Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2018 submitted by 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.

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

Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of trademark information activities and expected time frames for their realization

In 2018, developing electronic interaction services, optimizing technological office work processes, and enhancing the transparency of Rospatent and FIPS were the main areas of work.

In 2018, users of the FIPS website made extensive use of the service for submitting trademark applications electronically (AWS Registrar).

Implementation of a range of measures aimed at increasing applicants’ interest in the electronic provision of government services enabled the share of electronic applications to increase. In particular, in the fourth quarter of 2018, 78.6 per cent of trademark applications were filed electronically, which was 20 per cent higher than in the same period of 2017.

In addition, work continued to secure a reduction in labor costs for expertise in comparing the names of goods and services;

• in 2018, a version of the ICGS (11-2018) information database of names of goods was developed, and systematically organized on the basis of semantic links;

• by the end of 2018, a version of the user interface was made available for generating, populating, and modifying the above mentioned information DB of good names by the expert user, who will be able to manage and monitor matching of specific names of G/S specified by applicants in trademark applications. If there is a connection between the projected system and a database of trademark numbers and associated G/S, the designed framework, which describes the semantic links between the names of G/S, will make it possible to perform automated searches in G/S lists of applications and registrations not only for exact matches with the name sought, but also to find all names of similar G/S under given parameters. 

  On the site of Rospatent the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans":

  http://www.rupto.ru/ru/about/plans.

New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2018:

- Operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Register for Trademarks (hereinafter referred to as EGR TM), and the List of Well-Known Trademarks in the Russian Federation (EGR OTM).

- The system for official Internet publication of information on intellectual property subject matter from the EGR is operational. Automatic downloading of information from State Registers in open data formats is provided in accordance with the disclosure requirements schedule of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the most important data sets of social significance for 2017-2018. The information is available in the ‘Public Data’ section of the Rospatent website.

- In 2018, the electronic document flow system for trademarks and service marks, TM-ADMIN, operated reliably.

- In 2018, applications to register trademarks continued to be received electronically using the electronic filing service AWS Registrar.

- In 2018, a new version of the electronic trademark application filing service has been made available to users, which makes users’ work available in Yandex browser.

In November, 2018, recording of trademark applications in the EGR (TM) from the TM-ADMIN system began, along with the introduction of new types of non-traditional trademarks,  specifying the mark’s characteristics, additional projections, etc., and applicant identification details.

In 2018, the TM-ADMIN system discontinued mailing paper copies of email correspondence relating to applications for State registration of a trademark (hereinafter, TM), appellation of origin (hereinafter, AO), and grant of exclusive right to such an appellation, as well as the grant of exclusive right to a previously registered appellation of origin (hereinafter, RAO). The originals of such correspondence are posted in users’ Personal Accounts on the FIPS website. As a result, labor costs for printing and sending office correspondence, as well as postage costs, have been reduced. 

In 2018, the TM-ADMIN system was finalized, which allowed printing of a second copy of correspondence sent to applicants (or applicants’ representatives) regarding applications for TM/ AO/ RAO received in hard-copy to be phased out, in order to obviate the need to add a copy of the document to the application paperwork. 

In 2018, EGR TM and EGR OTM records continued to be completed.

As of the end of 2018, the registers contained:

- EGR TM: 610,696 registrations;

- EGR OTM: 201 registrations.

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

In 2018, the number of requests for the provision of government services (hereinafter referred to as ‘requests’) submitted electronically to Rospatent increased compared to 2017. The fastest growth was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018, at 38 per cent (26.7 per cent in the same quarter of 2017).

This was achieved through the implementation of a series of measures, a list of which is presented below.

The list of measures aimed at increasing applicants’ interest in applying electronically for the provision of government services is as follows:

1. Amendments to regulatory acts.

By decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No.1151 of 23 September 2017, at the suggestion of Rospatent, the discount to the amount of duty for completing legally significant actions in the provision of government services shall be increased to 30 per cent, and such discount shall be extended to all types of actions that were initiated electronically.  

1. Development and implementation of new electronic interaction services.

In 2018, a new version of the AWS (Automated Work Station) Registrar service was commissioned, which provided the option to file applications for invention and utility models electronically.

1. Expanding the functionality of electronic interaction services.

In 2018, automatic processing was introduced of correspondence signed electronically on applications previously filed through the Personal Account, eliminating potential errors and delays in registering documents ‘manually’, and also including applications for inventions and utility models. 

