Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2015 submitted by Intellectual Property office of the Republic of Serbia
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
All planned activities are outlined in BCP (EPO to IPO) three year bilateral plans enacted in December 2015. next period is dedicated to data acquisition based on quality at source for collection in full text digital format. OCRing has to be done at least of 50 000 documents. Also work on New Espacenet is planned.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Within Bilateral cooperation program with the EPO, scanning of national patent documentation backlog continued in 2015 and the period of three years 1921-1941 was finished. On regular basis all newly published documents were scanned. New Espacenet, leading by EPO – developing new user interface to Espacenet data accession, QaS –Quality at Source, to improve the quality of data that are exchanged with EPO, further improvement of E-filing system
Quality management system according to the standard ISO 9001:2008 includes the processes of patent grant, petty patent grant and trademark grant and it has been certified on November 1, 2011 continues in assurance of a constant level of quality of services provided by the Office
Continuation of exchange of data with the EPO – federated registers.Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
E-filing, new Espacenet, QaS
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
National patent applications in 2015
Patent applications filed by domestic applicants:
178, -11.4 % compared to 2014 (201)
Foreign applications filed directly at the IPO:
9, +50 % compared to 2014 (6)
PCT applications entered national phase:
4, -25% compared to 2014 (5)
TOTAL National patent applications: 191, -9.1% compared to 2014 (212)
Requests for validation of EP patents in Republic of Serbia:
697, +37% compared to 2014 (508)
Patent applications filed in 2015 by the field of technology:
14.1% Instruments
13.1% Agriculture, food products
12.6% Electrotechnique
12.6% Health; Leisure
7.9% Civil engineering
6.3%Transport
5.2% Engines and pumps
5.2% Organic chemistry
5.2% Lighting and heating
35.7% Other
PCT applications filed at Serbian IPO as a Receiving office in 2015
29, +141% compared to 2014 (12)
Petty patent applications in 2015
64, -3% compared to 2014 (66)
Requests for the supplementary protection certificate in 2016
16, +60% compared to 2014 (10)
Number of patents granted in 2015
Domestic patentee: 62, no change to 2014 (62)
Foreign patentee: 24, -44 % compared to 2014 (43)
Validation of European patents with RS office: 648, +30% compared to 2014 (498)
TOTAL: 734, +22% compared to 2014 (603)
Number of petty patents granted in 2015
31, -40% compared to 2014 (52)
Number of valid patents in 2015
3329 in 2015, +12% compared to 2014 (2964)
Number of valid petty patents in 2015:
225, -8.9% compared to 2014 (247)
TOTAL: 3554,+10.7% compared to 2014 (3211)
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Website of the IPO is updated daily with the news in Serbian language and in English only those of greater importance. The news webpage is the homepage of IPO website www.zis.gov.rs
Annual reports from 2006:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-us/annual-report.106.html
Patent statistics from 2006:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/upload/documents/pdf_sr/pdf_patenti/Statistika_Patenti_2006_2015.pdf
Electronic Newsletter:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/newsletter.308.html
Legislation on IPR:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/legal-regulations/laws-and-regulations.110.html
International Clasiffication system IPC 2015.1 available for search in Serbian – WIPO interface:
http://89.216.38.50/ipcpub/#refresh=page&menulang=SR&lang=sr¬ion=scheme
Helpdesk contact – Education and Information Center:
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
IPO Serbia has a public library where all persons can get the consultancy in person for patent filing from the patent examiners. Through Education and Information center and the seminars it delivers to the participants, information on patent system and the proceedings as well as patent drafting are the topics which are included in basic and advanced training modules. Each month on third Thursday, Open Door event is organized for customer’s consultancy beside the opportunity to have them every day on regular basis.
Open door: 12 occasions, 82 customers visited IPO.
Client consultancy in accordance to the topics:
Patent protection – 1044
Trademark protection – 908
Copyrights – 128
Industrial design – 60
Enforcement matters – 83
TOTAL: 2305 customers
E-filing user guide, electronic certificates description and installation manuals, recommendations how to prepare the proper documentation and graphic data format for application – all is accessible over http://eusluge.zis.gov.rs/doc/
Also, all of these were introduced to user community through seminars, periodical and permanent (once a month – general IP education open for public) EIC activities (http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-eic/eic-charter.392.html).
E-filing system for IP rights is prepared and planned to be functional in April 2016.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html
Instructions for drafting patent application and for the process of patent filling are available at the website as well as the examples of formally correct patent applications from the different fields. All forms and guidelines are available at the following link:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-intelektualne-svojine/patenti/obrasci,-uputstva-i-primeri.898.html
The scheme of the proceedings for patent and petty patent applications with the description and the deadlines is available at the following link.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-intelektualne-svojine/patenti/postupak.900.html
FAQ on patent proceedings:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/intellectual-property-rights/patents/most-frequently-asked.60.html
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Patent/petty patent/CPC register is available in electronic form since 2014. All patent application entered in proceeding from 1994 can be viewed in register and there is the link to publication server and the patent document when application or registered patent is published.
Search through electronic registers of patents, petty patents and SPC:
All published patent documents since Office’s foundation 1921 with few gaps in early years are available at Publication server http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/patent-databases.419.html and can be searched with all possible criteria within the MIMOSA search software.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/базе-података.359.html
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
In 2015 the version 2014.01 and 2015.01 of IPC were used for classification of new applications/granted patents and IPC symbols assigned are indexed. Electronic 2016.01 version was being prepared to be launched in 2016
There is a link to the IPC translated in Serbian at IPO web site, with previous versions.
http://89.216.38.50/ipcpub/#refresh=page&menulang=SR&lang=sr¬ion=scheme
The changes of versions of IPC are completely done within the office by examiners and installed by IT department with the WIPO translation kit.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
All granted patent and petty patent are published with the abstract on the first page. The abstracts and titles are translated in English and entered into MIMOSA RS database in Serbian and English languages. Espacenet RS is updated on regular basis with the publication of each IPOS Official gazette. Translation in other languages is possible within the Espacenet.
Patent document after retrieval can be viewed and downloaded in PDF.
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 IPO Gazette contains bibliographic data with the abstracts in Serbian and English on published patent applications, registered patents, registered petty patents and CPC.
Full text of all published patent documents in Gazette, are available on Publication server and they can be searched by the application/publication number, IPC symbol, document kind and publication date on the following URL address and they are available in PDF format. The documents are scanned and cannot be searched by key words in full text.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/patent-databases.419.html
Publishing department of IPO prints in-house whole patent documents after the grant of patent/petty patent as well as patent certificates, application forms as well as guide for drafting the patent application. Patent documentation in paper is still available but not for public use in separate room at the Office.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
Intellectual Property Gazette is the basic official source of information about all intellectual property rights. 6 bimonthly issues of IP Gazette were issued in 2015. Since the beginning of 2012 the Intellectual Property Gazette is published only in electronic form in PDF format on the website of the IPO at the following link.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/информационе-услуге.48.html
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
All the searches at the Office are computerized. Each working station has fast internet access and patent databases are accessible through it. National database in electronic form primarily was internal and in 2009 became publicly on-line available. MIMOSA professional search software for advanced search through published national patent documents can be installed by user and then the search can be conducted. Internally, WIPO IPAS administration system is used for administration of patent applications. 92 200 nationally published patent documents are available through MIMOSA search software.
IPO's examiners are provided with access to the professional database EPOQUE-net through secure connection with EPO server. This database is used since 2009 for examination matters together with all free available databases of patent and non-patent literature.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
The Public library or public reading room is part of the Patent documentation and publishing department. In the library at 4 workstations, public can perform free individual or assisted search through national patent documentation through MIMOSA software (92 200 documents), Espacenet as well as through Trademark and design databases. National documents also can be accessed on-line also through MIMOSA software with the instruction for use, Espacenet RS or Espacenet Worldwide free of charge.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Legal status of retrieved documents could be seen in electronic Patent register for all documents since 1994 but all changes could be retrieved for documents after 2014 when office started to keep electronic register only. The older registers, before 2015 are available still in paper form and can be viewed free of charge. Every person who submits relevant application and pays a fee to the account of the Office can obtain excerpts from the register.
Other sources
Serbian IP office has the agreement with National Library for free access to database of Serbian libraries COBSON with the access to international scientific non-patent literature for use by patent examiners.
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
For the administration of patent, petty patent, supplementary protection certificate, the business process management system WIPO IPAS is used.
