Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2015 submitted by the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland
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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
A number of projects were established within the Cooperation Fund, a lot of them have already been implemented but still on some of them the work is carried out. The Cooperation Fund covers work in collaboration between EUIPO and national offices. Main goals of this project are: harmonization of practices, adaptation to the digital environment, barrier removal, improvement of technical system. Such objectives create a good strategy especially in order to adapt to the competitive internal European and digital market. That's why here in Poland, the Office decided to participate in all of the 20 CF projects. In 2016, EUIPO launched European Cooperation Programme aiming at enhancing the cooperation between the national IP offices.
In 2016 Polish Patent Office continued to use new databases as follows:
- Quality Standard for Trade Marks and Designs - Transparent and harmonized information about services and quality standards provided by participating offices.
- Common User Satisfaction Survey - Harmonized User Satisfaction Survey - a Cooperation Fund project, the Common User Satisfaction Survey allows for a common approach to carrying out surveys across participating IP offices. The project also allows for the cross-linkage of other CF projects, like Quality. An analysis of the completed survey will allow the participating office to: measure customer satisfaction draw attention to areas for improvement plan future work of the office
- eLearning - tool providing online training for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). This e-Learning tool is divided into two main sections: "Why is Intellectual Property important", where you can find information about Intellectual Property throughout the different stages of production, and "What and How to protect" where you can find information targeted towards Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), covering the different types of Intellectual Property rights.
- Enforcement Database - an up to date database to help enforcement agencies to better identify counterfeit goods. The tool holds data on registered IP rights, contact information, supplementary product information and logistics. This information can be used by enforcement authorities in order to detect counterfeit products.
- Anti – Counterfeiting Intelligence Support Tool - with this tool enforcement authorities can see how counterfeited goods are moving within the internal market so that they can use their resources more efficiently. The system enables end users (enforcement authorities, the EUIPO Observatory, etc.) to upload the relevant data via a user friendly interface.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In 2016 the new project was launched, concerning development of Electronic Services Platform (PUEUP). The main object of the project is to deliver one platform to provide electronic services to customers.
In 2016 PPO was active in the field of e-administration services, taking part in the development of functionalities related to the use of governmental Electronic Platform of Public Administration Services (ePUAP). PPO has dealt with maintaining of the existing forms in terms of their functionality and reliability and has redefined the process of exchanging documents between ePUAP and Electronic Document Management system (EZD).
PPO has carried out the development of the Register Plus system for industrial designs. The scope of data presented has been extended for national industrial designs.
In 2016 BackOffice system for trademarks and industrial designs was further developed and has been adapted to new opposition procedure for the trademark examination.
Under the Innovative Economy Programme project, the PPO has continued the development of main search engine of industrial property items, based on the SharePoint 2013.
The new search system Document Library UPRP platform has been made available to all interested parties. It has been prepared for full text search in the texts of descriptions and publications.
PPO has continued the development of an intranet platform on SharePoint 2013: new versions of personal pages, updating and ordering official documents, launching the search of documents and adding other new functionalities.
PPO has maintained the searchable Patent Attorneys and Applicants List. Adjustments to the data structure and adaptation of the system to the current legislation were made.
Due to the requirements of the Patent Attorneys Act, patent attorneys and applicants data for the public courts has been made available in the system-to-system mode. For this purpose a comprehensive requirement analysis was carried out and a “list of patent attorneys and applicants“ webservice service was implemented.
The PPO has joined the data providers group at DanePubliczne.gov.pl website and has implemented automatic mechanisms for public data publication processed by the Office, concerning industrial property protection, publications provided by the Office, information about patent attorneys, etc.
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 Register Plus software application for industrial designs was further developed and enhanced in 2016. The quality of data was improved and a wider range of presented data was introduced.
Updating with Polish data the search system for industrial designs – DesignView.
As a continuation of work on the main search engine of industrial property items in the year 2016 there were introduced amendments requested by users, aimed at improving the functionality of the search engine. It is linked to other search systems, which are in the portfolio of the Office (Publication Server, Register Plus, etc.).
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
In 2016, the Polish Patent Office received 1,072 industrial design applications under national procedure and 24 applications under international procedure.
Polish applicants made 1,063 applications and foreign applicants made 9 applications under national procedure.
1,117 decisions were issued, including 953 positive ones. The Patent Office received from domestic applicants 17 applications for Community Industrial Designs, which were transmitted to EUIPO.
The number of industrial design registration rights in force on 31 December 2016 was 9,854.
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Statistics are accessed at the following URLs:
http://www.uprp.pl (Annual Reports' box)
Detailed statistics may be bespoke provided (write to http://www.uprp.gov.pl/Text01,205,161,1,index,pl,text/).
News page: http://www.uprp.pl/aktualnosci/Menu01,16,7,index,pl/
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
The PPO information and support options in 2016 included:
1) Via website: http://www.uprp.pl/przedmioty-wlasnosci-przemyslowej/Menu02,12,4,index,pl/ (all information about patents, trademarks, designs, etc. and instructions e.g. "How to patent an invention or utility model to protect? ");
2) via telephone: (+48 22 579 05 55);
3) via e-mail: http://www.uprp.pl/Text01,205,161,1,index,pl,text/.
Management of the contacts in 2016 (phone + mail) was performed through a software:
1) Personal contacts (CRM system);
2) Within Register IP Info Center customer contacts (OSCC, CRM systems);
- 864 emails were received
- 26,639 calls were answered and performed (including the call back)
- 2,639 meetings took place with examiners and at the center of information
3) Identification and differentiation of customers (OSCC, CRM systems);
4) Carrying out customer satisfaction surveys (CRM system) - level of satisfaction 93 %;
5) Analyses of the contacts (analyses, statistics - CRM, OSCC systems);
6) Keeping records and transferring customer requests (satisfaction, complaints, suggestions for improvement) (TRX system).
The CRM system is shared between 11 departments in contact with the public. A change of version was introduced for :
- independent work with the contact, regardless of the fact who established the contact and possibility to change/edit the contact data;
- interfacing with other applications (Computer Telephony Integration, callback, meetings time and visits) to facilitate the customer relation management. Tool for measuring the customers’ satisfaction.
In 2016, IP Info Center has implemented a non-verbal communication system to improve information service for deaf and hard of hearing customers.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Customers using the ePUAP have access to the application files sent by them electronically to the PPO.
Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
In 2016 Polish Patent Office has maintained the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) as well as International Classification for Industrial Designs (EuroLocarno Classification).
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)
In 2016, the following publications (periodicals) were issued:
- "Biuletyn Urzędu Patentowego" (Bulletin of the Patent Office - bi-weekly) 26 numbers, i.e. 2,660 copies;
- "Wiadomości Urzędu Patentowego" (Communications of the Patent Office - monthly) 12 numbers, i.e. 1,170 copies;
- 2015 Annual Report of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland – 972 copies.
Most publications are available on the PPO's website: http://uprp.pl - and continue at http://portal.uprp.pl/wydawnictwa.html (Online Services Portal)
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
The Polish Patent Office's "Wiadomości Urzędu Patentowego" (Communications of the Patent Office) - where industrial design registrations are published, among others) is forthwith available free of charge in PDF format on the Online Services Portal (http://portal.uprp.gov.pl/wydawnictwa.html).
In 2016, there were 1,210 announcements published on registered industrial designs.
Announcements regarding non-procedural matters, but coupled with the Office's activity like: general information on the PPO's tasks, references, organizational structure, HR matters are published on the Internet version of "Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej" which falls under the official PPO's website. Many non-regular, important announcements are immediately published within the content of the website.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
- Online Services Portal with: IP information on industrial design, access to patent gazettes, classifications, e-filings and patent attorney's list: http://portal.uprp.pl;
- Publication Server - Polish industrial design: http://pubserv.uprp.pl (user interface in 3 languages - PL, EN and FR);
- Industrial design data stored on specialized internal databases of the PPO where image information and bibliographic details are held.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
In addition to manual search facilities, the PPO's and the Online Services Portal websites provide information relating to design registrations including forms and fees, legal decisions, guides for applicants. Information is also available from the Office's Information Unit.
Full text specifications of industrial designs registered in the PPO organised in classified collections are displayed for the users in the Office's Library. Copies of specifications are available upon payment (price list available on the PPO website or on the spot).
Online sources of industrial design information include:
- Online Services Portal (free of charge) with: IP information on industrial designs, access to classifications, e-filings and patent attorney's directory: http://portal.uprp.gov.pl. Free of charge;
- Publication Server – a portal giving free, open, and wide access to patent information, with integrated facilities to search full texts of Polish patent specifications, Polish utility models, Polish industrial designs and translations into Polish language published by the European Patent Office patents which are valid in the territory of the Republic of Poland. Documents are disseminated in PDF format. Available at: http://pubserv.uprp.gov.pl/. Free of charge;
- Register Plus for industrial designs available at:
http://regservds.uprp.gov.pl/register/regviewer. Free of charge;
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
In order to make entries on the legal status of exclusive rights protected on the territory of Poland, industrial design register is held. The register includes information necessary to establish the subject and scope of protection (f. ex. date of filing, title), entity (or entities) entitled to rights concerning a given subject of protection (f. ex. holders, licensees, securities, seizure) and other useful information (f. ex. applications for revocation). Every person who submits relevant application and pays a fee to the account of the Office can obtain excerpts from the register.
Legal status information is available in Register Plus at:
http://regservds.uprp.pl/register/regviewer
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
BackOffice is the main system for managing the procedures for granting and maintaining the rights of trademarks and industrial designs in the Polish Patent Office. BackOffice is the source system for many databases (search engines) and it is linked to other systems in PPO.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
PPO uses thin clients, workstations and notebooks with Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Microsoft Windows 10; multimedia tablets with Apple iOS, Google Android and Microsoft Windows 10 Pro; physical and virtual servers with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard & Enterprise, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard & Enterprise, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard & Enterprise, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard & Enterprise, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10/11/12, CentOS Linux 5/6/7, Oracle Linux 5/6/7, Debian GNU/Linux 6/7/8 and Ubuntu Server LTS; hypervisor servers with VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2.
All of thin clients, workstations, notebooks and servers are secured by Symantec antivirus and Forcepoint antispam system.
All network connections are based on Cisco, Forcepoint and Extreme Networks equipment with 300 Mb/s access to the Internet. The availability of services published to the Internet is supported by the Barracuda Load Balancer cluster.
Server infrastructure for the Online Portal includes 9 application servers; 5 database servers; 15 storage spaces. TB build-up array; back-ups for HP Data Protector, Fujitsu FI-5900C scanner, 125 packages for the purposes of qualified signatures. On-Line Portal servers are supported by local UPSs and they are also hooked to Main power supply unit for the PPO.
Main IT infrastructure units are located in a secure server room equipped with fire alarm, CCTV system, redundant air-conditioning and technical floor.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Industrial design data are stored on the specialized, regularly updated internal databases, where image information and bibliographic details are held, for example:
- BackOffice;
- databases supporting the process of publication of industrial designs.
Most production databases are hosted by Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise and MySQL Server 4/5/, PostgreSQL 9
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
BackOffice, is a workflow-based system for handling trademarks and designs throughout the whole lifecycle of the process, from application to registration and publication. It also streamlines the working process, by helping users to create and monitor correspondence with clients. It is adopted to work together with Electronic Document Management System (EZD) which facilitates processing of incoming and outgoing correspondence. External users have access to register and legal status information via Register Plus system. Settlement Module (MR) is used as a supplementary system for managing fees and payments.
Other matters
PPO has continued implementation of new Intranet site based on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise software.
PPO maintained professional call center service based on Unify OpenScape Contact Center Enterprise software and new system of customer relationship management based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 365 software.
EZD system has been integrated with BackOffice in the field of exchange of correspondence and information about entities.
PPO has launched the registers containing lists of requests about public information and public information provided.
