Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2022 submitted by Italian Patent and Trademark Office
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 Italian office is constantly evolving to improve its services for the users.
In June 2021 a national strategic plan on industrial property was approved at Ministerial level for the period 2021-2023. Its main goals are:
- Improve the IP protection system
- Encourage the use of IP, particularly by SMEs
- Facilitate access to IP and promote patent awareness
- Ensure a stronger IP enforcement
- Strengthen the role of Italy at international global level
In line with the implementation of its strategic plan, the Italian Office has developed the following main activities in 2022:
- Improvements to the Customer care service through its contact center (online, in presence, on the phone);
- Settlement and management of financial measures and projects for the promotion and valorization of industrial design (Disegni+);
- Implementation and development of the website EU . The "Community Trademarks and Designs" project was born from the cooperation between the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy - Directorate General for the Protection of Industrial Property - Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM). The initiative is coordinated by UIBM and implemented by INNEXTA - a consortium company of the Italian Chamber of Commerce System. The initiative involves the implementation of various activities with the aim of providing greater awareness of the available tools for protecting the intangible assets of companies. The protection of designs is, in fact, a key element for companies that want to face and overcome commercial challenges, not only at the national but also at the EU level.
- Maintaining and developing relationships with Business and User Associations is also an important part of policy making in the field of design. A consolidated network of 36 business and users associations has grown over the years, managed by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office. Its members are regularly updated on national, European and international IP dossiers. To this end, the Office organizes a meeting them twice a year at its headquarters and send them a monthly newsletter with national and international updates in the field of IP.
- New IT Platform Project
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
New IT Platform
The feasibility study of the new IT technical infrastructure was completed in 2022.
Based on the information provided by the interested stakeholders, the new infrastructure will make the management of the administrative procedures at the Office more efficient and will, above all, significantly expand the IP services offered to the users, innovating those that are already in place.
Activities are envisaged to start by March 2023 and the end of the project is envisaged by mid-2025 with a full live operational integration with the new platform by the end of 2025.
Major improvements expected after the Go-Live are:
- Improve the reliability and completeness of data. Currently not all information are easily accessible, and data must be previously analyzed, retrieved and enhanced to become useful and understandable.
- Simplify usability of the platform for internal and external users and make information more user-friendly.
- Improved services (filing system, examination system, databases), including the introduction of new features.
- Provision of new services to external partners (companies, researchers, development agencies, proxies, etc).
DISEGNI+ call for proposals (with UNIONCAMERE – Association of Italian Chambers of Commerce as implementing agency)
Disegni + aims at supporting the innovative and competitive capacity of SMEs through the valorization and economic exploitation of single or multiple industrial designs/models registered as of January 1, 2020 in domestic and international markets.
Facilities are aimed at purchasingoutsouced specialized services to encourage:
A-research on the use of innovative materials (including materials derived from reuse, recycled materials and the like);
B-creation of prototypes;
C-making of molds;
D-technical consulting for the production chain aimed at putting the product/design into production;
E-technical consulting for product or environmental sustainability certifications;
F-specialized consulting in market approach (e.g., business plan, marketing plan, market analysis, design of graphic layouts and texts for offline and online communication materials) and for technical-economic evaluation of the design (for the purpose of transferability of the registered design);
G-legal advice for protection from infringement actions (legal actions related to concrete cases) and/or for licensing agreements (actually signed).
Link: https://www.invitalia.it/cosa-facciamo/rafforziamo-le-imprese/brevetti (ITA link)
Websites MARCHIEDISEGNI.EU (coordinated by INNEXTA)
The website has been constantly updated and filled with the publication of news and insights about the main legislative and jurisprudential news of importance in the field of trademarks and designs. In order to reach a greater number of users, news has also been given visibility through the LinkedIn channel dedicated to the project. The portal was also used as a vehicle of the information related to incentive calls dedicated to SMEs published at the European, national, and local levels in matters pertaining to IP protection. The YouTube page of the project contained available speakers' videos of the related speeches at the events as well as a number of so-called "pills" that consist of dissemination videos made on topics that aroused the most interest.
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 the framework of the UIBM Academy the following main themes were tackled:
- Valorization of public research results
- Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property
- European and national tools for the valorization of industrial property titles
- Toys, Intellectual Property Assets and Counterfeiting
- Valuation of intangible assets
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Industrial Designs | ||
Years | 2022 | 2021 |
National Filings | 1,069 | 1,184 |
National registrations | 1,012 | 1,072 |
Link: https://statistiche.uibm.gov.it/
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
The UIBM Annual Report 2022 is not yet available.
