Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2014 submitted by ARIPO
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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
- The main policies and plans of ARIPO in 2014 were anchored on the Consolidated Medium Term Strategic Plan 2014 - 2015 biennium adopted by the Administrative Council of ARIPO at its 37th Session held in Kampala, Uganda from November 25 to 26, 2013. The Consolidated Strategic Plan approved by the Administrative Council reduced the strategic goals to five, and the implementing programmes to 15.
- The ARIPO/WIPO/KOICA Project to Upgrade and Modernize the ARIPO ICT Infrastructure and those of its Member States registered important developments with the deployment of several missions from Korea, including a resident consultant. Equipment to support the project was received.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
- For 2014, the flagship program was the “ARIPO Roving Seminars” aiming at creating awareness on IP and ARIPO activities. The Roving Seminars which were held in Gambia, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Swaziland benefited 655 participants. The Roving Seminars undertaken by the ARIPO officials in the member States included technical missions to the IP Offices.
With regard to trademark applications, the trend is also positive with the numbers increasing steadily as illustrated
An MoU was signed with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM)
Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
- With regard to trademark applications, the numbers increased
- The five most designated states for trademarks in 2014 and since the inception of the system are: Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana and Uganda.
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
- Website: www.aripo.org
- Face book account under African Regional Intellectual Property Organization
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
- To ensure compliance with the ARIPO trade mark procedures, two national roving seminars under the theme "making better use of intellectual property for business competitiveness and development in Africa" were held as follows:
- Swaziland from March 24 to 28; Liberia from April 28 to May 2.
- Running concurrently with the Roving Seminars were technical missions to the IP Offices as follows:
- The Intellectual Property Office of The Kingdom of Swaziland from March 27 to 28, Mbabane, Swaziland;
- The Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO) from April 28 to May 2, Monrovia, Liberia;
- The objectives of these technical missions were various and included to conduct practical training on processing of ARIPO applications (receipt, transmittal, filling in applications, notifications) under the Banjul Protocols; discussing challenges faced by the office in processing ARIPO applications in general and those applications designating the Member State with the responsible officers
- A brochure titled, "Procedure for filing an application for registration of a mark at the ARIPO Office is distributed to users.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
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
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
Other activities
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)
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
- The ARIPO Journal is published monthly and is available in print and in electronic format
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services 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 TRADEMARK 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 TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Cooperation with universities, 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 TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities