. Examiners can work with all industrial design databases.

Access to the industrial design databases is provided to third-party users on a contractual basis.

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

Users are given free access to all documents contained in the "Open Registries".

In 2020, users made more than 131.503.000 page views of "Open Registries.

The web page addresses on the Office website which contain information relating to information products and services provided by the Office are:

• Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:

https://www.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/;

• Industrial Designs Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:

https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;

• Carrying out searches – in the Search System section:

https://www.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/;

• Information on accessing and using resources – in the Search System section:

Support, https://www.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/podderzhka-polzovateley-informatsionno-poiskovoy-sistemy.php

and instruction on work with Internet resources FIPS

Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

All patent document databases contain information on the legal status that is updated monthly.

Automated database subsystems for determining legal status use data from official publications that contain information on newly registered protection titles or amendments. Following the publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are posted on the Rospatent website in the Information Resources section. The status of industrial design patents may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated”.

Information on the legal status of industrial designs is published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, posted on the FIPS and Rospatent websites, and also in the Industrial Designs FIPS Gazette on CD/DVD:

- information on the grant of RF patents for industrial designs;

- information on amendments to the entries of the State Register of Russian Federation Industrial Designs (Notifications section of the Gazette).

In the Search section of the Office’s website, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of registered subject matter in the Open Registers: https://www.fips.ru/registers-web/.

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

Due to the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, the Office’s experts have been teleworking with the access to the FIPS automated systems.

The software and hardware suite allows the Patent Disputes Chamber to remotely review requests and objections submitted by regions residents. Participation in the hearings is provided through the browser and does not require the installation of additional software for external participants.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Equipment used (industrial design search systems):

HP DL380 server – 8 units.

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 300 GB)

Server HP DL580 – 5 units.

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 900 GB)

HP workstations - 66 units.

Software:

Solaris, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.

Carriers used:

LTO-7 magnetic tapes

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

In 2020, the Office continued to expand the database content of an automated electronic document management examination system for industrial design applications that provides examiners with a wide range of features.

The implementation of the industrial design software was continued to compare with the trademark database search results based on pre-selected instructions to prevent unfair competition of trademarks and industrial designs.

FIPS examiners can access all publicly available online resources containing information about industrial designs.

The minimum scope of the search includes industrial design documentation from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and WIPO.  Nevertheless, the scope of the search may include any generally available documents regardless of the language, age and type.

The list of available databases is located in the internal network and is updated regularly. The list contains information about industrial design resources of countries and organizations included in the minimum scope of the search, as well as additional resources. Additional resources cover industrial designs information of about 30 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO. For each resource, there is information about web addresses, previous queries and a brief description of search and browsing options.

Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

Examiners of applications for industrial designs are provided with the results of information searches in the automated system for verbal searches, Trademarks of the Russian Federation and the system for formalized linguistic descriptions of trademark images, SILOIZ, for similarities between verbal or figurative elements of trademarks and verbal and figurative elements of industrial designs that have been the subject of applications.

Examiners from the industrial designs department analyze and use the results obtained in taking substantive decisions regarding elements similar to the trademarks found.

Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

Industrial design applications are registered in the IRWC system (a unified system for registering applications and incoming correspondence), procedures for exporting data to DBA systems and the system of ASBBD "Applications for industrial designs" have been developed and implemented.

Paper documents are transferred into electronic format and uploaded onto the Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system using Data Center software, and, in particular, primary industrial design application materials and additional documents relating to industrial design applications are transferred and uploaded to electronic applications.

The automated industrial designs database is used to generate various statistical reports.

The Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system registers incoming mail, prepares outgoing correspondence, and monitors all stages of an application’s life cycle, from the filing of the application to the examination decision (grant, refusal, or withdrawal), monitoring deadlines for reviewing correspondence and conducting examinations.

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

The industrial designs collection is intended both for examiners and other categories of users. Information on industrial designs in the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library (Library) is provided to all categories of users on a fee-free basis.

The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:

- national and foreign special and general Gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various carriers, arranged according to Gazette issue number;

- a specialized collection of a broad range of industrial design publications; the collection is arranged according to LOC indexes.

The collection is kept up to date by including current documentation on RF industrial designs and documentation from Rospatent’s foreign partners received under international exchange, as well as by acquiring literature through subscription from foreign and Russian publishers.

The specialized collection on industrial designs includes:

- periodicals and books on industrial design and style;

- advertising brochures and catalogs associated with exhibitions, and adverts for new goods and products;

- thematic collections containing publications from the national Gazettes of a range of foreign countries with a translation into Russian of the name of the industrial design;

- methodology and reference literature.

