Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2016 submitted by The Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
All planned activities are outlined in BCP (EPO and IPO) three year bilateral plan enacted in December 2015. Next period is dedicated to data acquisition based on quality at source for collection in full text digital format.The work on New Espacenet ongoing in 2016. The new platform for e-filing for all IPRs started in May 2016.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Within Bilateral cooperation program with the EPO, scanning of national patent documentation backlog continued in 2016. On regular basis all newly published documents were scanned. New Espacenet, leading by EPO – developing new user interface to Espacenet data accession, QaS –Quality at Source, to improve the quality of data that are exchanged with EPO.
A lot of work was invested in the projects Quality at Source (QaS) and Hosted Filing Submission (HFS), under the auspices of the European Patent Office. Cooperation was continued with the EU Intellectual Property Office with regard to the realization of the projects TMView, DesignView и TMClass. The data about trademarks and design are regularly directed to the EUIPO and are available at their website.
Quality management system according to the standard ISO 9001:2008 includes the processes of patent grant, petty patent grant and trademark grant and it has been certified on November 1, 2011 continues in assurance of a constant level of quality of services provided by the Office.
In 2016, from the activities in the framework of the quality system management, two measurements of quality management were performed in each of the Department for Chemistry and Chemical Technology and Department for Machine Engineering, Electronics and General Technology. Also quality management was twice measured in the Trademark Department. The internal check of the entire system was arranged as well as the reevaluation by the management, while the external supervision has been performed by the certification body SGS Belgrade ltd. on November 7, 2016. In the certificated organizational units, IPO examined the pleasure of users with the services of the grant of patent, petty patent and national trademark, with the following results: 58% of examined users were satisfied with the service of the grant of patents and petty patents in the Department for Chemistry and Chemical Technology and Department for Machine
Engineering, Electronics and General Technology; 42% were satisfied with this service, and no clients were unhappy with the work; in the Department for Trademarks, 80% of clients were very satisfied with the service of granting national rights, 20% of clients were satisfied, and no clients expressed dissatisfaction.
Continuation of exchange of data with the EPO – federated registers.
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
E-filing, new Espacenet, QaS.
E-filing system for IP rights is fully functional and is improved on the back-office side with common dispatch module in 2016. The general information available on
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html ;
the production E-filing website on URL
System of the e-filing of documents enables to file the applications of trademarks, patents, petty patents and industrial design electronically. The receiving of documents and filings for the applications in the procedure and for the registered intellectual property rights are supported as well. Software became operational in May 2016, with the continual work on its improvement. The greatest number of e-applications was filed for the European patent (157) and individual trademark (95). Also, electronic route was used for the filing of 9 applications for the national patent and two applications of the petty patent.
With the regard to the development of IPAS, there was a change in the configuration diagrams per request, and the positioning of patterns. New versions of programs belonging to the WIPO were installed and tested (eDMS, WIPOSCAN, IPAS+, WIPOPublish, Designer). A diagram was created also for the indications of geographical origin and it was implemented into IPAS. WIPO eDMS was introduced in the production background of patents, so that now the applications and filings referring to trademarks, patents, petty patents, designs and indications of geographical origin are scanned and introduced in WIPO eDMS. Software has been improved for working with European patents from the taking over of data, automatic inclusion into IPAS, till the calculation of fees according to POST GRANT procedure, in the framework of the technical cooperation with the Intellectual Property Offices in the region, organized by WIPO IPOBSD.
