SCIT.ATR.PI.2006.BG

Annual Technical Report 2006 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Bulgaria (SCIT/ATR/PI/2006/BG)

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. Evolution of patent activities

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year:

291 patent applications for inventions have been filed in Bulgarian Patent office.The total number of domestic applications was 424, 372 of them of domestic applicants as this number represents slight increase in comparison to the previous year.
618 European Patents came into force in Bulgaria and 6 applications for the provisional protection was applied in 2006.
Totally 133 utility model applications were filed.
The number of foreign patent applications was 52 as 40 of them under PCT.
The applicants have filed 45 applications for new plant varieties and 10 applications for new animal breeds in 2006,54 of them of Bulgarian applicants, and 1 - from foreign applicant.
In the 2006 were granted 337 patents for inventions, 66 patents for ulility models,29 certificates for new plant varieties and animal breeds.
Up to December 31, 2006 the total number of Bulgarian patents in force is 2137 as 1909 of them are for inventions and 228 for utility models.
Up to December 31,2006 the number of certificates for new plant varieties and animal breeds in force is 462.

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year:

Huge increase of the number of European patents valid in Bulgaria (187 in 2005)

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

Publishing,printing,copying:

Official publications on paper
In the year 2006 BPO continued preparing and publishing of its official publications on paper - 12 regular issues of the Official Bulletin of BPO and 12 issues of The Patent abstracts of Bulgaria (the part of the Official Buletin for inventions and utility models, in English.The Official Bulletin was beeng distributed to 78 national and 45 foreign subscribers in 39 countries diring the year.The Patent Abstracts of Bulgaria was being sent to 7 countries.
403 specifications with totally 7000 pages have been processed and issued.
In 2006 the total number of granted patents for inventions and utility models was 403 and the number of European patents enforeced iv Bulgaria was 618.
The Bulgarian Patent office maintains another very important source of patent information, namelly:
State Register for Patents for inventions
State Register for European Patents
State Register for Patents for Utility Models
State Register for New Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds
State Register for Topologies of Integrated Circuits

In the year 2006 BPO continued extracting data from the national database and processing with Eposcan OCR technology the specifications of Bulgarian granted patents for inventions to be sent to the Arcanum Informatics Ltd., Hungary for the production of ESPACE-PRECES CD-ROM.403 specifications on paper with totally 7000 pages (included in the Official Bulletin from issues N 1/06 to 12/06) and files containing bibliographic data and abstracts in Bulgarian were sent during yhe year.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.):

An Eposcan – OCR technique is used by BPO for information exchange.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

The following main types of annuoncements were published in 2006 in the Official Bulletin:
bibliographic data and abstracts of patent applications - 257
announcements for granted patents - 337
bibliographic data and abstracts of utility model applications - 58
announcements for granted utility models patents - 66
announcements for new plant varieties and animal breeds applications - 41
announcements for certificates granted for new plant varieties and animal breeds 29
announcements for inventors' certificates transformed to plant varieties certificates - 3
announcements for European patent applications in provisional protection in Bulgaria - 6
announcements for European patents in force in Bulgaria - 618
lists of lapsed patents
announecements for applications for registration of marks - 4213
announcements for marks registered - 3304
announcements for industrial designs registered - 359
changes in the patent applications, granted patents and certificates for new plant varieties and animal breeds
changes in registered marks and designs
announcements for license agreements for patents
announcements for license agreements for new plant varieties and animal breeds
announcements for license agreements for industrial designs
announcements for license agreements for registered marks
In each issue of the Official Bulletin of the BPO were published as well:
numerical indexes of applications and granted patents for inventions and utility models
numerical, systematical and namely indexes of applications and published certificates for new plant varieties and animal breeds

The Annual Report of the Bulgarian Patent Office for 2006 has been prepared in Bulgarian and in English.

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

In the year 2006 Bulgarian Patent documentation was stored on paper, microforms, on CD/DVD - ROMs

Word processing and office automation

In the year 2006 texts of 403 specifications with totally 7000 pages and 12 regular numbers of the Official Bulletin and 12 regular numbers of The Patent Abstracts of Bulgaria were composed by means of word processing and circulated for public use.
From N1/06 the Official Bulletin of BPO in its part of inventions and utility models is available on the website of the Office.
In 2006 the BPO website has been regulary updated, completed and maintained.
Access is provided throughout two different interfases - Bulgarian and English.
The website contents information about:
main tasks, function and structure of the BPO
Official publications
legal texts
Central Patent Library activity and information sources
services of the Office for the public
service prices and fees
forms for applications for different titles of protection
texts of classifications in the IP field
list of patent representatives
news, contacts, jobs,FAQs,etc.
an information system for searching all national trademarks registrations BPO online
The website provides links to esp@acenet, National Offices' websites and International organizations.
According to the agreement between EPO and BPO for the implementation of the automation tool-box system EPTOS the equipment was received and installed.The system was integrated in IT structure of the BPO.
In 2006 keying-in into the Common Software of English language abstracts and titles of published patent and utility model applications and granted patents continued. Abstracts and titles for all documents announced in the Official Bulletin from issue N 1/06 to issue N 12/06 were entered into the system.
Information for all records made in the State Registers concerning License agreements has been entered in Common Software as well. All changes in the legal status of applications and granted patents for inventions and utility models published in the Official Bulletin have been reflected property in the automation system.

