Annual Technical Report 2013 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Hungary (CWS/ATR/PI/2013/HU)
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 term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.
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
The Jedlik Plan: National Strategy for the Protection of Intellectual Property
The Jedlik Plan is the first comprehensive government strategy in Hungary that puts intellectual property in its centre. The strategy is for the years from 2013 to 2016 and it fixes mid-term objectives in the field of intellectual property. Along more than forty lines of action the document prescribes more than one hundred measures. All those measures are grouped in the following four main pillars: industrial property protection for the advancement of the national economy; copyright for the development of creative industries and of culture; intellectual property tools in the service of national policy and certain government policies; improvement of the capacities of intellectual property institutions.
The strategy was submitted by the HIPO to public consultation in January 2013. The Jedlik Plan was adopted by the Government on 14 August 2013. Government Decision No. 1666/2013 (IX.23.) on the Adoption of the National Strategy for the Protection of Intellectual Property and the tasks related to its implementation was published on 23 September in the Hungarian Official Gazette and entered into force on 24 September 2013. The National Development Programme on Intellectual Property will advance the realization of the objectives of the strategy; the Programme will be the subject of a proposal based on a new framework to be introduced in 2014. Preparations of the proposal and the mapping out of financial resources for the Programme have already begun during the past year.
Changes in Acts relating to Intellectual Property
From among the legal rules affecting intellectual property, Act XVI of 2013 on the Amendment of certain Acts relating to Intellectual Property contains primarily amendments to the following: Act XXXII of 1995 on Patent Attorneys (Patent Attorneys Act), Act XXXIII of 1995 on the Protection of Inventions by Patents (Patent Act), Act XI of 1997 on the Protection of Trade Marks and Geographical Indications (Trade Mark Act) and Act LXXVI of 1999 on Copyright (Copyright Act).
On 7 October 2013, the Parliament adopted Act CLIX of 2013 on the Amendment of certain Acts relating to Intellectual Property which contains primarily amendments to the Patent Act, the Trade Mark Act, the Copyright Act and the Innovation Act. From among the amendments to industrial property rights one should emphasise the introduction of the possibility of prolonging the time limit for the submission in the patenting procedure of a request for a report on novelty search supplemented by a written opinion and the possibility of preparing this report in an accelerated manner. Besides, the adopted Act introduces changes in the proceedings for the qualification of R & D activities.
Enlarged Scope of Functions: Qualification of R&D Activities
As a result of an amendment of the Innovation Act, the scope of functions of HIPO was enlarged as of 1 February 2012 to cover the qualification of R&D activities. This includes, on the one hand, preliminary qualifications which can be initiated optionally and on a voluntarily basis by enterprises, and, on the other hand, the taking of decisions on professional questions in requests received from the National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA).
Projects qualified as R&D activities in a final decision of the HIPO within the framework of the preliminary qualification procedure must be considered as such by other authorities as well. The amendment of the Innovation Act prescribed and enabled the involvement of the HIPO in ex-post tax control proceedings of the National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) in order to decide whether or not a certain activity qualifies as R&D and whether or not certain costs are related to R&D activities.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Reducing the procedure time
In certain sectors, as a consequence of the acceleration of the technical development and the increasing competition in the market, patent applicants may have interest in reducing the procedure time. In order to achieve these goals, the legal rules in force offer various options to the customers for the acceleration of the granting procedure in Hungary. The use of these options may reduce this period even to 24 months. Resulting from the modification of the relevant Act, clients may request the novelty search with preliminary patentability report in accelerated procedure as from 25 October 2013. The report may be requested several times within 10 months. With this option even the substantive iteration procedure can be carried out in the early stage of the patent application. Last year, applicants requested earlier publication only in 5 cases.
Another option to accelerate the granting of patents is the so-called “Patent Prosecution Highway” (PPH) project. The PPH is a cooperation based on bilateral agreements between patent offices. If another IP office participating in the PPH project has already carried out the examination for the invention concerned and if the applicant files a request for taking the result of this examination into account, it can significantly accelerate the later examination offers the applicant the possibility to obtain patent protection in a much shorter time. The HIPO concluded agreements on the acceleration of the granting of patents with the IP offices of Japan, Austria, Finland, the USA, Republic of Korea and Portugal in the past years.
Enlarged Scope of Functions: Qualification of R&D Activities
In 2013, 125 requests for preliminary qualifications were received from enterprises. From the requests in due form 81% related to a technical field, and in comparison to last year there was an increase in the proportion of requests not falling within a technical field. It can be established that the quantity of official activity in this area is mainly determined by the tenders announced by the National Development Agency (NDA). In 2013, decisions by the HIPO in preliminary qualifications confirmed the R&D content of projects in 86 % of the cases.