As of December 31, 2020, the collection contained, in total, more than 2.6 million publications, including:

- national and foreign journals on design and new production methods – over 20’614 copies;

- 1013 books on design;

- advertising brochures and catalogs – 48’329 copies;

- the thematic collections of national Gazettes from a range of other countries – approximately 2.5 million publications.

A collection contains official publications on industrial designs produced by different countries for various retrospective periods.

A room has been specially equipped at the Library for all categories of users working with industrial design information.

In total in 2020, 9’952 paper copies were lent out of the Industrial Design Collection: official bulletins, design magazines and books, advertising brochures and catalogs.

Access to the databases containing information on industrial designs of the Russian Federation, foreign countries and international organizations is provided in the computer room of Library.

The collection of applications and contracts for the results of intellectual activities and means of individualization includes applications for industrial designs. As of December 2020, this part of the collection consists of 33’892 copies on paper and microcarrier.

Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

The Library patent law collection includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection and the use of industrial designs in Russia and overseas. The collection is available electronically and in hard-copy, and also includes publications found on the official Rospatent and FIPS websites, and contains different types of information sources: national and international law, commentaries and reviews, guidelines, training aids, standards, patent office reports, conference and seminar materials, compilations of court decisions and collections of statistics, etc. 

The Rospatent: Transforming the IP Business Environment 2020 booklet, which contains statistical and analytical materials reflecting the main outcomes of the activities of Rospatent and subsidiary organizations in 2020, as well as plans for the development of the intellectual property sphere, is published in the “Electronic Brochures” section.

https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2020-short-version.pdf; https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2020-short-version-en.pdf

In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of industrial designs.

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/sourses/publications

Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and Library Information Products sections at:

https://fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/

https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/bibliograficheskie-ukazateli-i-spiski.php

Brief information on the legal protection of created designs:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy

In the “Publications” section (https://fips.ru/about/multimedia/allpublications.php), there are links to patent landscapes, scientific works of employees of the Office, as well as WIPO publications in Russian.

For newbie users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the What is Intellectual Property? heading in the For Beginners section:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/dlya-novichkov/chto-takoe-intellektualnaya-sobstvennost-.php

Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

In 2020, the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between Rospatent and WIPO on the establishment of TISCs in the Russian Federation continued.

10 webinars on topical issues were held for TISC, in which 607 people took part, including the TISC of universities.

The All-Russian Competition for Educational Projects “Intellectual Hash Track” was held among the Technologies and Innovations Support Centers of the Russian Federation.

The active collaboration between FIPS and TISCs operating within the regional innovation ecosystem has strengthened the capacity of the network. University-based TISCs possessing the necessary competencies are becoming an excellent platform for promoting the innovative transformation of enterprises. The patent strategy plays an important role in this process, as it is closely linked to the technology strategy. It was the Ural Federal University that first offered local enterprises to develop corporate patent and product strategies. Based on this experience, the TISC portfolio was expanded with a service to advise and develop a patent strategy for regional enterprises. The work of the TISC, located in the Higher School of Economics (HSE), focuses on applying patent analytics and statistics to forecast the development of science, technology and innovation, identifying leading organizations in the development of new promising technologies, identifying potential participants of the Moscow Innovation and Production Cluster. The Center also assesses the innovative potential of Moscow and its development, studies and analyzes the innovative contribution of a Russian region to the patenting of Russian developments abroad.

215 employees of the TISC regional network were trained in the framework of the spring/autumn session of the WIPO Academy.

In 2020, FIPS Library implemented educational projects and awareness-raising campaigns in the field of promoting IP knowledge for young people with the involvement of FIPS state examiners, including on the protection of industrial designs (the information is available on the FIPS website):

https://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/projects/

Educational projects dedicated to the awareness-raising in the field of intellectual property targeted at young people, students of professional and higher education institutions of the country, with the participation of FIPS State experts and other IP specialists. The following events were organized and conducted:

- 8 meetings, including 5 held in an online format, within the framework of the project “Inventors NEXT” with students of Moscow colleges on topics: “Architecture, Construction and Housing and Utilities Services”; “Organization of Catering Services”; “Chemical Technologies”; “Jurisprudence”; “Metal Industry, Machine Building and Material Processing”; “Informatics and Computing Technology”, as well as the participants of the Forum of the Yamalo Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The total number of participants was 573 persons.

- 3 webinars in the framework of the project “Intellectual Property for Scientific Youth” for the Russian Technological University (MIREA), Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry (based on the Agreement between FIPS and the University). The total number of participants amounted to 330 persons.

Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Further professional training for FIPS specialists

Traditionally, one of the key objectives of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property development is a continuous improvement of the professional skills of FIPS employees as a part of a Unified Education System based on the continuity principle, starting from the first day of employment. The FIPS Regulations contain the provision for continuous training for employees.

