Annual Technical Report 2009 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Georgia (CWS/ATR/TM/2009/GE)
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I. Evolution of registration activities
In 2009 SAKPATENTI received 1219 applications under the national procedure, which is less than 240 applications in comparison with those received in 2008 (1459). Decrease in number equals to 16,4%. 1106 trademarks were registered under the national procedure which is less than 234 registration in comparison with those registered in 2008 ( 26,8 %).
3212 notifications were received on extension of the trademarks to Georgia according to the Madrid Protocol of International Registration of Trademarks, which is less then 739 in comparison with the amount received in 2008 (3951). Decrease in number equals to 18,7%.
4143 International marks were protected in 2009.
By December 31, 2009, 14674 national and 26080 international marks were in force.
6 International Applications and 1 subsequent designation was submitted to the International Bureau in 2009 under the Madrid Protocol of International Registration of Trademarks. Totally by December 31, 2009, 77 applications were filed to the International Bureau.
The statistics related to trademarks is available in annual reports published on the Office website: www.sakpatenti.org.ge
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
All trademark documents are published in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property, which is issued twice a month. Documents are prepared in the personal workstations whereafter they are forwarded via Local Area Network to the Publication division, printed and copied using a Rhysograph and Xerox copiers.
There are available web pages of the Office's website that provide access to online publication of trademark documents and gazettes, and other primary and secondary sources of trademark information:
http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
Since the 1st of January of 2007 "SAKPATENTI" uses 9th edition of Nice Classification and 6th edition of the Vienna classification for trademark registration purpose. The applicant is not required to use exact terms of the Nice Classification. Classification of figurative elements is done by the special examiner.
Identification of bibliographic data of trademarks is done with the use of three digit codes in accordance with the WIPO standard 60.
Other classification systems such as electronic classification system are not used so far.
Bibliographic data elements are searchable on paper files, which are regularly updated.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
All documents are also manually searchable on paper files, which are regularly updated.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
-In-house system
The flexible search system is available for retrieving all kinds of information from the Trademark Database, e.g. capability of searching by different fields (registration number, registration date, owner, legal status, applicant, etc.)
Examination of trademark applications on similarity and identity are performed via the LAN. The database contains data of both national trademarks and trademarks extended to Georgia under international procedures.
-External databases
In the course of trademark examination the following databases are used also: the Madrid System databases for international registration - ROMARIN and Express; Express base for symbols protected under Article 6-ter of The Paris Convention on Protection of the Industrial Property Rights; International non-proprietary names database for pharmaceutical substances-INN (Mednet); Lisbon Express base on International Registration of Appellations of Origin.
VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
SAKPATENTI provides consultation services to all persons interested in legal matters and matters concerning the trademark application drafting and registration. Upon demand, it conducts searches in the in-house trademarks database and search results are prepared in written form.
Office's website provides information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to trademarks; URLs of web pages of the Office's website also provide description of information products and services offered by the Office as well as information on how to access and utilize them:
http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
Sakpatenti continues to exchange trademark information in the form of Official Gazettes stored on CD discs with various intellectual Property Offices worldwide. The information is stored in MS Word format and is published on the Office Website in PDF format.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
Education and training activities continued in 2009. The Office is well equipped with audiovisual means for conducting seminars and training courses. Power Point presentations were mainly used as visual means for training purposes.
The Office continues to publish journal "Intellectual Property" containing papers on all spheres of intellectual property. It is published on paper and on the Website in PDF format (full texts). The authors of the papers are mainly the Office staff members. The journal provides great support both to patent professionals and public in raising awareness in IP field.
Apart from publishing, the Office permanently provides consultations to applicants in drafting applications, novelty searches, etc.
IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
• provide information on legislation related to trademarks
• contain Annual Report of the Office
• contain trademark-related news regarding the Office
http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge ; http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=20; http://www.sakpatenti.org.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=19