The HIPO received 840 requests from the NTCA in 2013, a decrease of 9 % compared to the orders of last year (939), and from among these 120 cases (14 %) were repeated orders. The proportion of technical and non-technical cases was nearly the same. The HIPO gave 918 expert opinions in 2013. Approximately 34 % of the finished cases could be recognized as R&D, while 2 % of the cases only partially met the requirements of R&D. It is important to note that when the tax authority orders the HIPO to give an expert opinion, the time limit for such expert proceedings increased from 30 to 45 days as of 1 January 2013 pursuant to Article 46 of Act CCXI of 2012 on Amendments to Certain Acts on Judicial Matters.
According to the amendment of the Innovation Act which entered into force on 25 October 2013, on the request of the client for legal remedy, the HIPO may within its own competence revoke or modify its decision. In addition, this amendment, confirming the practice followed so far, explicitly provides that the HIPO may give an expert opinion also at the request of another authority or court in order to establish whether a certain activity referred to in the request qualifies as R&D and whether certain costs are related to R&D activities.
With regard to the amendment of the Innovation Act and to the experience collected since the introduction of this legal institution in February 2012, the Methodology Guide of the Research and Qualification Procedure was also modified and extended.
The HIPO played an important role in the preparation of the submission for the Government Decision authorizing the signing of the international treaty for the establishment of a Unified Patent Court (UPC), including the drafting of the provision of the Government Decree providing for the requirement of an impact assessment. The HIPO provides continuous support for the mapping out of the professional aspects of the Agreement and assists the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice in its activity to establish a decentralized, regional division of the Court of First Instance of the UPC and the Training Centre for Judges with a seat in Budapest.
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
The Unified Administrative System comprises the public and non public data: bibliographic and image data, the documents and the official letters that belong to the different intellectual property rights. This system is the source of the most online public databases accessible via the website of the HIPO, such as GAZETTE, IP-SEARCH, E-REGISTER, E-DOSSIER. The IP-SEARCH database has an internal version for internal use only with the additional data that are not accessible for the public.
New administrative software tool supporting business procedures within the Office is under development. In the course of the preparation of this project the HIPO digitalized 150578 documents in 11158 pending cases.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
The number of PCT applications entered in the national phase significantly decreased and has been stagnating since Hungary’s accession to the European Patent Convention in 2003. The interest in Hungary observed in the early phase of the international patent applications has been slightly but continuously growing in the past seven years: the number of such application exceeded 200 000 in 2013.
The number of national patent applications was 701 in 2013, which is a 5.7% decrease compared to the previous years. The steady increase of the number of direct applications of foreign applicants observed in the previous years continued last year; however, this level is still under 10% of all applications. The filing activity of domestic applicants decreased by 7%; this was caused also by the fact that favorable tender possibilities of 2012 could not be used, or only with limitations, in 2013.
See further data and statistics of patent information activities in Annual Report 2013 (pages: 44-51), and of utility model activities (pages: 52-53): http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/hivatalrol/index.html
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
See further data and statistics of patent information activities in Annual Report 2013 (pages: 44-51), and of utility model activities (pages: 52-53): http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/hivatalrol/index.html
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
Guides and Forms: http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/kiadv/ingy_magy/
E-filing and administration
Patent, Supplementary Protection Certificate, Plant varieties, Utility models, Trademarks, Geographical Indications, Design protection, Topography, Voluntary register of works, Orphan works, R&D Assesments: https://ugyintezes.hipo.gov.hu/eBej2/app
24 hour terminal
In order to increase customer satisfaction a terminal was set up for customers to ensure they can file submissions also outside the normal registry time. This terminal quickly became popular among clients and its capacity is more and more extensively used, 1965 applications were submitted through the terminal in 2013.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
E-DOSSIER:
http://epub.hpo.hu/e-aktabetekintes/?lang=HU
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
The Adavanced level of IPC is used for patents and utility models.
There is no preclassification system in our Office. IPC symbols (class and subclass) are allotting to a patent application by the Examiners. A main and further IPC symbols are applied to a patent or utility model application.
ECLA system is downloaded into the internal administrative system regularly, and patents are classified according to ECLA, only for internal use. Changing from ECLA to CPC is planned for 2014.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Each patent and utility model record has a searchable English title. Patent abstracts of Hungarian patent applications (that have no family members) are translated into English.
