Annual Technical Report 2013 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Lithuania (CWS/ATR/TM/2013/LT)
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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
Protection of trademarks is granted by the Law on Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 2000, No. 92-2844 as amended), which entered into force on 1 January 2011.
There are three ways to get exclusive rights for a trademark in the Republic of Lithuania: (1) under the Law on Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania by filing applications directly with the SPB (national way); (2) starting from 15 November 1997 - under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks, according to which the protection provided by the international trademark registration is extended to the Republic of Lithuania (international way); and (3) starting from 1 May 2004 - under the EU Council Regulation No. 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community Trademark (Codified Version), according to which any trademark, registered as a Community trademark with the EU Office for Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM), is protected in Lithuania (regional way).
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In collaboration with OHIM, in 2013 the design data of the Republic of Lithuania was integrated into the European design search system (DesignView). By assistance from this system, the design register data of the Republic of Lithuania became an integral part of the European Union design search database. Now, nearly 3000 SPB registered designs are available through DesignView database.
Since 25 November 2013 the Lithuanian State patent Bureau‘s version of the database are available through the TMclass application. TMclass helps you to search for and classify Goods and Services (terms) needed to apply for trade mark protection. This is the first of many harmonisation initiatives overseen by the Convergence programme at OHIM.
The input of Lithuania will not only facilitate the creation of harmonized EU database, but also creates the common European Trade Mark and Design network.
Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
The main themes of the previous year was focused on the main principles and objectives of the Revision of the EU trade mark system, which aims to strengthen cooperation between the Community trade mark and national trademark systems, to improve the compatibility between the Community and national trade mark systems on the substantive and process law level, as well as to encourage further implementation and development of good practice examples in the EU member states.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
From the establishment of the State Patent Bureau until 31 December 2013, the SPB received 68854 applications for registration of a trademark via national way. Within this period 56416 trademarks have been registered at the Register of Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania, 33702 of them were valid registrations; 31166 changes at the Register, 11101 transfers of rights and 1114 license agreements were recorded. Also, 1966 marks given as security (withdrawals of security) and 348 seizures (withdrawals of seizures) were entered.
Since 1997, 54285 notifications regarding the extension of international marks registrations in Lithuania have been received from the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); 50940 decisions were adopted to grant protection, having performed the examination.
At the end of 2013, 75461 registrations of trademarks, applications for which have been filed under the national and international ways, and 986496 Community trademarks, registered at the Register of Community trademarks of the EU, were in effect in Lithuania.
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Useful links: Annual report (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=318)
Webpage: http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=EN
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
Information to applicants : http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?n=267&l=en
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The SPB maintains all data concerning applications and registered trademarks on paper (dossier) and in electronic form in the administrative management system CS.
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
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
The ninth edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services (Nice Classification);
the sixth edition of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of the Marks (Vienna Classification).
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
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Other activities
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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)
Database of the Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania has been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=300).
Statistics of the year 2013 (national trademark applications and national trademark registrations, national trademarks in force) has been provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321).
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
The SPB publishes applications for national trademarks and registered national trademarks, and international trademarks designating the territory of the Republic of Lithuania in the Official Bulletin which is a monthly edition. Since July 2009 the paper version has been discontinued and the bulletin is published exclusively in electronic form.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
External databases:
CTM ONLINE database on OHIM's web-site;
TMview database on OHIM's web -site
Designview database
Internal database: Common Software (CS) v. 3.31
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Database of the Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania has been accessible on SPB website free of charge (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=300).
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
The bibliographic data and images are stored in our administrative management system Common Software (CS). The Office maintains a complete history of its trademark files in paper form (dossier)
Other sources
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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
A publishing system with Epson scanner, a laser printer HP Laser Jet, PC Intel Pentium Based with Windows XP. All data including figurative elements are extracted from our administrative management system CS
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Common Software (CS) v. 3.31
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Common Software (CS) v. 3.31
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
N/A
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Database of the Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania has been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=300).
The SPB website Trademark Database has been an exact copy of the data stored in the Register of Trademark of the Republic of Lithuania and contained data on trademarks registered and applications filed directly with the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania
Other matters
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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
Lithuanian Technical Library (LTL) also offered for visitors the opportunity to get acquainted with a wide range of Lithuanian publications (SPB Official Bulletin, etc.), Official Gazettes of foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on CD/DVD-ROMs, sets of communications and regulations in 2012.
The visitors of LTL had been consulted on the spot as well as by phone or e-mail and had an opportunity to order trademark search.
Search for the international and Community trademarks and other services also have been provided by Patent Information Centre of LTL (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm).
SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en) the Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks and database of Trademarks of the Republic of Lithuania.
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
In 2013 there were issued several information leaflets: “Trademarks”, “Design”, as well as a portfolio of legal regulations "Legislation regulating prevention of inventions, designs, trademarks and topography of semiconductor products in the Republic of Lithuania”
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
In 2013, the State Patent Bureau, Klaipeda University and Lithuanian Technical Library signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation in industrial property, innovation and dissemination of information and public education, the exchange of scientific knowledge and experience, publications and information about the protection of intellectual property.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
In 2013 the seminar was organized by the State Patent Bureau and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) on the topic "European Trademark System Reform - what it promises to the EU and national trademark owners and users". The participants - patent attorneys, lawyers, also governmental, academic and business representatives - were acquainted with the most relevant European trademark system reform processes, regulatory changes of protection of intellectual property rights, influence of internet domain on the trademark law, the latest practices in the European Union Court of Justice, the right way to follow in order to create the right trademark from the perspective of developer, client and patent attorney
In 2013, in cities of Klaipeda, Kaunas, Siauliai and Vilnius, the SPB under the Cooperation Agreement with OHIM organized seminars-discussions on the topic of "Possibilities of Trademark and Design Legal Protection in Lithuania and the EU", in which the SPB experts introduced to the seminar participants the possibilities of trademark and design legal protection in Lithuania and the European Union, introduced how to use the SPB, OHIM and WIPO trademark or design databases in order to search for trademarks or designs.
Other activities
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VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
SPB Official Bulletin has been published in an electronic format and has been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/index.php?l=en&n=245).
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
In 2013 the SPB successfully participated in the projects of the OHIM Cooperation Fund (CF) with a total value of 50 million euros, where participation expenses of the SPB are covered by the CF. Part of the projects is related with development of electronic services, access to industrial property information and its simplification. In 2013 the project of implementation of the quality standards of the European trademarks and design network in the fields of applicants/customers service, trademarks and designs registration, and investigation of appeals or oppositions was partially implemented. While implementing the project of e- learning tools SPB checked the translations of learning modules, which are accessible through the Common Gateway on site www.tmdn.org
Assistance to developing countries
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Other activities
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VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
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