The main tool for this task in 2020 was a system of studies for various categories of FIPS employees following the introduction of new legal acts regulating rules and procedures for the provision of public services.

The courses were conducted in accordance with the plans of internal education directly in the FIPS departments and in centralized sessions. Despite the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, department training continued through videoconferencing.

In accordance with the Consolidated Plans for Internal Training of Employees approved by the Director of FIPS, 5 centralized training sessions were held in 2020, in which 506 FIPS specialists participated. 146 sessions were held directly in FIPS departments. In 2020, the focus of the training was put on the new provisions of the legal acts concerning the provision of public services, amendments to the Patent and Other Fees Regulations.

For the first time, State experts have been trained in a specialized advanced training program on acquiring competencies in teaching intellectual property and public speaking. Besides, 188 FIPS staff members completed distance learning programs of advanced professional training.

The Federal Institute of Industrial Property, by implementing a balanced human resource policy, draws particular attention to the training of the employee pool of state intellectual property experts.

Organization of supplementary vocational training at FIPS for specialists of organizations

To satisfy the national economy’s need for specialists with a high level of professional competence in the intellectual property field, the Administration of Rospatent and FIPS decided to enhance the educational activities of the Federal Institute of the Industrial Property, taking into account the high professional competence of the expert staff of FIPS.

Activity on realizing the additional educational programs is based under license series 77L01 No. 0008944 (registration No. 038110), issued 19 December 2016 by the Moscow Department of Education, and educational activity is carried out since 2017.

During this period during its sessions, the Scientific and Technological Council of FIPS developed and approved 28 advanced training programs and 3 professional retraining programs, all aimed at improving the level of the professional competence of employees in the intellectual property field. Leading FIPS state experts in the intellectual property field, as well as external specialists and practitioners, are invited to teach.

In order to coordinate the educational activity of FIPS, a Scientific Educational Center was created.

In 2020, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property was a key figure in implementing a large-scale project to upgrade the skills of specialists in the field of intellectual property, carried out within the framework of the federal project “Personnel for the digital economy”. Within the framework of the contracts with Autonomous Nonprofit Organization University 2035, the operator of the project, under the training program “Intellectual Property in Digital Economy: from the Application to the Introduction” 4’586 people were trained in four federal districts.

In total in 2020 the FIPS Scientific Educational Center trained 5’908 specialists, with 5’894 of them under advanced training programs (206 specialists through distance learning); 14 specialists under the professional retraining program “Legal Protection of the Results of Intellectual Activity and Their Rights Management”.

The global trend of 2020 is the limitations associated with the COVID‑19 pandemic. In response to this situation, FIPS introduced distance learning. A professional education platform has been developed, and on its basis students have been trained since April. In the future, taking into account the positive aspects of distance learning as easier access to knowledge for the representatives of the Russian regions, FIPS plans to integrate face-to-face and distance learning programs harmoniously in terms of teaching.

Issues related to filing applications for industrial designs on paper and / or electronic filing of applications were considered at 6 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and conducted by Rospatent in 2020.

In order to coordinate the educational activity of FIPS, a Scientific Educational Center was created.

In 2020, FIPS Library held 1 thematic webinar: "Examination of industrial designs that are similar to the point of confusion", 320 views were registered.

Information about thematic meetings and webinar recordings are available at:

https://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/index.php

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information about training, seminars and conferences:

-  "Conferences, webinars" section

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/activities/conferences

- the "Training. Advanced professional training. Retraining":" section

https://www.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php;

- plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community dedicated to acquaintance with new by-laws for 2020.:

https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-na-2020-g.php

- conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2020:

https://www.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/konferentsii-seminary/plany-provedeniya/plan-provedeniya-konferentsiy-i-seminarov-v-regionakh-rossiyskoy-federatsii-v-2020-g.php;

- training videos:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/sourses/multimedia/video#training-video.

Other activities

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)

To fulfill its obligations in relation to the exchange of patent information, FIPS posts electronic Gazettes, including industrial design information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 47 foreign countries and two international organizations.

In 2020, 965 copies of industrial design gazettes were received from 36 countries and one international organization on all kinds of carriers: 11 paper copies; 12 copies on optical disks, and 942 copies downloaded from Office’s websites or Internet resources.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

In 2020, Rospatent actively participated in various international and regional events, which raised issues related to the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, as well as the examination of industrial designs.