Other activities
Patent documents back to 1896 - entire stock of HU patent documents - are accessible in searchable form via IP-Search database.
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)
Patent applications, granted patents (back to 1896), utility models (back to 2011) are accessible in searchable PDFs; bibliographic data, Hungarian and English title are also accessible in searchable form.
Availability: IP-SEARCH: http://epub.hpo.hu/e-kutatas/?lang=HU
Official Gazette is accessible online, frequency of publication: twice a month.
http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/kiadv/szkv/
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URL), etc.
Official Gazette is accessible online, frequency of publication: twice a month. Content: all industrial property forms.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
The Unified Administrative System of the Office comprises the bibliographic and image data, the documents and the official letters that belong to the different intellectual property rights.
The public online databases: GAZETTE, IP-SEARCH, E-REGISTER, E-DOSSIER are used by the Examiners and the public. The IP-SEARCH database has an internal version for internal use only with the additional data that are not accessible for the public. Searches are performed in the EPOQUENET system and in subscribed NPL databases and in STN as well.
The Library obtained 392 volumes in 2013. The number of records available in HunTéka integrated system for libraries was more than 52000 in December 2013, which an increase by more than 5% compared to 2012.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Public online databases: GAZETTE, IP-SEARCH, E-REGISTER, E-DOSSIER are available to external users, free of charge. HunTéka integrated system for libraries is also available to external users.
See homepage of the Office: http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Legal status information (not certified) is available online: E-file inspection free of charge:
http://epub.hpo.hu/e-aktabetekintes/?lang=HU
Anyone can get information about the validity of patents. Our Office issues copies of entries in the register (certified statements on the validity of protection) on payment of a fee.
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
Integrated Quality Management and IT Security System in the HIPO
The mission of the HIPO as a governmental centre for the protection of intellectual property and an authority providing quality services is to operate effectively and to develop in a balanced manner the system of industrial property protection and of copyright. In order to achieve this at the highest possible level the HIPO undertook in 2010 to voluntarily introduce the integrated ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management and the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Information Security Management Systems for the large majority of its core tasks and for certain of its functional tasks.
The system was first certified in December 2010 by SGS Hungária Ltd. The certificate was valid for a period of three years, therefore, following the successful annual supervisory audits the HIPO, besides re-certification, set as an objective to extend the quality management system and to introduce a new standard in respect of the IT services provision. The audit which ended in December 2013 was conducted by SGS Hungária Ltd. and was successful both in respect of the re-certification of the extended system and of the IT services management system.
Consequently, as of 1 January 2014, the activity of the HIPO complies with the requirements of three ISO standards. The HIPO meets the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system in the following areas: official examinations and proceedings belonging to its competence in industrial property protection and copyright, documentation and information activity of the State, as well as services provided within the framework of its core tasks. The security of the information systems used for the above mentioned activities and for additional tasks set out in the Deed of Foundation was certified according to the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Information Security Management System. Beyond the re-certifications, as a result of the audit conducted in December 2013, the HIPO also obtained the certificate for the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2013 IT Services Management standard in respect of the IT infrastructure and software application services provided by its IT Development and Operation Department for its internal and external clients.
A new administrative software tool supporting business procedures within the Office is under development.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Servers:
Unix Tru64 server: 2 peaces
Linux server: 45 peaces
Netware server: 1 peace
MS Windows server: 27 peaces
VMware ESX: 11 peaces
Oracle VM/RAC: 2 peaces
ASA VPN: 2 peaces
ZORP: 2 peaces
286 workstations (Windows Xp)
41 notebook (Windows Xp)
140 printer
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
The Unified Administrative System of the Office comprise the bibliographic and image data, the documents and the official letters that belong to the different intellectual property rights.
The public electronic-databases GAZETTE, IP-SEARCH, E-REGISTER, E-DOSSIER are also used by the Examiners. The IP-SEARCH database has an internal version for internal use only with the additional data that are not accessible for the public.
Searches are performed in the EPOQUENET system and in NPL databases as well. Other commercial databases, eg.: STN, MEDLINE, etc. are also used.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
The Unified Administrative System of the Office is used for file building.
It comprises the bibliographic and image data, the documents and the official letters that belong to the different intellectual property rights. It It is updated real-time, storage is daily.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Content
The Unified Administrative System of the Office comprises the bibliographic and image data, the documents and the official letters that belong to the different intellectual property rights.
The Unified Administrative System is the source of the public online databases: GAZETTE, IP-SEARCH, E-REGISTER, E-DOSSIER.