1. Providing the option of submitting applications using the Unified Portal of Government and Municipal Services (Functions) (hereinafter referred to as EPGU).

 In 2018, the option was provided to submit applications to EPGU for 25 Rospatent government services.

During the year under review, a number of meetings were held with the Ministries of Communications and Economic Development to resolve the issues of making provision for the specific features of Rospatent services on EPGU. For 2019, there are plans to enhance the functionality of EPGU and subsequently to update the application forms for Rospatent services on EPGU.

1. 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.
2. Posting of educational video materials and programs on the FIPS website.

Videos have been posted in the Electronic Interaction with Applicants section. The number of views of the video on preparing an application for an invention totaled 2,444.

1. The FIPS technical support service is conducting a review of requests from users of electronic services.
2. 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 2018, some 41,788 applications for State registration of trademarks and service marks were filed.

In 2019, work is planned to continue on developing electronic filing services, and promoting the use of electronic filing and interaction among applicants and patent attorneys. This will broaden the range of users of electronic filing services, and sustain the growth in the number of applications submitted.

“The web-service for transferring information on registered intellectual property subject matter when interacting electronically with executive authorities” has been registered in the productive environment of SMEV 3.0 28.07.2017. In particular, the use of SMEV 3.0 services made it possible to increase the functionality of interaction services on the FIPS website by automating verification of the applicant’s electronic signature.

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

From Table 1, below, it is clear that the overall number of trademark registration applications filed in the Russian Federation in 2018 increased in comparison to 2017.

The growth is 3.47%, due to the increase in the number of applications from Russian  applicants (by 5.41%).

Applications received from overseas applicants slightly exceeded the previous year’s level (by 0.1 per cent), due to the growth in the number of applications under the international procedure (1.32 per cent).

Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 17.80 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2018 in comparison to 2017 occurred both due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 28.38%) and for foreign applicants (by 4.64%).

Table 1

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

The following pages of the Office’s website contain:

• Legal information in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section -Regulation section:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/trademarks/tovarnye-znaki-znaki-obsluzhivaniya-i-naimenovaniya-mest-proiskhozhdeniya-tovarov-normativnye-dokume.php;

• Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:

http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;

Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/links;

• Guide to the resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS and Internet resources:

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

• Information notices in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/trademarks/informatsionnye-soobshcheniya.php;

• “Russian Premier League 2017/2018 football clubs trademarks” catalogue

https://rupto.ru/ru/sourses/multimedia/infographic/premier-league-reversal.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK 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

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for registering trademarks and service marks, and electronic correspondence: http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-tovarnyy-znak/

Answers to frequently asked questions are posted on a section of the FIPS website.

Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru   to obtain professional help from technical specialists.

Thematic meetings on electronic filing of trademark applications and maintaining electronic correspondence in the course of office work are held on a monthly basis.

Free, one-on-one training for users of electronic trademark application filing systems is held in the computer room of the library (VPTB).

The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:

State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and the issuance of certificates for trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/gosudarstvennaya-registraciya-tovarnogo-znaka-znaka-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnogo-znaka-i-vydacha-svidetelstv-na-tovarnyy-znak-znak-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnyy-znak-ih-dublikatov;

Recognition of a trademark, or a designation used as trademark, as a well-known trademark in the Russian Federation:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/priznanie-tovarnogo-znaka-ili-ispolzuemogo-v-kachestve-tovarnogo-znaka-oboznacheniya;

• Access to documents of applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of such documents:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-gosudarstvennuyu-registraciyu-tovarnogo-znaka-znaka-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnogo-znaka-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov;

• section "Forms of documents":

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documentforms;

• Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples section heading:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/formy-dokumentov/index.php

• Filing Applications section/ "Filing an application for an invention, utility model, trademark, appellation of origin» rubric:

  http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-tovarnyy-znak/

• The ‘Personal Office’ service facilitates correspondence on stage of prosecution for applications filed both in hard-copy, and using the electronic application filing services:

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

• Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/ru/activities/dues;
• Fee calculator: http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/kalkulyator-poshlin/index.php;

Frequently Asked Questions section:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/faq/chto-takoe-tovarnyy-znak-i-znak-obsluzhivaniya.

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for registering trademarks and service marks, and electronic correspondence: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/

Answers to frequently asked questions are posted on a section of the FIPS website.

Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru to obtain professional help from technical specialists.

Thematic meetings on electronic filing of trademark applications and maintaining electronic correspondence in the course of office work are held on a monthly basis.

In 2018, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 12 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 244 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from Bryansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Obninsk, Oryol, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Yakutsk, Yaroslavl, who were representatives of various enterprises and organizations and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 108 people participated in the meeting via video-conference, organized on the basis of 6 TISCs.

Free, one-on-one training for users of electronic trademark application filing systems is held in the computer room of the library (VPTB).

Questions concerning paper and/or electronic filing of trademark applications with FIPS were reviewed at 32 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 2018 in  12 regions of the Russian Federation. Details of these events can be found in Part 5(d).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

In 2018, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2018 (updated daily).

Throw the TM-ADMIN system for electronic document flow for trademarks and service marks examiners have an access to documents on the electronic processing of applications, including primary application materials, documents related to application correspondence, and structured data.

Matters concerning classifying

(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification

In 2018, the Trademark and Registration Division continued to participate in activities to improve the International Classification of Goods and Services for the registration of marks (Nice Classification, hereinafter ‘NCL’), with the aim of establishing conditions for the use of the new WIPO standards in the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and improved international classifications for industrial property: 

- preparation of proposals concerning amendments to the 11th edition of the 2018 version of NCL, to the 28th session of the Committee of Experts on the Nice Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

-preparation of the official translation into Russian of terms used in the 11th edition of the 2019 version of NCL, ‘NCL (11-2019)’;

-translation into Russian and formatting of terms used in NCL (11-2019) for the WIPO International Bureau support service, ‘Goods and Services Manager’/MGS Madrid Goods & Services Manager, and for the multi-lingual service of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) TM class, and transfer of formatted materials to the WIPO International Bureau and EUIPO;

- the terms of NCL (11-2019) and LEXINTU-2019 have been prepared in Russian in a special format for downloading into a software package for electronic filing with Rospatent of trademark registration applications by applicants, as well as into a software package for electronic record-keeping when examining trademark registration applications at Rospatent.

(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

Since 2011, a procedure of automatic electronic classification of the figurative elements of the input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications submitted from the WIPO International Office, under the sixth edition of the International Classification of Figurative Elements (Vienna Classification) of Trademarks, has been used. This was made possible in 2006 when the SILOIZ system of linguistic description and search for similarities in figurative elements was introduced, itself a sub-system of the automated system, Trademarks in force in the Russian Federation (АS TM RF).

The results of classification as an additional service are provided to experts when examining claimed trademark designations.

Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)

The Trademarks and Registration Division participates in the regulatory and method-related settlement of issues in the consideration of applications for registration of non-traditional trademarks, and the publication of corresponding information. Moreover, information received through Rospatent’s involvement in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications is widely used.

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2018, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

Since January 10, 2017 the system of continuous publication of data on trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin in the official bulletins immediately after making entries in the relevant State Register is introduced.

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

• Regulations on the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property,Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/prikaz-rospatenta-ot-08-11-2016-176-ob-utverzhdenii-polozheniya-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-tovarnye-z.php;

• Official Publications section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/;
• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/.

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

Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2018, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

Since January 10, 2017 the system of continuous publication of data on trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin in the official bulletins immediately after making entries in the relevant State Register is introduced.

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

• Regulations on the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property,Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/prikaz-rospatenta-ot-08-11-2016-176-ob-utverzhdenii-polozheniya-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-tovarnye-z.php;

• Official Publications section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/;
• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/.

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

In 2018, access was provided to the texts of international and domestic classifications via the Internet:

- International Classification of Goods and Services (NCL, 11th edition, version 11-2018) in three languages, including Russian.

- International Classification of Figurative Elements of Trademarks (Vienna Classification), seventh edition, in Russian.

- Lexical and semantic identifier of goods and services (LEXINTU - 2018), 10 edition, in Russian with changed and corrected names of subsumption groups.

- Lexicographical information gazette of goods and services (LEXINFORM №17) for 2018, in Russian.

When examining the claimed designation as part of the process of forming an expert opinion, examiners use the TM RF automated system sub-system, enabling them to analyze and select search results by similarity of verbal and figurative elements of marks, and prepare reports on the results. The search results are generated automatically thanks to intelligent indexing, and search instructions prepared by a group of search-engine specialists using the QSS sub-system of the RF TM automated system which was introduced in 1989 to search for similar verbal elements of marks, and using the SILOIZ sub-system of the RF TM automated system which was introduced in 2006 to search for similarities in the figurative elements of marks.