On December 14-16, 2020, Rospatent took part in the 9th Session of Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, which was held for the first time in a hybrid format via videoconference with the WIPO International Bureau. The proposals to amend the Common Regulations Under the 1999 Act and the 1960 Act of the Hague Agreement were discussed in the session. The amendments were adopted with respect to Rules 5, 17 and 37 of the Common Regulations. The Rospatent delegation supported the proposed amendments.

On September 17, 2020, Rospatent  took part in an online seminar dedicated to the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, in collaboration with the representatives of WIPO and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the support of the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ). Such topics as the advantages of the usage of the Hague System, the legal protection of industrial designs in Germany and Europe and the national examination of industrial designs of the Republic of Kazakhstan were discussed in this webinar. Rospatent made a report on the examination of industrial designs in the Russian Federation. The issues related to the peculiarities of the consideration of the international registrations under the Hague System and differences of the international registrations from the national applications for industrial designs were outlined in this report. The participants of this webinar were particularly interested in the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs and in the consideration of the international registrations of industrial designs in the Russian Federation. 

On September 21-24, 2020, Rospatent took part in the Sixty-First Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO, which was held in a hybrid format. The most important outcome of the session was the establishment of a mandatory requirement for users of the Hague System to indicate their e-mail addresses at the time of filing any international forms. This requirement was caused by the operating limitations of postal services during the pandemic. The amendments to Rules 3, 7 and 21 of the Common Regulations related to the mandatory indication of e-mail addresses of applicants, new owners and representatives entered into force on February 1, 2021.

On October 20, 2020, a round-table on industrial designs of examiners from the BRICS countries was held via videoconference within the XXIV International Conference of Rospatent. The participants presented a brief overview of the industrial design protection systems and discussed the amendments in the legislation of the BRICS countries and the dynamics of filing and consideration of applications for industrial designs.

In addition, the 8-th trilateral Russian-Chinese-Mongolian seminar for “Industrial design protection issues” was held via videoconference within the XXIV International Conference of Rospatent on October 21, 2020. The participants made reports on their national industrial design protection systems and considered in detail the registration procedures of industrial designs in each country.

On October 27-29, 2020, an annual IP BRICS examiners training on industrial designs from the BRICS countries Offices was held via videoconference. The examiners exchanged their experience in the field of the examination of applications for industrial designs and judicial practice, with the analysis of the specific cases. The particular attention was focused on the experience of the Russian Federation in the examination of the international registrations filed under the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs. This process was described in detail in the report of the Rospatent representative. The participants showed strong interest in the Hague System and the examination of international registrations of industrial designs in the Russian Federation.

In 2020, cooperation with the Kyrgyz Republic was actively developed within the "cross" year of cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation. Rospatent took part in webinars on various aspects of intellectual property during 2020.

On November 30, 2020, the final conference for “Two branches of intellectual property: copyright and industrial property. Topical Issues of Legal Protection of IP” was held jointly by Rospatent and Kyrgyzpatent via videoconference. This final conference was dedicated to the legacy of the Aitmatov brothers. In this conference, the issues of the protection of international registrations of industrial designs in the Russian Federation under the Hague system were considered. Rospatent made a report on the specifics of consideration of international registrations of industrial designs in the Russian Federation from the receipt of international registrations until a decision.

On November 3 and 5, 2020, the examiner meetings were held via videoconference with the participation of the representatives of Rospatent and the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The issues of integrating the infrastructure of the Russian Office with European search, translation and classification systems for trademarks (TMclass) and industrial designs (DESIGNclass) were discussed in the videoconference. The European specialists presented the functionality of the tools, services and databases offered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In addition, special attention was made to the benefits of their usage, as well as the harmonization of data and approaches to their processing and usage.

In 2020, the work for the creation of a Eurasian system of legal protection for industrial designs was continued within the Eurasian Patent Organization. Under Federal Law No. 377-FZ from November 23, 2020, the Russian Federation ratified the Protocol to the Eurasian Patent Convention of September 9, 1994, on the Protection of Industrial Designs. The ratification document was handed to WIPO on January 11, 2021, during the visit of the Head of Rospatent G.P. Ivliev to Geneva. The Protocol entered into force for the Russian Federation on April 11, 2021. The new regional system will reduce the time, financial and administrative costs of entrepreneurs, as well as strengthen the position of the Russian language in the global intellectual property system.

The competitive program of the 23rd Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies, Archimedes-2020, which was organized with the support of Rospatent from March 24-27, 2020, which was attended by 314 participants from 24 states and 35 regions of the Russian Federation, including 19 industrial designs.

Assistance to developing countries

Rospatent has no special programs to help developing countries. Assistance is provided in response to individual requests from the Offices of developing countries.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/international-cooperation

https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation

"The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs" subsection:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/hague_system

https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation/hague