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
Frecskay János Industrial Property Special Library, with its collection and the attitude of the staff providing special information. The number of visitors keeps on growing, in 2013 altogether 2615 customers requested special information.
The Library obtained 392 volumes in 2013. The number of records available in HunTéka integrated system for libraries was more than 52 000 in December 2013, which an increase by more than 5% compared to 2012.
The Gazette of Patents and Trademarks has been published electronically and accessible on the website of the HIPO free of charge, in searchable pdf-form, authenticated by electronic signature. The interest in the publication was still significant in 2013: users downloaded 2 618 000 pages in a year.
For 8 years, the Industrial Property and Copyright Review has been issued as a separate special publication, which is also available with a half-year delay in electronic form on the website of the HIPO.
The quarterly issued Newsletter on IP Protection of the National Intellectual Property Council is a regular publication. Special publications were prepared for the Bureau of the Hungarian Design Council and the NBAC, such as MFT Start Up Guide 8, the materials of the design conference of WIPO, and the materials of the prize-giving ceremony of “Only original” contest and the roundtable discussion on counterfeited contemporary works.
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
See the webpage of HIPO:
For entrepreneurs: http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/kinek/
Services: http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/szolgaltatasok/
Publications: http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/kiadv/index.html
IP awareness: http://www.szellemitulajon.hu
In 2013, the website of the HIPO was visited 774 700 times by 475 700 individually identified visitors, both figures mean an increase of 11% compared to the previous year.
Similarly to the previous years, there was a high interest in the Gazette of Patents and Trademarks. In 2013 2 616 555 files were downloaded by the visitors, 74% of them was accessed through Hungarian and 26% through English platform.
More than 884 000 pages were downloaded from the website of the NBAC, which has been operating with a new image and structure since the middle of November of 2013.
Office’s initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
A Hungarian translation of the IPC is published and available free of charge on the website of the Office every year.
The EPO’s machine translation tool is available on the Espacenet and EP-Register due to the successful implementation of the machine translation project between Hungarian and English languages.
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
In March of the last year Dr. József Pálinkás, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Dr. Miklós Bendzsel, President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office signed a cooperation agreement. The purpose of the cooperation lasting till 31 December 2014 is to raise the protection of intellectual works and the IP awareness of the Hungarian scientific and research circles, as well as to support the practice of value-based research and development in the institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). In this spirit the HIPO engaged itself to hold, similarly to the previous years, professional consultations and trainings to the staff of the institutions of the HAS.
In its relationships the HIPO promoted the project “Support of the industrial property protection of Hungarian intellectual property works in Hungary and abroad”, (code name: IPARJOG_12), ensuring Non-refundable support for obtaining and maintaining industrial property protection of intellectual property works in Hungary and abroad financed from the Research and Technology Innovation Fund. As a result of the application deadline extended till the end of 2013, 90 cases of the 250 applications received have been finished with positive decision providing support in a total amount of 96 million HUF. In 50 cases the decisions are expected in 2014.
Within the framework of the cooperation linked to VIVACE 2013 programme the HIPO participated in the preparation, organisation and arrangement of 8 events in Budapest and other locations. The international symposium and training “Intellectual Property and Valuation – Support of Business Planning of SMEs”, jointly organised by HITA and the United Nations can be highlighted.
In 2013, the HIPO cooperated with 10 county chambers of industry, 6 PATLIB centres, 7 regional innovation agencies and 2 professional organisations (HITA, SEED) related to professional programmes.
The PATLIB network supporting the major universities of Hungary continuously operated last year, the PATLIB centres provided information for the public. In addition, the HIPO had cooperation with several partners without agreements (DA-RIÜ South Great Plain Regional Innovation Agency, North Great Plain Regional Development and Innovation Agency, North Hungary Regional Innovation Agency, Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency, West Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency).
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
The industrial property courses organised by the HIPO, as an office disseminating knowledge on intellectual property for decades, have been substantially contributing to the development of the Hungarian IP culture, to the raising of IP awareness, and to the education of the new professional generation.
37 persons participated in the elementary level industrial property course and passed the exam successfully in 2013. Most of the participants came from small and medium enterprises.
The intermediate level industrial property course was finished and the exam was successfully passed by 50 persons. The participants were mainly the representatives or employees of pharmaceutical companies, enterprises, institutions of the public administration and higher education, law and attorney offices, organisations supporting innovation activity, as well as 15 employees – dealing with innovation matters – of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
32 participants of the advanced level industrial property course started in 2011 prepared and defend their thesis in 2013. In September a new course started with 51 participants, 23 from the HIPO/HIPAvilon and 28 from other organisations.