PPO has prepared a new version of the list of patent attorneys.
The leading office software used for word processing and spreadsheet is, Microsoft Office 2007 Standard, Microsoft Office 2010 Standard & Professional Plus, Microsoft Office 2013 Standard & Professional Plus, Microsoft Office 2016 Standard & Professional Plus and Apache OpenOffice 4.
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
Full text specifications of industrial designs registered in the PPO organised in classified collections were displayed for the users in the Office's reading room.
Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Within promotion of knowledge on industrial property the Patent Office issues various publications such as guides, informational-promotional brochures addressed to wide audience, among others to entrepreneurs, students, school youth. Those publications are available free of charge both in electronic version and PDF format as well as on paper on the premises of the Office.
Publication titles are as follows: Your world of intellectual property, What is intellectual property, Inventor's guide, Inventions in SMEs activity, Industrial designs in MSEs activity. Use the past to create future, Industrial protection in a nutshell, Inventions in your house, to name a few.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
The Patent Office collaborates with various institutions in the scope of promotion of knowledge on Intellectual Property (organisation of conferences, workshops, trainings, granting patronage of the PPO President over numerous initiatives etc.).
In 2016, the Office collaborated with the following entities, to name a few:
- collaboration with universities (Jagiellonian University in Kraków, University of Warsaw, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Łódź University of Technology, Kielce University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, etc.);
- collaboration with science and business related institutions, including:, Association of Polish Inventors and Rationalisers, Polish Patent Attorney Chamber; National Information Processing Institute, National Chamber of Commerce, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Institute of Industrial Design, etc.;
- collaboration with governmental administration institutions: Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Regional Development.
Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
In 2016, within industrial property protection the PPO organised or participated in the following events:
- 9th International Conference “Innovativeness and creativity in economy – Social innovations in industrial design” in Warsaw;
- International Conference on World Intellectual Property Day "Challenges for intellectual property law in digital economy: Trademarks in the era of hashtags, industrial designs in the world of layouts" organised in Warsaw in cooperation with WIPO;
- 12th International Symposium "Industrial Property in Innovative Economy. Start-ups in innovation world" held in Kraków;
- 35th Seminar for Patent Attorneys of Schools of Higher Education in Cedzyna;
- Trainings on industrial property protection for MSEs and business-related institutions;
- PPO competition for a poster, short film and media information in the scope of intellectual property protection;
- Workshop “Intellectual property in pharmaceutical-medical sector: Are we innovative?”;
- Two seminars “From idea to commercialisation – build your protection strategy”;
- 3rd edition of the competition Ambassador of School Innovation;
- 20th Scientific Picnic of the Polish Radio and Copernicus Science Centre;
- Ceremony of prize award in the 14th edition of the competition for the best artistic poster as well as post-doctoral, doctoral, master's and student's theses on the subject of intellectual property organized by the Patent Office;
In 2016 PPO maintained the Internet Educational Platform (http://ipe.uprp.gov.pl) which constitutes compendium of knowledge on intellectual property issues. The target group comprises enterprises (especially MSEs) business related institutions (including schools of higher education) and other entities.
- The Knowledge Zone includes information, publications and other materials addressed both to entities with advanced knowledge on IP issues and those looking for basic information on IP protection, procedures and management.
- Training Zone comprises e-learning course divided into 10 modules on intellectual property protection. Each module ends with a test to verify the acquired knowledge.
PPO has also maintained e-learning platform, IPPanorama, dedicated to broadening and promotion of knowledge about the protection of intellectual property. It is available at http://ippanorama.uprp.pl.
The Patent Information Center Forum has been prepared, a platform for exchanging experiences, knowledge, comments and opinions between Patent Information Centers and the Office.
In 2016 the PPO organised on its premises a series of advisory-informational meetings with renowned experts in the field of intellectual property, which gathered in total 450 guests.
Other activities
Nonverbal communication system was implemented in the form of online sign language translation service. The purpose of the project was removal of communication barriers in communication with people with hearing impairment.
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)
n/a
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information
See point I above
Assistance to developing countries
n/a
Other activities