Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2014 submitted by
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 Office is seeking to undertake a major programme of work to review the business processes and IT systems which support the delivery of patent rights to customers. This work will include migrating data and functionality from the existing mainframe system to a modern alternative. It is envisaged this will provide a number of benefits including improving our service offering to customers with more services offered electronically, greater integration between systems and more flexibility to provide new services in future.
The work will be divided into a number of small projects which it is anticipated will be delivered over the next few years.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
See entry above in relation to the development of patent information activities.
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
See entry above in relation to the development of patent information activities.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Applications for national UK patents went up from 22,936 in 2013 to 23,040 in 2014 (+0.5%). Of these, applications from UK residents increased from 65.2% to 65.9%. The number of Patents granted decreased from 5235 in 2013 to 4986 in 2014 (-4.8%).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Our website www.ipo.gov.uk moved in October 2014 to a new Government website GOV.UK and the new web address is now: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office
Statistics related to patents at the Intellectual Property Office can be accessed through the annual reports, annual reviews and facts and figures at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics?departments%5B%5D=intellectual-property-office
Information on filing, including Patents application guide and other materials, is available from the following web page:
https://www.gov.uk/patent-your-invention
The procedure after filing, including publication, examination and grant is described at:
https://www.gov.uk/patent-your-invention
Information regarding dispute resolution, including hearings, mediation and
opinions may be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-mediation
https://www.gov.uk/opinions-resolving-patent-disputes
Results of past patent decisions are available at:
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-challenge-decision-results.htm
Information on how applicants may appeal is provided at:
https://www.gov.uk/patent-disputes-resolution-hearings
Other business procedures such as the Patents Act, finding patents, how we classify and renewals are covered by web pages accessible from the main Patents portal:
https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/patents
A link to the EPO search dataset Espacenet is provided from the online patent services portal:
https://www.gov.uk/search-for-patent
The UK patent register may be searched by publication or application number at:
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum.htm
The UK patent register may also be searched by publication date at:
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-find-publication.htm
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
Information on filing, including Patents application guide and other materials, is available from the following web page:
https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/patents
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The UK patent register and some of the documents from may be searched by publication or application number at:
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum.htm
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
All UK patent applications are classified to the IPC. The office does not reclassify documents. Since 2005 the office has also classified patent applications to ECLA and subsequently CPC from November 2013. Pre-
Classification is done manually at an administrative level in accordance with CPC subclasses, which provides the basis for the structure of examining divisions and groups.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Our staff can translate any document to or from English, French or German along with other languages using translation software made available by the European Patent Office and other national patent offices. Patent examiners check all patent abstracts provided by the applicant, and amend them where necessary to ensure that the abstract printed on the front page represents a useful search tool.
Other activities
None to report.
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)
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Other sources
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
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Other matters
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
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Other activities
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
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
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.