In addition, to examine trademarks an opportunity is provided to analyse information on the figurative elements of marks, both under the codes of the Vienna Classification, searching for data under the classifier’s headings, and also by the results of a search for similarity in figurative elements of marks in the sub-system of linguistic description and search for similarity in mark images, SILOIZ, search result volumes of which are orders of magnitude smaller.

In the course of work relating to the processing of applications and examination of designations claimed for registration as a trademark, examiners use the following databases and auxiliary tools available from external sources:

-ROMARIN (WIPO)

-Manager of Goods and Services/MGS (WIPO)

-Madrid Real-Time Status/MRS (WIPO)

-Madrid Portal for National Offices/MOP (WIPO)

-TMVIEW, TMCLASS (EUIPO)

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

In 2018, subscribers were provided with the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette based on official Rospatent information on CD/DVD, with a search system. Frequency of 24 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette published in previous years (2015-2017) were offered on CD/DVD.

In addition, users were offered sets of information on trademarks for 1991 to 2017 on DVD / USB Flash Drive (13 disks and 2 USB Flash Drive), as well as an array of retrospective information on trademarks for 1991 to 2017 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, NCL indexes, the verbal elements of marks, and also combinations thereof.

In addition, the website offered users free access to the International Classification of Goods and Services (NCL 11-2018), and to information publications facilitating the classification of, and search for, trademarks: International Classification of Graphic Elements of Trademarks (VCL 7^th edition); the reference book, Lexical-Semantic Identifier of the Names of Goods and Services (10^th edition), which complements the periodical, Lexicographic Information Gazette of Goods and Services.

An analog of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette was published on the FIPS Internet site, and registers were maintained of Russian trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin, trademarks well known in Russia, applications for Russian trademarks and service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia and an indication of their legal status. 

Aside from that, users are provided with free access to information on applications to register Russian Federation trademarks and service marks received after January 1, 2005.

Thematic databases can be produced for special customer orders, based on official trademark information.

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a verbal designation, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for trademark similarities in the automated verbal search system RF TM. 

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a designation of a figurative element, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for similarities in trademarks using the SILOIZ system of linguistic descriptions of figurative elements.

In accordance with existing regulations for a number of government organizations, such work was carried out free of charge.

In 2018, the Rospatent website provided online access to:

- registers of Russian trademarks;

- registers of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2018, supplemented by information on the prosecution of applications filed between 2008 and 2018;

- registers of international trademarks with the indication Russia;

- the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin from the Official Gazettes published in the last month.

Users’ work with the information-search system

Examiners are able to work with all databases: trademarks, service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia.

Third party users’ access to the full-text databases of trademarks is provided on a contractual basis.

As part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, in 2018 free access was granted to:

• for trademark databases:

- 9 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 3 users of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, Rosalkogolregulirovanie

• for all FIPS databases:

- 105 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs

- 238 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

- 98 organizations of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service

- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense

- 96 organizations of the taxation service

- 60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights

- 2 users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies, RosOboronPostavka

- 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 12 users of the Federal Agency of Roscomnadzor.

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

- A database containing information on trademarks and service marks of the Russian Federation, No.501068, published in the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazettes

- The NCL database.

In 2018, internal and external users made more than 3,473,000 requests through the information-search system, related to trademark databases, of which:

- about 120.000 users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

- more than 3.353.000 - by other database users.

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

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

In 2018, users made more than 109.808.000 page views of "Open Registries", of which:

- more than 448.000 - users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

-more than 109.360.000 - other users of registries.

Access is provided to all Gazettes published since January, 2014.

Free access to all resources hosted on FIPS website is available in the computer room of the VPTB FIPS department.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information on information products and services provided by the Office:

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

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/;

How to Access Publications and Databases subsection:

 http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/poryadok-priobreteniya-izdaniy-i-baz-dannykh.php;

- Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=bulletin&type=UsrTM

how to carry out a search – in the Search System section:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/

- Patent databases - subsection "Databases" in the Search System section:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/bazy-dannykh.php 

Information on how to access and use resources – in the Search System section:

Instructions for working with Internet resources FIPS:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/instr_search_2018.pdf;

Support:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/podderzhka-polzovateley-informatsionno-poiskovoy-sistemy.php.