Electronic Register of the indications of geographical origin is created and placed in the website of the Intellectual Property Office.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
National patent applications in 2016
Patent applications filed by domestic applicants:
191, +7.3 % compared to 2015 (178)
Foreign applications filed directly at the IPO:
16, +77 % compared to 2015 (9)
PCT applications entered national phase:
6, +50% compared to 2015 (4)
TOTAL National patent applications: 213, +11.5% compared to 2015 (191)
Requests for validation of EP patents in Republic of Serbia:
992, +42% compared to 2015 (697)
Patent applications filed in 2016 by the field of technology:
16.4% Agriculture, food products
12.7% Instruments
11.3% Health; Leisure
10.3% Electrotechnique
9.4 % Civil engineering
7.5% Engines and pumps
4.2%Transport
6.1% Separation, Mixing
5.2% Organic chemistry
5.2% Personal and household goods
11.7% Other
PCT applications filed at Serbian IPO as a Receiving office in 2016
15, - 48% compared to 2015 (29)
Petty patent applications in 2015
61, -4.5% compared to 2015 (64)
Requests for the supplementary protection certificate in 2016
20, +25% compared to 2015 (16)
Number of patents granted in 2016
Domestic patentee: 50, -19% compared to 2015 (62)
Foreign patentee: 18, -25 % compared to 2015 (24)
Validation of European patents with RS office: 747, +15.3% compared to 2015 (648)
TOTAL: 815, +11% compared to 2015 (734)
Number of petty patents granted in 2016
36 +20% compared to 2015 (30)
Number of valid patents in 2016
3790 , +14% compared to 2015 (3329)
Number of valid petty patents in 2015:
215, -4.4% compared to 2015 (225)
TOTAL: 4005,+12.7% compared to 2015 (3554)
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Website of the IPO is updated daily with the news in Serbian language and in English only those of greater importance. The news webpage is the homepage of IPO website www.zis.gov.rs
Annual reports from 2006:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-us/annual-report.106.html
Patent statistics from 2006:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/intellectual-property-rights/patents/statistics.65.html
Electronic Newsletter:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/newsletter.308.html
Legislation on IPR:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/legal-regulations/laws-and-regulations.110.html
International Clasiffication system IPC 2017.1 available for search in Serbian – WIPO interface:
http://89.216.38.50/ipcpub/#refresh=page
Helpdesk contact – Education and Information Center:
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.) - URLs
IPO Serbia has a public library where all persons can get the consultancy in person for patent filing from the patent examiners. Through Education and Information center and the seminars it delivers to the participants, information on patent system and the proceedings as well as patent drafting are the topics which are included in basic and advanced training modules. Each month on third Thursday, Open Door event is organized for customer’s consultancy beside the opportunity to have them every day on regular basis.
Open door: 12 occasions, 64 customers visited IPO.
Client consultancy in accordance to the topics:
Patent protection – 658
Trademak protection – 1451
Copyrights – 164
Industrial design – 110
Enforcement matters – 91
TOTAL: 2473 consultations for 2207 customers
Wide scope of services of education and information is adjusted to the various target groups including: business companies and institutions that offer support to business, organizations involved in R&D, institutions of high education, institutions for the enforcement of the intellectual property rights and others. The education is performed in the form of lectures, seminars, conferences, consultations on protection, use and management of intellectual property rights. Small and medium enterprises are specially offered the service designed in particular for them, Intellectual Property Pre-diagnosis , with the offering of consultations during the presence of the IPO at the business fairs. 44 seminars took place for different users. 19 of them were dedicated to patent proceedings and patent information, 2 for training on e-filing, 4 to enforcement institutions and other for general public on IPRs.
In 2016, an advertisement was announced for the presentation of the WIPO awards of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and awards handed over for the 5 categories of competitors.
“WIPO International Conference on Innovations and Intellectual Property” was also held in Novi Sad in October 2016.
E-filing user guide, electronic certificates description and installation manuals, recommendations how to prepare the proper documentation and graphic data format for application – all is accessible through link:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1163.html
E-filing system for IP rights has meen prepared and started to be functional in April 2016.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html
Also, all of these were introduced to user community through seminars, periodical and permanent (once a month – general IP education open for public) EIC activities http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-eic/about-eic.287.html
Instructions for drafting patent application and for the process of patent filling are available at the website as well as the examples of formally correct patent applications from the different fields. All forms and guidelines are available at the following link:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-is/patenti/obrasci,-uputstva-i-primeri.4.html
The scheme of the proceedings for patent and petty patent applications with the description and the deadlines is available at the following link.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-intelektualne-svojine/patenti/postupak.900.html
FAQ on patent proceedings:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/intellectual-property-rights/patents/most-frequently-asked.60.html
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Patent/petty patent/CPC register is available in electronic form since 2014. Bibliographic data on all patent/petty patent/CPC application entered in proceeding from 1994 can be viewed in register and there is the link to publication server and the patent document when application or registered patent has been published.
Search through electronic registers of patents, petty patents and SPC:
All published patent documents since Office’s foundation in 1921 with few gaps in early years are available at Publication server http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/patent-databases.419.html and can be searched with all possible criteria within the MIMOSA search software and with available search criteria in Espacenet RS as well as in Espacenet worldwide
http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/patent-databases.419.html
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
The cooperation has been realized with the WIPO – World Intellectual Property Organization, on the project IPCTrans with regard to the adjustment of the data and the transfer to the new platform for the translation of the version IPC 2017.01. The translation of the latest version of the International Patent Classification (IPC) 2017.1 has been updated and uploaded on the website of the IPO.
There is a link to the IPC translated in Serbian at IPO web site, with previous versions.
http://89.216.38.50/ipcpub/#refresh=page&menulang=SR&lang=sr¬ion=scheme
The changes of versions of IPC are completely done within the office by examiners and installed by IT department with the WIPO translation kit.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
All granted patent and petty patent are published with the abstract on the first page. The abstracts and titles are translated in English and entered into MIMOSA RS database in Serbian and English languages. Espacenet RS is updated on regular basis with the publication of each IPOS Official gazette. Translation in other languages is possible within the Espacenet
Other activities
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)
Official IPO Gazette contains bibliographic data with the abstracts in Serbian and English on published patent applications, registered patents, registered petty patents and CPC.
Full text of all published patent documents in Gazette, are available on Publication server and they can be searched by the application/publication number, IPC symbol, document kind and publication date on the following URL address and they are available in PDF format. The documents are scanned and cannot be searched by key words in full text.
http://89.216.38.53/rs-pubserver/search.jsp?lg=en
Publishing department of IPO prints in-house whole patent documents after the grant of patent/petty patent as well as patent certificates, application forms as well as guides for drafting the patent application and other IP rights. Patent documentation in paper is still available but not for public use in separate room at the Office. All types of patent publications are available online in electronic form.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
Intellectual Property Gazette is the basic official source of information about all intellectual property rights. 7 issues of IP Gazette were issued in 2016. Since the beginning of 2012 the Intellectual Property Gazette is published only in electronic form in PDF format on the website of the IPO at the following link. In 2016, from number 2016/6 IP Gazette is published on monthly basis through IPAS, which creates preconditions for earlier start with the substantive patent examination. IPG is published on the website of the IPO, created as PDF/A document and it is signed by the server certificate.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/electronic-publications.462.html
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
All the searches at the Office are computerized. Each working station has fast internet access and patent databases are accessible through it. National database in electronic form primarily was internal and in 2009 became publicly on-line available. MIMOSA professional search software for advanced search through published national patent documents can be installed also by outside user and then the search can be conducted. Internally, WIPO IPAS administration system is used for administration of patent applications. 93 573 different nationally published documents (A, A1, A2, A3, B, B1, U, U1) are available through MIMOSA search software.
All nationally published patent documents are available also through Espacenet since that database is regularly updated with documents published in IP Gazette.
IPO's examiners are provided with access to the professional database EPOQUE-net through secure connection with EPO server. This database is used since 2009 for examination matters together with all free available databases of patent and non-patent literature. Apart from that, in the course of 2016, all patent examiners were trained to use the latest versions and options of the program EPOQUEnet 5.20, which in comparison to the earlier version enables more efficient search of patent documentation, which creates conditions for the efficient search of the state of the art according to the subject matter of the inventions from the applications.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
The Public library or public reading room is part of the Patent documentation and publishing department. In the library at 4 workstations, the users can perform free individual or assisted search through national patent documentation through MIMOSA software (93 573 documents), Espacenet as well as through Trademark and Design databases. National patent documents also can be accessed on-line also through MIMOSA software with the instruction for use, Espacenet RS or Espacenet Worldwide free of charge.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Legal status of retrieved documents could be seen in electronic Patent register, Petty Patent registers and CPC Register for all documents since 1994 but all changes could be retrieved for documents from 2015 when office started to keep electronic register only. The older registers, before 2015 are available still in paper form and can be viewed free of charge. Every person who submits relevant application and pays a fee to the account of the Office can obtain excerpts from the register in written form.
E-patent Register
http://reg.zis.gov.rs/patreg/?t=p
E-Petty Patent register
http://reg.zis.gov.rs/patreg/?t=u
CPC Register
http://reg.zis.gov.rs/patreg/?t=c
Other sources
Serbian IP office has the agreement with National Library for free access to database of Serbian libraries COBSON with the access to international scientific non-patent literature for use by patent examiners.
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
For the administration of patent, petty patent, supplementary protection certificate, the business process management system WIPO IPAS is used. IPAS is used also for trademarks and design as well as fro GI.
EPOQUE Net, the professional patent information retrieval tool is used for support the processes of search and patent granting. It is European Patent Office’s software executed via the Patent secure network, current version 5.20, the last version available.
WIPO EDMS system entered into the production in 2016. WIPO PUBLISH is still in testing.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Internet access is achieved through direct optical connection to the provider at 20Mbit/sec,
2xCisco ASA 5510 in active/standby firewall configuration.
No new server hardware was purchased in 2016 in addition to servers described in previous ATRs. The need for certain new server services is fulfilled on-the-fly with several virtual servers of the MS Hyper-V and VMware host type and HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Dual Controller LFF NAS storage discs.
The client side of the internal network is of MS Windows 7x64 type, running on unified hardware workstations and periferals.
The hardware supporting Patnet (EPO secured network) is renewed with the contemporary VPN router and switch, financed by EPO.
Cartridge tape system is used for system wide data backup.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Patent search in IPAS is available in-house. Preparing patent data for Gazette is done through IPAS, pulling bibliographic data contained in the Gazette in XML St36 format and using it for MIMOSA RS database and also providing the EPO with RS data in order to become accessible through Espacenet.
Databases used for searching by patent examiners internally accessible are: national patent documentation through MIMOSA RS, EPOQUENET database of EPO - search of data base of patent documents that are on the servers of the European Patent Office.
Also, in 2016 for the purpose of data exchange with the EPO database Espacenet, the Espacenet New project is in effect at the office and in Espacenet complete patent documents with RS country code since 2006 can be found in it. In 2016 documents of the period from 1973 - 2005 is in the process of treatment within the ongoing EPO project quality-at-source.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Published patent applications are scanned on Eposcan and PDF form is available through PubServer and MIMOSA. For preparation and printing registered patents and petty patents different OCR programs are used. Earlier Adobe Fine Reader and now all multifunctional scan/copying machines in the Office have built-in text converters for different types of format.
(PDF, TIF, GIF etc.). Patent documentation department is in charge for maintenance national patent documentation and check of data for MIMOSA RS. On the day of publication of Gazette the published patent documents are available for searching.
Other office's document searched through EPOQUENET.
Also, the electronic E-Register on http://reg.zis.gov.rs/patreg/ is available for searching
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
IPAS is administrative system for management of patents and all other industrial property rights (trademarks, designs). The new electronic E-filing system was launched and available on http://eusluge.zis.gov.rs/. It requires digital certificates and digital signatures to use the system. This enables users to submit all kinds of requests, online.
Also, the legal status of patents is available through the EPOs Federated (see http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/federated-register-service-for-european-patents.695.html) register concept. Serbia was one of the first members to implement. The software is locally developed using web services technology
Other matters
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 IPO continually checks and amends bibliographical data and in such way improves the national patent data base of documents MIMOSA RS. At the beginning of November 2015, the digitalization of all available national patent documents was completed since 1921 until the present day, and they were placed on the Server of published patent documents and also MIMOSA – national data base of patent documents has been completed, so digitalization was finalized in compliance with one of the measures of the National Intellectual Property Development Strategy 2011-2015. Also in the course of 2016, 1075 newly published patent documents were placed in the database MIMOSA RS which are available for online searching. National patent collection in electronics formats now consists of: 42 906 published patent applications (A, A1,A2, A3), 49 924 (B, B1) granted patents and 1 507 petty patents since 1921.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/left/databases.421.html
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Other activities
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION
International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
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., the IPC). The new symbols are available on patent databases.