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

From January 2006 applications and granted patents for inventions and utility models which were included in Bulgarian official publications were classified according to IPC - R -advanced level. The BPO implemented the new IPC on January, 2006 as it was specified in WIPO ST.8 and WIPO ST. 10/C.

Hybrid system indexing

Hybrid system indexing is used in cllassifying of patent applications.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

During the year 824 specifications (412 of them - in the systematically ordered files and 412 - in numerical files) of patents for inventions and utility model patents were prepared and ordered for examiners' use in the Bulgarian patent file.
321 firs pages of published patent applications and 428 specifications of rejected applications for patents for inventions, which are published and examined since 01.06.1993 onwards, were lodged into file.
106 accepted applications for inventions deemed to be withdrawn (for non-payment of the fees) were also lodged into the file.
In the systematic file on paper were also lodged 617 European patents which came into force in Bulgaria in 2006 and 6 EP applications for provisional protection.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

In 2006 the Central Patent Library has continued to maintain and update the specialized paper file for the examination including the patent documents of Bulgaria, Germany, and Russia as well as the first pages of patent documents of Great Britain.

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file

In 2006 the speciaized search file on paper for the examination including the patent documents/first pages of Bulgaria,Germany, Great Britain and Russia applications has been continuously maintained and updated.

V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

In-house systems (online/offline)

Common Software for patents is used in everyday work of the patent examiners.

External databases

Epoque-net, esp@cenet - BG server.
Access to EPOQUENET from 5 work stations via Petnet - 2 is gave up to the patent examiners.
GID server with WOM application is used. The CD collections are not loaded fully.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics, administrative support, etc.)

Common Software is running in version 3.3.2.
EPTOS Large Configuration, actual version 04.12.02. Currently the Project "Initial analysis to migrate BPO from CS to SOPRANO (patens)" by the Bilateral transitional cooperation arrangement between the BPO and the EPO is under implementation.
The system NIPIES (National Network for Co-operation and informatoin Exchange for Intellectual and Industrial Property Right Protection), developed and installed under PHARE Project is working and give up information and services to the other beneficiaries of the system, the State Administration and the public.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

Hardware
-Server HP rp 5430
-GID-IBM x 346 series
-Workstations Intel Pentium based PCs, about 120
-Network - LAN 100 Mbps
Software
-Server Unix 11.xx as OS, informix 7.3 as DBMS
-Workstations Windows 98 and Windows 'XP as OS, MS Office as documents management, etc.
-carriers used: CDs, DVDs

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings

The Central Patent Library automation center disposes of 4 work-stations placed in the public library for retrieval purposes and facilitating the access to the specialized collection and data bases on electronic carriers and in the internet.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

The annual increment to the paper collections in the Central Patent Library for 2006 amounts to approximately 37 378 patent documents of 4 countries and 2 International orgenizations (EPO and WIPO).
657 Official Bulletins of National patent offices and International organizations and 198 new issues in the field of IP protection were received and placed at public disposal.
In the year under review the existing electronic collections containing the patent documents of 30 countries and 2 International organizations has been completed with approximately 948 discs.

Collection management, preservation

The Central Patent Library presently disposes of some 20 million patent documents on paper of 30 countries and 2 international organizations.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

In the year 2006 the Bulgarian Industrial Property Network has been established with the cooperation between BPO and EPO.It includes PATLIB centers and Industry Property Points in Universities (IP-points). The BPO provided the following centers with technical equipment, patent information resources and education of their staff.
PATLIB center Plovdiv and PATLIB center Rousse were established with the cooperation with the Bulgarian Industrial Association - regional branches.
Five IP-points have been created to assist scientist and students in their innovative activities and to help them to use patent information:
IP-point in Technical University - Sofia
IP-point in Technical University - Varna
IP-point in the Rousse University "Angel Kanchev"
IP-point in University "Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov" - Bourgas
IP-point in Medical University - Sofia
Two days educational seminar (elementary level)for coordinators from PATLIB centers and IP-points took place in the Central Patent Library of BPO in December 2006.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

In 2006 the Central Patent Library reading room was visited by some 2124 customers who made use of total 12 675 folders containing patent documents on paper,official gazetts, theoretical materials and CD/DVD-ROMs. Copies of some 17 000 documents on different media have been made. With the assistance of the library's specialists approx. 3574 searches in BPO patents and utility models bibliographic database, in the electronic collections and the internet databases - were carried out.
The Annual Catalogue of the new literature including antries with bibliographical data in the original language of the publication has been prepared.
In 2006 following number of charged preliminary searches has been carried out for public use:
-in the field of inventions 616
-in the field of marks 4933
-in the field of industrial designs 295
In answer the specific needs in the field of IP protection (for the Police, Law court, etc.) 6069 searches were made.
Copies of 11 877 documents stored on different data carriers have been provided to the IP information users.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information

Bibliographic data and abstracts (the name of appliciant/owner/, inventor/patent attorney, transliterated in English language) of patent applications and granted patents for inventions and utility models published in 12 issues of the Official Bulletin (up to N 12/06) has been sent to INPADOC-EPIDOS-Vienna and to the European Patent Office Branch in the Hague.
In 2006 the BPO continued sending to ARCANUM Informatics Ltd., Budapest,Hungary patent specifications of all granted patents for inventions (scaned EPOSCAN technology) to be incorporated in the ESPACE-PRECES product. 334 specifications, included in the Official Bulletiin from N 1/06 to N 12/06, with totally 7000 pages and files containing bibliographical data and abstracts in Bulgarian were being sent during the year. In the frame of the mutual exchange of patent information 389 specifications (on paper) were being sent abroad during the year. The Offiocial Bulletin of the BPO was being sent monthly to 78 subscribers in Bulgaria and 48 foreign subscribers in 39 countries. 7 issues of Patent Abstracts of Bulgaria in English were being sent to 7 Industrial Property Offices and libraries abroad.
Loading of national data in abulgarian and English language to the Bulgarian esp@cenet server continued. All bibliographic data of published applications and grants for inventions and utility models for the period from January to December 2006 have been extracted from the internal databases and sent to the EPO Branch in the Hague in both languages - Bulgarian and English. The specifications of all granted patents for inventions and utility models have been scaned by Eposcan-OCR technology and sent to Document Acquisition Department,EPO,The Hague for integration in BNS and other EPO databases. A back-file of all granted patents for utility models, also scanned by Eposcan, has been sent to be integrated in esp@cenet.
National data to be incorporared into UPOV-ROM database for new plant varieties have been sent to UPOV.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

According to the Bulgarian Patent Law submitting of priority document on paper in the three months period after application date is obligatory to claim the priority (if any, in less then twelve months period before the application date). Bulgarian Patent Office grants priority documents for Bulgarian patent applications filed abroad and requires providing of the same on paper for foreign applications filed in Bulgaria.
During the year 28 priority documets of Bulgarian patent applications were granted and sent abroad.

Medium allowed for filing applications

At present the paper is the only medium for filing applications according to the Bulgarian patent legislation and the requirements of the Patent Office. The appliciant or his/her representative should file the application in the required form on paper. Applications forms are available at the BPO website (www.bpo.bg).

Implementation of the Statement of Principles Concerning the Changeover to Electronic Data Carriers for the Exchange of Patent Documents (please provide a status report on the extent to which your Office has changed over to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents)

According to the main trend for translation to electronic carriers of patent information the BPO in the framework of the mutual documentation exchange sbmits its patent documents on ESPACE-PRECES and ACCESS-PRECES CD-ROM collection. The Office receives and maintains CD-ROM files foe examiners use (in the Information and Publications Dept.) and for the public use (in the Central Patent Library). The collections for the examiners at present are as follows:
-ESPACE-EPA since 1978 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-EPB since 1980 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-WORLD since 1978 up to now and continues;
-ESPACS-UK-A since 1995 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-PRECES since 1993 and continues;
-ESPACE-ACCESS PRECES since 1997 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-FIRST since 1988 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-BULLETIN since 1978 up to now and continues;
_ESPACE-ACCESS since 1978 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-ACCESS EP-B since 1978 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-LEGAL since 1992 up to now and continues;
-ESPACE-ACCESS-EUROPE since 1978,transformed into ESPACE-ACCESS-EPS in 2005 and continues;
-BREF since 1978 (FR-A,WO-A,EP-A) up to now and continues;
-PAJ since 1976 to 1993 (according to the IPC) and since 1994 up to now and continues (according to the number of patent); since 1989 to 1997 - unexamined patent applications of foreign applicants, ordered according to IPC (sections A-H);
-USAPAT since 1994 up to now and continues;
-USAPat Backfile since 1790 to 1994 and continues;
-USAApp since week 11.2001;
-GLOBALPat since 1971 to 1996 (according to the IPC) and since 1997 to 1999 (according to the IPC and the document publication date);
-USPS since 1975 up to now and continues;
-CASSIS-BIB since 1969 up to now and continues;
-CASSIS-CLASS since 1995 up to now and continues;
-CASSIS-ASSIGN since August 1980 and continues;
-CASSIS-ASSIST since 1995 up to now and continues;
-DIAPAT-RU since 1924 up to now and continues;
-PCT Gazette since 1999 up to 2001;
-UPOV since January 2005.
The collections on CD-ROM for public use in Patent Library are from 30 countries and 2 international organizations.
BPO continued to provide patent information to the EPO branches in Vienna and in the Hague in the framework of the mutual data exchange. Loading of data to the Bulgarian esp@cenet server has been regularly made in 2006.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