9 persons participated in the exam for patent attorneys in 2013, 8 of them successfully passed the exam.
Lectures on intellectual property, as separate subject, were held in 10 universities (Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Eötvös Lóránd University, University of Miskolc, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, University of West Hungary, Óbuda University, University of Pécs, Széchenyi István University, Szent István University).
Knowledge on intellectual property attached to subjects including knowledge on business, technology, law, social science, and/or natural science was taught at 5 universities (Corvinus University of Budapest, Eötvös Lóránd University, University of West Hungary, Óbuda University, University of Pécs).
The HIPO established professional, training and other cooperation with several institutions. Besides the government and the councils or boards (NIPC, HDC, NBAC) the most significant ones are as follows:
Professional cooperation: Hungarian Academy of Siences, Hungarian Association for Innovation, Hungarian Association for the Protection of Industrial Protection and Copyright, Hungarian Academy of Engineering, Hungarian Trademark Association, the Federation of Technical and Scientific Societies, National Innovation Office, Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency, county organisations of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pannon Novum West Transdanubian Regional Innovation Non-profit Ltd., PATLIB centres, regional Innovation Agencies, NOVOFER Foundation, Idea Club 13 Association, SEED Foundation, Budapest Music Centre, Molnár-C. Pál Studio and Museum Foundation, Petőfi Museum of literature, Typotex Publishing House, Ybl Association.
Cooperation in higher education: Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Eötvös Lóránd University, University of Miskolc, Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design, University of West Hungary, Óbuda University, University of Pécs, Semmelweis University, Széchenyi István University, Szent István University.
Professional communication agreements: Agrárágazat (Sector of Agriculture), Agrárium, Duna Television – Novum Solar Film, Élet és Tudomány (Life and Science) Association, Gazdasági Rádió (Economics Radio), Innoportál, Innotéka, Legal Gazette, Mérnökkapu (website on engineering), Napi Gazdaság, Világgazdaság, Technika-Műszaki Szemle (Technology Review), Természet-Tudomány Alapítvány (Nature-Science Foundation), Természet Világa (World of Nature Gazette), Tudományos Ismeretterjesztő Társulat (Scientific Educational Association), Club of Hungarian Science Journalists.
Other activities
In 2013, the National Board Against Counterfeiting (NBAC) operated on the basis of Government Decree No. 287/2010 (XII.16.) and along the lines of action laid down in the action plan against counterfeiting adopted in 2011. At present three working groups and a section are operating within the framework of the NBAC; in 2013 they held all together ten meetings, the plenary sitting of the NBAC took place on 27 November 2013 under the chairmanship of dr. Róbert Répássy, State Minister for Justice.
See more in Annual Report 2013, pages 34-36:
http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/hivatalrol/
COMMUNICATION AND PRESS ACTIVITIES
The principle of the HIPO in public appearance is the open and effective provision of information. In this spirit, it maintains regular contacts with the representatives of the media, mutually informing each other with the possibilities of cooperation.
Articles raising awareness on intellectual property were published in the economic daily newspapers “Napi Gazdaság” and “Világgazdaság” and in their supplements on innovation, as well as in the daily newspaper “Magyar Nemzet”. In addition, the HIPO was represented several times in the programmes of “Kossuth Rádió”, “Gazdasági Rádió”, “InfoRádió”, “Orient Rádió”, “Katolikus Rádió” and of TV channels.
The quarterly issued “Newsletter on IP protection”, the joint publication of the HIPO and the National Intellectual Property Council, providing news and current information concerning industrial property and copyright has been issued for ten years. The newsletter downloadable in pdf form from the homepage of the HIPO is addressed mainly to the cooperating partners of the HIPO, the professionals and decision-makers acting in the field of intellectual property, the professional organisations, universities, research institutions, and it also provides information to the members of the Parliament of Hungary involved in this field, as well as the delegates of Hungary to the Parliament of the EU.
The e-News, an electronic newsletter of the HIPO, published since 2007, gives an edited version of the news from the homepage of the HIPO for registered customers. The electronic newsletter having more than 1500 professional readers, was published ten times in 2013.
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
Hungarian patent data: bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, searchable PDF patent documents ate transferred to the EPO in order to publish them via Espacenet and INPADOC.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
The bi- and multilateral projects running under the European Patent Network have important roles in developing knowledge and raising awareness. The HIPO was proactive in developing new projects suitable for meeting the interests of Hungary.