Link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/comunicazione-ed-eventi/pubblicazioni-uibm
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
Link: https://servizionline.uibm.gov.it/deposito-online-new/pubblica/index.html (On_line filing -in Italian)
Link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/deposito-titoli/modulistica-per-il-deposito-cartaceo (Paper-filing - In Italian)
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The applications dossiers are available at the link: https://www.uibm.gov.it/bancadati/Advanced_search/type_url?type=ds&cl=1
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)
Our main types of publication on designs are:
- bibliographic data,
- industrial design applications,
- design status coverage
Design information are available on-line at the link:
https://www.uibm.gov.it/bancadati/Advanced_search/type_url?type=ds&cl=1
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
All Designs calls and incentives described above are announced on the Italian Official Gazette and on the MIMIT-UIBM websites
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
For the UIBM staff (examiners) an on-site tool called NSARA is available.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Link: https://www.uibm.gov.it/bancadati/Advanced_search/type_url?type=ds&cl=1
The UIBM makes its database available for:
- conducting searches;
- obtaining statistics and information on the number of applications filed and industrial property titles issued as of October 1, 1989;
- consulting the Official Bulletins
The national database of the Italian Patent and Trademark Office is free of charge and collects all information on applications as of the date of the last update.
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
For the UIBM staff an on-premises tool called NSARA is available that consists of the back-end for design examination and the front-end for online filing.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Cluster on-premises Qemu(KVM-based)
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Galera MariaDB Cluster
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
ElasticSearch and Solr
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
SNMP-Based (Nagios, Observium), NetBox
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
TTO call for proposal (measure fully managed by UIBM)
This initiative aims to increase the intensity of technology transfer flows to enterprises by supporting the enhancement and protection of industrial property of projects promoted by TTOs (Technology Transfer Offices). It is addressed to: Italian universities and public research organizations, as well as scientifically-oriented Institutes of Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS).
The TTO Call in 2022 was funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Mission 1. "Digitalization, innovation competitiveness, culture and tourism" - Component 2 "Digitalization, innovation and competitiveness in the production system" - Investment 6. "Industrial Property System" funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.
Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
The UIBM Academy seminars (online, face-to-face or hybrid) are addressed to all stakeholders. Advanced training is given by the UIBM to the human resources involved in the TT= call – Knowledge Transfer managers and Innovation Promoters - who have, among other things, the difficult task of performing, as a free support service, the analysis of the IP portfolio of Italian SMEs and promoting the culture of IP innovation and technology transfer.
-Master in Open Innovation and Intellectual Property (with LUISS University as managing body)
-Master in IP valorization for Knowledge Exchange & Impact (KEI) (with University of Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum as managing body)
- Italian Design Exhibition “L’Italia Geniale” open to the general public, for free, held at the Ministry premises from February to April 2022
Other activities
MARCHIEDISEGNI.EU PROJECT
In 2022, the project aimed at carrying out seven actions for promoting European Union Trade Marks (EUMs) and Community Designs (CTMs) in Italy. Our partner, INNEXTA, executed the planned actions in close cooperation with the Chambers of Commerce to emphasize the role of the chamber system in such important areas for businesses. The seven actions were:
1-Enrichment of the marchiedisegni.eu website with new content and tools
2- Implementation of eight webinars on trademarks and designs in collaboration with Chambers of Commerce and/or Trade Associations. Main topics:
- European trademarks and designs;
- Cybersquatting;
- Artificial intelligence;
-Tax credit: rules, news, updates.
Participants: Chambers of Commerce staff, entrepreneurs, IP users and consultants, freelancers;
3-Organization of an "Italian day".
4 - Organization of two training initiatives dedicated to students in order to raise awareness of the opportunity and potential benefits of protecting their creations; in particular, the initiatives were addressed to young students of design and other technical-artistic subjects and future professionals in the field.
5 - Organization of three ah hoc meetings for SMEs carried out in cooperation with business incubators/accelerators, technology centers or with trade associations aiming at examining in depth intellectual property rights protection by analysing opportunities and the available tools for national, EU and international protection.
6 - Pre-assessment activities for SMEs with the possibility of accessing tutoring service upon request.
7 - Organisation of two initiatives within the framework of the “anti-counterfeiting week” organized by the UIBM.
Link: https://www.marchiedisegni.eu/ (ITA link)
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 Office continuously exchanges bibliographic data and application information with the EUIPO by sftp connection