Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2015 submitted by SAUDI PATENT OFFICE
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
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Main areas of patent 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 grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
- In 2014, the number of filed patent applications was 788 applications; while in 2015 the number of filed patent applications totaled 2406 applications, it is to be noted that there is an increase in the number of filed applications by 205% over the previous year.
- In 2014, the number of granted patents totaled 561 patents, while in 2015 the number of granted patents totaled 763 patents, it is to be noted that there is an increase in the number of granted patents by 36% over the previous year.
More statistics can be found through the following link:
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
The annual report of the Saudi Patent Office can be found through the following link:
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
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Other activities
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
- Exchanging International patent information with the world intellectual property organization (WIPO) to publish it through PATENTSCOPE.
- The Saudi Patent Office aims to exchange patent information with commercial companies that are specialized in patents.
- The Saudi Patent Office seeks to sign an agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organization to get the publishing program "WIPO publish".
- Participating in international activities and agreements about intellectual property.
- Accession to the ARABPAT agreement, which aims to exchange patent information between the Arab Patent Offices.
- The Saudi Patent Office has signed a CPES agreement with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China about sharing the examination reports between patent offices around the world.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
- Organizing training session at the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
-Visiting the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China.
- Meetings for cooperation with the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property.
- Working on a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Patent Office and the European Patent Office.
- Taking advantage of distance education programs organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy.
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.