In 2013 began the implementation of the tasks to be performed before the entry into force of the regulations of the “patent package”, adopted at the end of 2012, and of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPC) signed at the beginning of 2013. On this basis, the Select Committee of the Administrative Council of the EPOrg and the Preparatory Committee also started to operate. The experts of the legal working group of the Preparatory Committee, responsible for the elaboration of the rules of procedure of the UPC held a meeting at the HIPO on 11 November 2013. In connection with the European patent reform, the staff of the HIPO also elaborated a series of theses which, after consultation with the members of the V4+4, can be represented, giving each other mutual support, at different fora by the countries concerned.
Under the cooperation with the EPOff, in the first quarter of the year the text and budget of the Bilateral Cooperation Plan to be concluded were finalized and the whole project documentation for the three-year term between 2013 and 2015 was approved. Within the accomplishment of the cooperation, the employees of the HIPO participated in 29 trainings and events organised by the EPOff and 5 events on awareness-raising were organised in Budapest and other locations. The training of patent attorneys, the EPOff’s so-called Candidate Support Programme also began.
The European Commission supports the cooperation of 15 national IP offices on improving the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises till 15 December 2014 within the framework of IPorta project being a part of the three-year Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme. The Commission would like to achieve it mainly by the development of IP services. The HIPO participated in the project as activity manager.
Other activities
In 2013, the HIPO had many opportunities to extend and develop bilateral cooperation with other IP offices.
On the basis of the renewed agreement with the Austrian Patent Office (APO), the HIPO has been performing substantive examinations and searches under inter-office cooperation since November 2006. Above that, the PCT cooperation with the APO started at the end of 2008 has an importance for long term both in professional and institutional respect. Under this cooperation the HIPO makes international search reports and written opinions according to the rules agreed on with APO.
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the HIPO concluded a bilateral agreement for a five-year term for international patent searches in 2009. In compliance with the agreement the HIPO continued to provide services for search and patent examination for the APO and IPOS in 2013 within the framework of the HIPO and also HIPAvilon Non-profit Ltd.
In 2013, the HIPO continued to take significant efforts to establish a regional PCT authority. Taking due account of the Austrian commitment, the four countries of the Visegrád Group decided to pursue this initiative. The head of the Hungarian delegation signed the Joint Declaration of Intent for the Establishment of the Visegrád Patent Institute, initiated by Hungary, on 16 October 2013 with the heads of the Czech, Polish and Slovak IP offices of the Visegrád Cooperation in order to create the basis for common work aiming at the establishment of a Central-European PCT Authority in 2015. The preparatory works started on expert level. The first meeting of the working group was held at the HIPO on 12 November 2013.
In 2013, Hungary was the host of the annual meeting of the heads of IP offices of the Visegrád Countries and the enlarged Visegrád Group (V4 and Friends) as Hungary performed the rotating Visegrád Presidency. A similar meeting with these countries was held in Salzburg in October. A delegate of the HIPO participated and held a presentation in a symposium organised in Beijing on 4 and 5 November for strengthening the relations between the V4 countries and China.
The bilateral agreements concluded on the acceleration of the patent granting procedure with the Japanese, Austrian, Finnish and US IP offices in the previous years under the “Patent Prosecution Highway” (PPH) project in order to provide efficient services to the customers and to reduce the international workload continued to operate in 2013. According to the agreement signed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the pilot PPH project entered into force on 1 January 2013. Moreover, Dr. Miklós Bendzsel and Ms Leonor Trindade, President of the National Institute of Industrial Property of Portugal, signed a bilateral agreement on PPH cooperation on 20 March. The pilot project between the two offices was launched on 1 July 2013.
In the spirit of the development of bilateral relations, the delegations of the IP offices of Slovakia, Iceland and Montenegro visited the HIPO in 2013. In addition, there were bilateral negotiations in the IP offices of Iceland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Croatia, as well as with the head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore on the margin of the WIPO Assemblies. On 20 February, a meeting was held in Budapest between the experts of the European Patent Office (EPO) and the HIPO on bilateral cooperation.
An international conference and workshop entitled “Economic Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights” was jointly organised by the HIPO and WIPO in the building of the HIPO on 15 and 16 April 2013. Representatives of organisations, universities, the Hungarian and international market sector held presentations and discussions on the role of intellectual property rights in the economy, on the latest trends and challenges. On the second day experts from the regional countries discussed the working material of WIPO on this matter.
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. |