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

On the FIPS website, users can have access to the information about the legal status of trademarks, that is updated daily.

Moreover, in the Оpen registers of trademark registration applications, information on the stage of prosecution of applications is provided, which is updated daily. Data on statuses are generated on the basis of RF TM automated prosecution system data.

Information on the legal status of trademarks is published in Rospatent’s Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, posted on the FIPS websites, and also in the FIPS Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, on CD/DVD:

- information on the State registration of trademarks;

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

Information is provided in the Search 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://new.fips.ru/registers-web/.

Other sources

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

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

In 2018, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location.

The hardware platform of the FIPS Certification Centre continued modernization. Work was also carried out on the specialized software of the Certification Centre, which enabled the transition to the issue of certificates without binding to IP addresses, which increased the fault tolerance of technological processes using electronic signatures.

A duplicating channel for Rospatent’s Internet access was connected, which facilitate an improvement in the speed of access and reliability of systems connected to the Internet.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Fujitsu M10-4S server

(RAM – 64GB, processors – 16, external memory – 20 TB)

HP DL380 server – 26 units

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)

Сервер HP DL580 – 8 units

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)

HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 510 units.

Software:

Solaris, Windows XP, Windows 7,

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

The Rospatent in-house trademark databases are as follows:

- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 635,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2018 inclusive, updated daily);

- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 201 trademarks recognized by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property as well-known, updated daily)- for trademark database subscribers;

- a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2018 (contains information on 624,000 applications, updated daily);

- the NCL database.

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

For searches of verbal and figurative elements of trademarks, an automated search subsystem of the Automated System, Russian Federation Trademarks, is used (RF TM). Special search images are intelligently prepared, and automatically indexed by algorithms. In order to examine a claimed designation, intelligently-prepared, special search instructions are generated to search for similar verbal and figurative elements of marks, packaged by date of completion of the formal examination. The search instructions are run on the server, and the examiners are provided with the search results for analysis and selection in a special interface of reference documents.

Work is carried out daily on the upkeep of the search arrays in the search subsystems of the TM RF automated system to search for similar verbal (QSS subsystem) and figurative elements (SILOIZ subsystem) of trademarks for the purposes of examining the claimed designation.

At the end of 2018, the total number of indexed trademarks comprised 1,389,137 marks with verbal and figurative search elements used to search for similarities between marks. The search array contains all the marks received by Rospatent from 1924 to the present day, including ‘Madrid’ registrations. Searches of the complete array of marks are carried out. Marks are grouped by category in the list of search results.

The search file is updated on a daily basis as incoming applications and constituent elements of marks are processed. Verbal and figurative search elements to be searched are stored on separate servers.

The documents of other Offices are not included in the search arrays.

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

At the Office, the following document prosecution systems are used for information on trademarks:

• RF TM automated system for prosecuting applications for trademarks and appellations of origin.
• AS BBD "Office of TМ registrations" automated system for the prosecution of requests received following registration of a trademark (e.g. extension, change of owner or termination of validity).
• The Madrid Paperless Prosecutions of International Registrations automated system.
• TM-ADMIN, the electronic document flow system for registering and handling documents, including scanning, recognition and data entry procedures, document consideration processes, and preparing and sending outgoing correspondence.
• The electronic trademark application filing service, AWP Registrar, is intended for the filing of trademark applications and for electronic correspondence with applicants from the applicant’s personal area, and to provide the processes for exchanging electronic documents between applicants and the Office. It functions using a means of cryptography and electronic signatures, and is integrated into the hardware and software environment of the automated system for paperless prosecution of trademark applications, TM-ADMIN.
• The ‘My Area’ service on the FIPS website is intended for electronic correspondence relating to paper applications, and for a number of documents submitted electronically which require original documents to be submitted with hard-copy signatures.
• Electronic exchange of data with WIPO on the international registration of trademarks is carried out using MECA technology and WIPO Standard ST.66. Decisions on preliminary and final refusal are sent to WIPO electronically.
• The Electronic State Register of RF Trademarks and Service Marks, and the electronic list of trademarks well known in the Russian Federation (EGR). Each entry in EGR is signed with the electronic signature of the in-putter, which allows the signatory to be identified and his/her authority to be verified at the time of signing.

