Annual Technical Report 2003 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Poland (SCIT/ATR/ID/2003/PL)
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The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models. Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year
1. By virtue of the regulations of the “Industrial Property Law” (enacted on August 22, 2001), the protection of ornamental designs was replaced by the protection of industrial designs.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
1. In 2003, the Polish Patent Office (PPO) received 2.502 industrial design applications, including 1.916 domestic and 586 foreign applications. The number of applications was of 144% more than in 2002.
2. In 2003, 3.782 decisions were taken, 3.545 being positive on the registration of designs. The number of decisions increased of 23,4% as compared with 2002.
3. The number of exclusive rights in force on December 31st, 2003 was 4.327 for industrial designs.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
Industrial design documentation is available in the Office’s reading-room and in the “Announcements of the PPO” which is issued monthly on paper and available on our web page in the PDF format.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
The 7th edition system of the Locarno Classification was used in 2003. The existing files are not reclassified.
Application documents were scanned and indexed.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
The file of ornamental designs, which had been replaced by industrial designs, comprises the industrial designs’ documentation of Poland and official bulletins of foreign offices containing registered industrial designs. In 2003 the file was being expanded.
File building
11.400 copies of descriptions of Polish industrial designs, ornamental designs were included into the files.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
The system of administration and search in the field of industrial designs was supported as an in-house system- WZOPRZEM
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
The following tools were used:
• DB2 and JAVA- managing trademark and industrial design database
• Pearl, PHP, C#. NET – creating of inter- and intra- websites
• IBM CONTENT MANAGER- managing the application documents of trademarks and industrial designs
• SQL SERVER and C#- managing the external database
• ULTRANET and IRIS- supporting the net access to optical discs
• Adobe and Corel software – publishing issues
VI. Administration of industrial design services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web).
Full text specifications of industrial designs registered in the PPO organized in classified collections were displayed for the users in our Office’s Library. We receive official bulletins from 15 countries which are available to users.
In addition to the search facility, the Patent Office website provides information relating to design registration including forms and fees, legal decisions, guides for applicants. Information is also available from our enquiry centre.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
690 copies of the "Announcements of the PPO" were sent to regional patent information centres in Poland and 430 copies to 39 countries
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
Within international exchange we receive official gazettes containing data on industrial designs on paper and on CD-ROMs.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
Conferences and symposia on issues relating to basic responsibilities of the Patent Office, i.e. receiving applications and granting exclusive rights for subjects of industrial property, including industrial designs.
In co-operation with the Polish Chamber of Patent Attorneys and the OHIM the PPO organized a seminar on “Community trademarks and designs”.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
Members of the PPO’s staff participated in conferences, meetings and training courses organized in other countries by the international organizations such as OHIM (8 people). The courses focused on various issues including industrial designs.