In the year 2006 the Bulgarian Industrial Property Network has been established with the cooperation between BPO and EPO. It includes PATLIB centers and Industry Property Points in Universities (IP- points).The BPO provided the following centers with technical equipment, patent information resources and education of their staff.
PATLIB center – Plovdiv and PATLIB center – Rousse were established with the cooperation with the Bulgarian Industrial Association – regional branches.
Five IP-points have been created to assist scientists and students in their innovative activity and to help them to use patent information:
IP-point in Technical University – Sofia
IP-point in Technical University – Varna
IP-point in The Rousse University “Angel Kanchev”
IP-point in University “Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov” – Bourgas
IP-point in Medical University - Sofia
Two days educational seminar (elementary level) for coordinators from PATLIB centers and IP-points took place in Central Patent Library of BPO in December.

Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means

Awareness-raising activities for mass media and electronic media:

Educational activities and seminars "Basic knowlege of Intellectual Property Rights" have been carried out.
Approximately 170 publications were provided in 15 newspapers, 5 magazines, 3 information agencies, in the biggest national radio sttions and TV programs and at the most popular websites. The aim was to highlight the economic importance of IP protection and the fight against copyright piracy.

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

Events which took place in Bulgaria
-Seminar "IP - basic terms" - for participants working in the mass media, Bankja, February;
-Seminar and training cource for participants from Balkan countries "Patent Cooperation Treaty" with the cooperation with WIPO and the Bulgarian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Sofia, March;
-Participation in Annual Exhibition of Bulgarian producers of vines and spirits "Vinaria 2006", Plovdiv, March;
-Seminar "Protecting inventions and utility models:tools to foster business development" and celebration of The World Intellectual Property Day - with the cooperation with European Patent Academy, BPO and the Association of IP Representatives of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia, April;
-Participation (lectures) in conference and exhibition "Machinery, Technologies and Materials 2006" - organized by Bulgarian Federation of Engineering Associations in Bulgaria, April;
-Regional seminar "Basic terms of IP Rights" - for participants from the Armaments factory "Arsenal" and from Medium and Small Enterprises from the region, Kazanlak, April;
-Campaign dedicated in the fight against copyright piracy with the cooperation with Bulgarian Ministry of Culture; Festival "IP Rights", Rousse, May;
-Participation in the 7-th International Exhibition of Defense Industry "Hemus 2006", June;
-Conference "Innovation and innovative entrepreneurship", Bourgas, June;
-Seminar "Challenge to a criminal prosecution of IP violations", Hisar, June;
- National conference "Unity of action between National and European institutions a key factor for IP development", Sofia,October;
-Participation in discusion "Bulgaria joing the European Union - how to solve problems of border and custom control and IP protection", Varna, November;
-Seminar "Bulgarian Patent Law - new aspects", Rousse, November;
-Seminar JS05 - 2006 - "IP protection", intended for judges, organized with the cooperation with European Academy, Sofia,December;
-Regional seminar "Changes in IP protection legislation", Plovdiv,December.

Events which took place abroad
-Working Party on Technical Information ,April, Vienna;
-Electronic Publication Seminar, May,Vienna;
-PATLIB 2006,May, Sevilja;
-Epoline conference;
-SCIT/SDWG, May, Geneva;
-esp@cenet Promotion Meeting, June, Vienna;
-EPIConference,November,Cyprys.

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 patents

All National, European and International laws,regulations and tariffs related to IPR was available at the BPO website www.bpo.bg

contain the Annual Report of the Office

The Annual Reports of the Bulgarian Patent Office from 2002 to 2005 are available at the website in two languages Bulgarian and English.
The Annual Report for 2006 is available in Bulgarian language.

X. Other relevant matters