EPOQUE Net, the professional patent information retrieval tool is used for support the processes of search and patent granting. It is European Patent Office’s software executed via the Patent secure network, current version 4.50, the last version available.
WIPO EDMS system is near to the production implementation, as well as the WIPO PUBLISH system.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Internet access is achieved through direct optical connection to the provider at 20Mbit/sec,
2xCisco ASA 5510 in active/standby firewall configuration.
The server capacity of the Office is increased with two Fujitsu Primergy RX200 S8 servers in addition to the existing server family described in former ATRs. That new hardware is configured with several virtual servers of the MS Hyper-V and VMware host type and HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Dual Controller LFF NAS storage discs.
The client side of the internal network is of MS Windows 7x64 type, running on unified hardware workstations and peripherals.
The hardware supporting Patnet (EPO secured network) is renewed with the contemporary VPN router and switch, financed by EPO.
Cartridge tape system is used for system wide data backup.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Patent search in IPAS is available in-house. Preparing patent data for Gazette is done through IPAS, pulling bibliographic data contained in the Gazette in XML St36 format and using it for MIMOSA RS database and also providing the EPO with RS data in order to become accessible through Espacenet.
Databases used for searching by patent examiners internally accessible are: national patent documentation through MIMOSA RS, EPOQUENET database of EPO - search of data base of patent documents that are on the servers of the European Patent Office.
Also, for the purpose of data exchange with the EPO database Espacenet, the separate server is installed at the office and in Espacenet complete patent documents with RS country code since 2006 can be found in it. Previous period from 1973 - 2005 will be covered with ongoing EPO project quality-at-source.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Published patent applications are scanned on Eposcan and PDF form is available through
PubServer and MIMOSA. For preparation and printing registered patents and petty patents
different OCR programs are used. Earlier Adobe Fine Reader and now all multifunctional
scan/copying machines in the Office have built-in text converters for different types of format
(PDF, TIF, GIF etc.). Patent documentation department is in charge for maintenance national
patent documentation and check of data for MIMOSA RS. On the day of publication of Gazette
the published patent documents are available for searching.
Also, the electronic E-Register on http://reg.zis.gov.rs/patreg/ is available for searching.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
IPAS is administrative system for management of patents and all other industrial property rights (trademarks, designs). The new electronic E-filing system is was launched and available on http://eusluge.zis.gov.rs/. It requires digital certificates and digital signatures to use the system. This enables users to submit all kinds of requests, online.
Also, the legal status of patents is available through the EPOs Federated (see http://www.zis.gov.rs/databases/federated-register-service-for-european-patents.695.html) register concept. Serbia was one of the first members to implement. The software is locally developed using web services technology
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
The IPO continually checks and amends bibliographical data and in such a way improves the national patent data base of documents MIMOSA RS. At the beginning of November 2015, the digitization of all available national patent documents was completed since 1921 until the present day, and they were placed on the Server of published patent documents and also MIMOSA – national data base of patent documents has been completed, so that the digitization was final, in compliance with one of the measures of the National Intellectual Property Development Strategy 2011-2015. Also in the course of 2015, 912 newly published patent documents were placed in the database MIMOSA RS which are available for online searching. National patent collection in electronics formats now consists of: 42 756 published patent applications (A, A1,A2, A3), 47 973 (B, B1) granted patents and 1 462 petty patents since 1921.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/left/databases.421.html
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Information on procedures before IPO is available under the link for patents as well as procedures for international protection through PCT and EPC – How to file European Patent. There are additional electronic publications at the website of IPO and its Education and Information Center: different kind of leaflets, brochures of WIPO - IP for business series, the EPO brochure on searching Espacenet – introduction to the database of ideas is available. These leaflets and brochures in printed version were used primarily for the representation of the Office at the fairs, exhibitions and seminars all over the Serbia.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/електронска-издања.1017.html
The four EIC Newsletters are issued within 2015 quarterly and delivered to the customers in printed (500pieces) or electronic format (1200 contact from CRM).
http://www.zis.gov.rs/bilten.812.html
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Since 2013, the last group of languages of member countries of the EPO, including the
Serbian language, was incorporated in the machine program translator “Patent Translate”, enabling the use of service of the machine translation into the Serbian language of patent documentation available through the data base Espacenet and at the server of published
European patent documents (around 90 million patent documents).