Other matters

In order to reduce staff shortages, adoption of remote working with access to FIPS automated systems is ongoing in expert departments.

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

Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

The trademarks collection is intended for examiners and other categories of users. Trademark information is provided on a fee-free basis to third-party users at VPTB.

The trademark collection is available at VPTB both on paper and electronically, and includes:

- Rospatent Official Gazettes;

- pаtent gazettes from foreign countries and international organizations, both special gazettes and ordinary gazettes on industrial property with sections dedicated to trademarks;

- databases containing information on trademarks of Russia, foreign countries and international organizations.

In 2018, the issuance of trademark bulletins for all countries amounted to more than 6,500 storage units on paper and more than 25,200 - on electronic media.

The collection of applications and contracts for intellectual activities results and individualization tools includes trademark, service mark and appellation of origin applications. As of December 2018 this part of the collection constitutes 465,333 paper and electronic copies.

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

In 2018, in order to improve the methodological support of the provision of government services, a new Guide to State Registration of Trademarks, Service Marks, and Collective Marks and Grant of Certificates for Trademarks, Service Marks, Collective Marks, and Duplicates Thereof was adopted:

https://rupto.ru/ru/documents/ruc-TM.

The VPTB patent law collection includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection and use of trademarks and service marks 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.

In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of trademarks and appellations of origin.

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/publications

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

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

For novice 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.

In the Official Publications section of the FIPS website, information is posted on a daily basis on current registrations of trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin, well-known trademarks, as well as notifications regarding amendments to the State Register of Trademarks:

 http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=search&type=UsrTM&number=0.

In the Trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin section, the following guidelines can be found on various examination and prosecution issues:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/trademarks/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php

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

In 2018, hereinafter, VPTB of FIPS held 6 thematic meetings of heads and officers of FIPS and Rospatent with representatives of business community on introduction to law enforcement practice, new approaches to pendency of trade mark applications and applications for geographical indications, as well as on official publications (including publications on trademarks) available on the FIPS website. Furthermore VPTB held 12 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications.  These 18 meetings were attended by 131 participants, who took part via videoconferencing, organized by entities, which have the juice of TISCs: Belgorod national research university, State Public Scientific and Technological Library of Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Saratov state university, Northern (Arctic) Federal University n/a M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk), the Ural Federal University n/a the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg).

Information on seminars and other similar events held in 2018 at universities, TISCs, etc., at which issues relating to trademark protection were considered, is included in Part 5 (d).

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

Training of civil servants of Rospatent

The organization of additional professional education of federal civil servants of Rospatent in 2018 was conducted in accordance with the List of priority areas of professional development of civil servants, such as:

• modern technologies in public administration;
• socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation;
• effectiveness of control and supervisory activities;
• use of digital technologies in the socioeconomic sphere and public administration;
• regulatory and legislative activities.

In 2018, five civil servants of Rospatent completed a master's degree program on 04.04.01 “Jurisprudence”, a training profile “Legal Protection of Intellectual Property”. Of these, 3 graduates were trained in full-time education and 2 graduates in part-time education.

Advanced training of FIPS specialists

Organization of training and professional development of FIPS employees is carried out within the framework of the Unified Training System (UTS) on the principle of continuity, starting from the moment of employment. The provision of conditions for continuous professional development of employees is stipulated by the FIPS Charter.

The primary objective in 2018 was to continue the work on organizing classes for various categories of FIPS employees in connection with the issuance of new regulatory and legal acts regulating the rules and procedure for the provision of public services.

This was achieved through training employees according to the plans of professional training directly in FIPS subdivisions and centralized classes.

In accordance with the consolidated plans for internal training of employees approved by the Director of FIPS, in 2018, 18 centralized training sessions were held, in which 366 FIPS specialists took part. Also directly in the divisions of FIPS 368 sessions were organized. In 2018, the main focus of the classes was on studying the new provisions of regulatory acts relating to the provision of public services, changes to the Regulation on patent and other fees.

The system training of examiners staff is continued. Each examiner to be trained in the use of computer databases selected for information searches carrying out during the examination process, and the automated systems used in the FIPS.

Advanced training of FIPS novice experts is held on a regular basis in the field of examination of inventions and utility models, as well as trademarks. Training is carried out with granting an appropriate certificate.

Organization of additional professional education of specialists of organizations in FIPS

In order to saturate the domestic economy with specialists with a high level of professional competence in the field of intellectual property, the management of Rospatent and FIPS decided to intensify educational activities of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, given the high professional level of FIPS expert staff.

The implementation of additional professional programs is carried out on the basis of the license series 77Л 01 No. 0008944 (reg. No. 038110), given on December 19, 2016 by the Moscow Department of Education; educational activities have been carried out since 2017.

During the mentioned time, 20 advanced training programs and 1 professional retraining program were developed and approved at the STC sections aimed at improving the level of professional competence of IP employees.

Leading state intellectual property experts of FIPS, as well as well-known external practitioners are involved in teaching.

In order to coordinate the educational activities of FIPS, a Research and Education Center has been established.

In 2018, 21 students from third-party organizations completed the advanced training program, Trademarks and Other Means of Individualization.

54 people completed the training program for specialists and interns, Training Specialists Engaged in the Examination of Trademark Applications.

Issues relating to trademark protection in Russia and international registration of marks were considered at 32 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 12 regions of the Russian Federation during 2018.

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

- the "Training" section

http://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php;

 - the "Training seminars" section for TISCs of the RF:

http://www1.fips.ru/TISCs/teach_sem;

 - a plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community dedicated to acquaintance with the new by-laws for 2018:

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/tematicheskie-vstrechi-provedennye-v-2018-g.php;

 - conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2018:

http://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/konferentsii-seminary/plany-provedeniya/2018.php;

• a training video, Setting up the work station of the user of the service for filing applications for TM/AO/RAO:

https://youtu.be/cEfQsomAOYU;

• a training video, Preparing an application for registration of a verbal trademark:

https://youtu.be/UP1_VEpLtc0.

Other activities

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts electronic Gazettes, including trademark information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 45 foreign countries and three international organizations.

In 2018, the VPTB Division received trademark information from 41 countries and one international organization.

In 2018, 1,878 copies of Gazettes containing trademarks were received from the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries on all kinds of carriers: 23 copies on paper carrier; 38 copies on optical disks; 1,817 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information

As part of its participation in international and regional activities and projects relating to trademark information, representatives of the trademark division took part in the following events:

- 28 session of the WIPO Nice Union - Committee of Experts (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, April 30 to May 4, 2018;

- 16th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, July 2-6, 2018;

In 2018, Rospatent organized and held two national seminars in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ in two regions of the Russian Federation, at which 3 FIPS employees delivered addresses:

April 3- 4 in Saransk on the basis of the Technopark-Mordovia ;

October 23 - 24 in Chelyabinsk  on the basis of the Chelyabinsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Questions on the role of trademarks in promoting goods on the market and the specific features of examining trademarks in Russia were considered at the National Seminar on Intellectual Property for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), organized by Rospatent in conjunction with WIPO from November 21-22, 2018 in Khabarovsk at the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization (ANO), the Far Eastern Agency for Innovation Assistance.

The competitive program of the 21^st Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies, Archimedes-2018, which was organized with the support of Rospatent from April 5-8, 2018, and attended by representatives of more than 250 organizations from 26 foreign countries and 55 regions of the Russian Federation, included the now-customary International Exhibition-Competition of Trademarks and Appellations of Origin, Trademark LEADER.

VPTB of FIPS holds thematic meetings with heads and lead specialists of FIPS and Rospatent for applicants, right holders, patent attorneys, specialists in the field of intellectual property, representatives of business community and other stakeholders. In 2018, VPTB held 18 thematic meetings related to information on trade marks: 12 of them were centered around “Training to work with the electronic filing services for trademark applications” and others touched upon following issues: «Currently important issues of granting legal protection for designations of origin»; «Shaping and filing applications for the state registration of a designation of origin. Special aspects of examination of the filed designation»; «Discussing draft Guidelines for trademarks and service marks registration and draft Guidelines for industrial design registration»; «Exclusive trademark rights applications for disposal processing and review practical issues»; «Trademark examination practical issues»; «Discussing the draft Guidelines for implementation of administrative procedures and actions within the framework of providing the state service for state registration of designation of origin and granting an exclusive right for such designation, as well as for granting an exclusive right for a designation of origin registered earlier and for granting an exclusive right certificate for a designation of origin and its duplicate».

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:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/international-cooperation;

Subsection "Madrid System of International Registration of Marks":

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/madrid_system.