Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2024 submitted by Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent)

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Comprehensive information about Rospatent's activities in 2024 and future plans is available in its Annual Report in English: https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/1/RP-AR-2024-ENG.pdf

Summary of the Report is available in English at: https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/1/SHORT-RP-AR-2024-ENG.pdf

For instance, the IP Office's goals, objectives, and plans can be found in paragraph 2.1 of the Annual Report (page 46). They are also published in the "Plans" section of its website (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/about/plans

One of the key activities in 2024 was the ongoing effort to identify and fill gaps in the State Patent Collection, particularly in Rospatent's Open Registers and the internal search system PatSearch. This initiative, which began in mid-2018, remains a priority. In 2024, as part of the aforementioned project, over 1 500 documents from the retrospective collection were prepared and made available on electronic media. For further details, see paragraph 1.9 of the Annual Report (pages 34-35).

The focus areas included advancements in ICT practices and the enhancement of patent information systems. For more information, refer to paragraphs 2.2 and 2.3 of the Annual Report (pages 47-48 and 51-55). 

Statistics on patents and utility models are provided in paragraph 1.4 of the Annual Report (page 20-21 in English) and in the Annexes (pages 135-138 in English).


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

The following resources are available on Rospatent's website:

Patent legislation:  https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/regulations

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

FIPS activities monitoring (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/

Public services:  https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/public_services

State services (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices

News:  https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/news

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.)

The Office provides comprehensive information and support services through the following web pages:

For State registration services (in Russian):

Additional services include:

Personal Office Service
The Personal Office service facilitates correspondence regarding applications filed both in paper form and electronically (in Russian):  https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php

Fee Information

Educational Resources

Electronic Filing Systems
Through the personal account on the Office's website, users can:

Training Activities
In 2024, FIPS conducted 17 thematic webinars for applicants and business representatives on patenting inventions. Webinar recordings are available on the FIPS website (in Russian):  https://www1.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-2024.php

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The FIPS website provides information through:

Access to complete dossiers of applications for inventions and utility models, including those participating in PPH and PPH-PCT programs, is not provided to third parties.

Classification activities
Complete information about classification services is available (in English): https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/products_services/classifications
See paragraph 4.1 of the Annual Report (page 71) for details.

In 2024, Rospatent:

  • Completed the Russian-language IPC 2025 version incorporating all 1 796 changes

  • Continues ongoing reclassification of national patent documents

  • Maintains parallel CPC classification since 2016

Abstracting and translation services
In 2024, Rospatent continued publishing abstracts in Russian and English for granted Russian patents in the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette and on the FIPS website.

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

All Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette are available at:
https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/IZPM?lang=en

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

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

https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/?lang=en (in English)

All Official Gazettes for inventions and Utility Models are electronically available from 2005 to current:
https://www1.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/IZPM?lang=en

The forms of notifications on inventions and utility models published in the Rospatent Official Gazette "Inventions and Utility Models" are according to the WIPO Standard ST.17.

The addresses of web pages of the Office's site providing access to online publications:

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:

Register of Inventions of the Russian Federation
Register of Utility Models of the Russian Federation
Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Invention Patent
Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Utility Model Patent.

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

In 2024, examiners primarily gained access to patent information through the in-house search system, PatSearch. When the information contained in the in-house search system was insufficient, examiners used freely available Internet patent databases (mainly Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE, EAPATIS, and other national patent offices' databases).

To view Korea applications' file wrappers, examiners could access K-PION databases. Examiners also had access to information regarding Indian traditional knowledge, contained in TKDL database, in accordance with the agreement between CSIR and Rospatent.

Additionally, examiners performed searches in any source freely available on the Internet. For searches of nucleotide and amino acid sequences, our examiners used freely available databases on the NCBI PubMed website: MEDLINE, Protein, Nucleotide BLAST databases, and EMBL-EBI BLAST databases by the European Bioinformatics Institute [GB].

Examiners also had access to:

  • The National Electronic Library

  • The Electronic Library of Dissertations of the Russian State Library

  • The Web of Science search platform

  • The Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) on the Web of Science platform

  • KluwerIPLaw

When necessary, examiners performed searches in the STNext databases for chemical and other specialized searches. In 2024, 290 applications were searched in STNext.

Examiners in 2024 also had access to:

  • The Questel Orbit database

  • Springer Nature resources

  • The Wiley Journals Database

  • The National e-Library

  • The Russian Science Citation Index on the eLibrary platform

Examiners have access to non-patent literature from the collections of the largest specialized libraries in Moscow, including both printed publications and electronic resources, through the inter-library exchange system and the electronic document delivery system.

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

In order to enhance publishing activities on intellectual property matters for a wide range of users, FIPS continued in 2024 to produce and distribute information products containing official information through subscription. Publications are offered primarily in electronic form: on CD and DVD discs, USB flash drives, and through electronic channels via FTP protocol. Official bulletins continue to occupy a central place in this system of publications.

The list of publications and databases released in 2024 and the procedure for acquiring them are reflected in the FIPS Publications and Databases Prospectus for 2024: https://www.fips.ru/en/informational-resources/information-products-and-services.php (in English)

In 2024, work continued on the development of the Rospatent Search Platform, with experts and external users continuing to use the new Rospatent Search Platform containing information on all intellectual property objects: https://searchplatform.rospatent.gov.ru/ (also available in English)

Information on subscribing to patent information products is available in the Patent Information Products section.

Instructions on how to carry out a search are available in the Information-Search System section of FIPS (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/en/informational-resources/information-retrieval-system/

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

Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette, in the Official Publications section: https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/IZPM

Patent databases are available in the Databases subsection of the Information-Search System section (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/en/informational-resources/information-retrieval-system/databases.php

Information on how to access and use resources is available in the Information-Search System section, subsection:
Instructions for Using Internet resources of FIPS (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/upload/medialibrary/Doc_Content/guide-ips.pdf

Search systems and databases with free access provided to external users at the FIPS All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Center (in Russian):
https://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/poiskovye-sistemy-i-bazy-dannykh.php

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

All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on current legal status that is updated three times a month. The Automated Database (ADB) subsystems that determine legal status use the official publications containing information on new registrations of protection titles and changes. Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are displayed on the Rospatent site in the Information Resources section.

For inventions and utility models, patent status may be:

  • "valid"

  • "may terminate validity"

  • "validity terminated, but may be restored"

  • "validity terminated"

Information on the legal status of inventions and utility models is published in:

  • The Rospatent's Official Gazettes "Inventions. Utility Models" on CD/DVD

  • The Rospatent website

This includes:

  • Information on the grant of patents for inventions and utility models in the Russian Federation

  • Information on amendments to published information on applications for inventions

  • Entries in the State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models (Notifications section of the Gazette)

Information is provided in the Information Resources section of the Office's website on registrations with an indication of the legal status or stage of prosecution of the registered subject matter in the Open Registers:
http://www.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

In 2024, Rospatent continued operating and developing 9 state information systems and 5 additional information systems. The implemented services are designed for users of state services in the field of intellectual property, and the technologies used in their creation have enabled stable functioning of all key processes of the IP Office.

Hardware used to support business processes of the Office

The technical infrastructure includes:

Server equipment:

  • Fujitsu M10-4S server (RAM: 96GB, processors: 20, external memory: 200TB)

  • HP DL380 servers: 41 units (RAM: 4GB, processors: 2, external memory: 300GB each)

  • QTech servers: 5 units (RAM: 256GB, processors: 2, external memory: 2TB each)

  • HP DL580 servers: 18 units (RAM: 16GB, processors: 4, external memory: 600GB each)

Workstations:

  • HP IRBIS workstations: 1 040 units

Network equipment:

  • Cisco 9500 switches

  • Cisco 4507 switches

  • Qtech 4530 switches

Software:

  • Solaris operating system

  • Windows 2012 Server

  • Astra Linux operating systems

Storage media:

  • LTO-7 magnetic tapes

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The search arrays of the internal search system include patent documents from Russia and the USSR, patent documentation from CIS countries, and documents from foreign countries included in the PCT minimum documentation. The system supports searching for non-patent literature on the website of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Electronic Library. Additionally, all examiners have free access to all search databases of foreign patent offices. For more details, see paragraph 2.1 of the Annual Report (pages 46-50).

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

In 2024, the State Patent Collection was completed with electronic patent documents. The work on supplementing retrospective data with missing documents continued. Updating of electronic patent documents is performed in real-time with inclusion of documents from the Russian Federation, foreign patent offices and organizations in the Rospatent search platform.

During 2024, information on all arrays of patent documentation from PCT minimum countries was loaded into the internal search system. The system received arrays of patent documentation from the USSR and Russia, CIS countries, PCT, EPO, USA, Germany, UK, France, Austria, Australia, ARIPO, OAPI, Korea, English-language abstracts and patent documents from Japan and other countries.

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

Applications for inventions and utility models are received for examination through personal accounts of electronic services available on the Office's website and the Unified Portal of State Services. Registration of applications is carried out in a unified system for registering applications and incoming correspondence, with data stored in a unified data storage. Examination of application materials is conducted in the electronic document management system.

The information system for converting documents from traditional to digital formats prepares documents in modern formats for subsequent formation of electronic application dossiers and processing during provision of state services. The unified document storage ensures preservation of documents and structured data in WIPO ST.96 Standard format as part of state service provision.

Other matters

The Office continues to work on improving and developing its information systems to ensure efficient processing of patent applications and high-quality services for applicants. The systems are regularly updated to comply with international standards and best practices in the field of intellectual property information processing.

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION

Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries

The All-Russian Patent and Technical Library (VPTB) division of FIPS maintains comprehensive resources and services. For detailed information about the library's activities and collections, please see paragraph 2.3 of the Annual Report (pages 51-55).

Key resources include:

Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users

The Office provides various informational materials:

Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s)

In 2024, Rospatent completed significant upgrades to its machine translation systems:

  • Implemented new version of PROMT translation system

  • Added new language pairs and translation directions

  • Integrated the system with internal search platform

  • Prepared for upcoming changes to PCT minimum requirements effective 2026

The enhanced system provides:

  • More accurate translations of foreign patent documents

  • Support for technical terminology

  • Faster processing of multilingual content

  • Improved integration with examination tools

Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers

In 2024, the Technology and Innovation Centers (TISCs) organized 8 webinars with FIPS specialists covering:

  • Patenting of IT technologies

  • Protection of regional brands (AOs and GIs)

  • Trade secrets and know-how

  • Patenting medical equipment

  • Youth innovation projects

These webinars attracted 5 847 views. Additional information about TISCs is available (in Russian):
https://www.fips.ru/about/tspti-tsentr-podderzhki-tekhnologiy-i-innovatsii/index.php

Education and training activities

The FIPS Scientific and Educational Center conducted extensive training programs in 2024:

Other activities

The Office continues to expand its educational outreach through:

  • Special programs for universities

  • Collaboration with regional innovation centers

  • Participation in international training initiatives

  • Development of new online learning resources

  • Support for young researchers and inventors

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

International Exchange of Patent Information

Rospatent actively participates in the international exchange of patent information in machine-readable form, including priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, and full-text information.

Currently, Rospatent exchanges patent information with 50 countries and 5 international organizations. As part of this cooperation, FIPS publishes Russian patent documentation on its FTP-server and provides access to the patent offices of 47 foreign countries and 4 international organizations using login credentials.

In 2024, as part of the international exchange:

  • 4 247 580 copies of full-text foreign patent documents were uploaded to the external circuit of the "Search Platform" information system.

  • The State Patent Collection was supplemented with 356 patent bulletins from 4 countries, including:

    • 13 paper bulletins

    • 13 bulletins on optical discs

    • 330 bulletins downloaded from foreign patent office websites

Additionally, in its role as a Receiving Office, Rospatent electronically transferred 751 registered copies of international applications and 543 certified copies of priority applications to WIPO via the PCT-EDI system, eliminating the need for paper copies.

As an International Searching Authority, Rospatent sent 688 international search reports and written opinions to WIPO electronically using PCT-EDI. Furthermore, in its capacity as an International Preliminary Examining Authority, Rospatent transmitted 20 international preliminary examination reports via the ePCT system.

Participation in International and Regional Projects

Rospatent is actively involved in international and regional initiatives related to patent information. For details, please refer to the following sections of the Annual Report:

  • paragraph 2.5 (page 59)

  • paragraph 4.1 (page 1)

  • paragraph 4.5 (page 78)

  • paragraph 4.8 (pages 81-83)

Assistance to Developing Countries

Under the Agreement on Patent Search and Examination of Patent Applications of Developing Countries and the Agreement on Search for Prior Art in Developing Countries (concluded on September 28, 1988, in Geneva, Switzerland), Rospatent collaborates with WIPO’s International Bureau to support developing countries. However, in 2024, Rospatent did not receive any requests for such assistance.

VII. ACTIVITIES RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WIPO STANDARDS CONCERNING PATENT INFORMATION


WIPO Standard ST.3: Two-letter codes for the representation of states, other entities and organizations

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.6: Numbering of published patent documents

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.9: Bibliographic data on and relating to patents and SPCs

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.10/C: Presentation of bibliographic data components

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.13: Numbering of applications for IPRs

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.14: References cited in patent documents

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.16: Identification of different kinds of patent documents 

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.18: Patent gazettes and other patent announcement journals

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.26: Presentation of nucleotide and amino acid sequence listings using XML

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.27: Recommendation for the Exchange of Patent Legal Status Data

Partly implemented

The Standard is used in internal processes of the IP Office, but not in published information.

WIPO Standard ST.36: Processing of patent information using XML

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.37: Recommendation for an Authority File of Published Patent Documents

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.50: Corrections, alterations and supplements relating to patent information

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.90: Recommendation for processing and communicating Intellectual Property data using Web APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)

Planning to implement

Rospatent is planning to use the recommendations of this standard when developing new and updating existing information systems.

WIPO Standard ST.91: Recommendations on digital three-dimensional (3D) models and 3D images

Implemented

WIPO Standard ST.92: Recommendations on the Data Package Format for the Electronic Exchange of Priority Documents

Planning to implement after joining WIPO DAS

WIPO Standard ST.96: Processing of Industrial Property information using XML

Implemented


Other WIPO Standards Related to Patents

ST. 1, 2, 8, 10, 10a-d, 11, 12, 12a-c, 15, 17, 19, 20 and 25 were implemented.


1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.

2. Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.

3. Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.