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
IPO has a close cooperation with the Technology Transfer Office of Belgrade University. Also with the Novi Sad University participated in EU project Mastering Innovation with the inclusion of IP Curricula in innovation management education, with the Kragujevac University participation in EU project Institutional framework for the third mission of universities in Serbia.
Education and information center had 25 seminars for the faculties and institutes which are the part of universities. Topics covered for this target group were mostly patent procedures, patent application drafting, searching patent documentation and ownership on patents. 1100 students and researchers participated in training in 2015.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
In the framework of activities of education in 2015, over 60 various educative seminars and informative events were organized where 1549 interested persons participated. Training courses were held beside for above mentioned universities and R&D institutions, and for SME support organization and SMEs, for general public etc.
Service for improvement SMEs in IP protection and management – Intellectual property prediagnosis was provided for 45 SMEs.
The IPO traditionally took part at several business fairs and fairs for support to the inventions and creativity in 2015. IPO had a stand at the following fairs:
- Science is not a bogeyman, Nis, April 2015
- International Agricultural fair in Novi Sad, May 2015
- INOCOOP Fair of entrepreneurship in Zrenjanin - August 2015
- TESLA FEST in Novi Sad -the biggest inventor's exhibition in Serbia, October 2015
- Trade fair in Nova Pazova, October 2015
- Trade fair in Paracin, October 2015
- Book fair, Belgrade, October 2015
Other activities
On the occasion of the 95 years of the protection of intellectual property in the Republic of Serbia 16th November 2016, series of manifestations, activities, campaigns, seminars and promotions were held in the period between September 2015 to February 2016, with the aim to point at the significance and importance that the creation and protection of intellectual property has for the national economic and cultural development.
I Promotion of national study of the contribution of the creative industries to economy of Serbia – WIPO project, co-organizers: the Faculty of Law of the Belgrade University and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia.
II Organization of the conference in the framework of the Tesla Fest with the support of WIPO and the awarding of the WIPO medal for the best inventor;
III The commercialization of the results of the R&D, the WIPO seminar, is organized by the University of Belgrade and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia.
IV Organization of the conference: ”Role of the intellectual property in the positioning of the economy of the countries of the west Balkans at the global market” – EPO project, co-organizers: The Faculty of Law of the Belgrade University and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia;
V The opening of the national exhibition: “Industrial property in the Republic of Serbia” in the Gallery of the Museum of Science and Technology SANU and the international exhibition “EPO Hall of Fame” in the Museum of the History of Serbia;
VI The seminar of the European Patent Organization for judges in the field of intellectual property, co-organizers: the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Justice.
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
For the purpose of data exchange with the EPO database Espacenet, all nationally published patent documents in 2015 with RS country code are uploaded regularly. Also, exchange of national data on EP validation for European Federated register continued.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
In 2015, the IP Office Serbia developed jointly with the EPO content of the new Bilateral Co-operation Plan for the years 2016-2018 which comprises 8 projects. In preparation for signing the new BCP for the years 2016-2018, the IPO Serbia staff has prepared Federated Register, Espacenet New and Quality at Source project cards which included planning the activities for the following years.
Within Bilateral cooperation plan with EPO and integration package, scanning of backlog of national patent documentation was finished in 2015
Various activities implemented within the framework of the BCP were targeted at raising patent awareness among the users of the IP system. Within previous BCP which ended in 2015 different activities were conducted within "Awareness of the European patent system" project supporting. IPO Serbia participated with stands at international fairs (Novi Sad), exhibitions (EPO hall of fame) and conferences and organized patent-related awareness events to promote the European patent system. The main objective of these activities was to enhance the patent knowledge of SMEs, industry and academic institutions and to increase their use of the European patent system. Also, supported by EPO, 45 Intellectual property diagnosis service was conducted for SMEs with the patent information products and search advice included in the IPP reports.
Assistance to developing countries
IT Department of the office introduced E-register and EPO Federated register application and installed in Romania.
Post Grant application (Article 39 of the European Patent Convention, renewal fees) developed by IPO Serbia is installed in San Marino.
IPAS training courses for IP offices of Bulgaria and Belarus IPO held in their premises.
There were several visits to Serbian IPO of the experts from countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina Lithuania, Montenegro. Serbian IT staff conducted training and pointed out the experience of IPAS exploitation within Serbian IPO.
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.