Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2014 submitted by Rospatent
Please fill in your items before submitting your report
Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.
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. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) has been carried out in three main areas, in which most of the measures for the development of IT up to 2020 are being undertaken:
- electronic record keeping;
- electronic interaction;
- development of decision support systems;
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
Electronic documents must become as familiar in the workplace as paper documents were previously.
In 2014, electronic document flow was provided for:
- reviewing applications to register contracts in respect of industrial property subject matter (as of January, 2014);
- reviewing applications to enter changes into the registers of inventions, utility models, and industrial designs (as of January, 2014);
- reviewing industrial design applications (as of January, 2014);
In order to provide the possibility of keeping records in an electronic format when providing State functions, the following work was carried out at FIPS in 2014: - a system of paperless prosecution during the examination of applications for registration of agreements in respect of industrial property (Agreements) has been put into operation;
- a system of paperless prosecution for examining applications to enter changes into the registers of inventions, utility models, and industrial designs (including to extend and renew a patent) (Patent Prosecution) has been put into operation.
- An automated system for managing the State Register of Inventions of the Russian Federation, State Register of Utility Models of the Russian Federation, State Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation, Register of Computer Software, Register of Databases, and Register of Topographies of Integrated Circuits on Electronic Carriers has been put into operation;
- an automated paperless document flow system was implemented for examining industrial design applications (Industrial Design Applications);
In 2014, operation continued of the Integrated Automated System for the Accounting of Fees (Fees), introducing the use of electronic payment documents received from the Russian Treasury, and the possibility of recording fees for legally significant actions.
Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
Electronic interaction with applicants.
Descriptions of State services offered by Rospatent can be found on the Unified State and Municipal Services (Functions) Portal (hereinafter, ‘PGU’). All services offer the required forms for applications, and information on how to access services. Likewise, interactive forms for filing applications for all services may be found on PGU.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Table 1 shows the trends in the filing of applications and grant of patents for industrial designs in 2013 and 2014.
Table 1
| 2013 | 2014 | % 2014/2013 |
Total number of industrial design applications filed, including: | 4,994 | 5,184 | 103.80 |
- by Russian applicants | 1,902 | 2,200 | 115.67 |
- by foreign applicants | 3,092 | 2,984 | 96.51 |
Total number of patents granted, including: | 3,461 | 3,742 | 108.12 |
- to Russian applicants | 1,278 | 1,394 | 109.08 |
- to foreign applicants | 2,183 | 2,348 | 107.56 |
The total number of applications filed for industrial designs rose compared to 2013 by 3.80 per cent, due to an increase in Russian applicants (by 15.67 per cent), whereas foreign applicants declined by 3.49 per cent.
The number of industrial design patents granted rose 8.12 per cent compared to 2013, both due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 9.8 per cent), as well as an increase in foreign applicants (of 7.56 per cent).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
The following pages of the Office’s website contain:
- Legal information- Regulation section: http://www.rupto.ru/docs/iz_pm_po;
- Office Annual Report- Rospatent Annual Reports section:
http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;
- Information on open sources relating to industrial design information systems- Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/links;
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;
- Guide to the resources and Internet resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;
- Information notices in the Industrial Designs section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/industrial_designs/soob_pm.
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 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
The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:
- Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions relating to organizing receipt of industrial design applications and review and examination thereof, and grant of industrial design patents of the Russian Federation in the prescribed manner:
- Guidelines on issues concerning examination of industrial design applications: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/industrial_designs/metod_rek_pm;
- Specimen Applications and Requests, in the Industrial Designs section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/industrial_designs/obr_zh;
- Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues;
- Patent Law subject matter section:
http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects;
- Frequently Asked Questions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/right_vopr.
Details of seminars and other similar events held in 2014 can be found in Part 5(d).
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Access is provided on the Rospatent and FIPS websites to a database of industrial design applications filed between 2007 and 2014, which contains information on the prosecution of 31,000 applications, and is updated daily.
Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
At Rospatent, the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) (ICID) is used to classify industrial designs. The 10th edition of ICID was used in 2014 for the publication of patent documents.
As part of the work carried out by WIPO to improve the Locarno Classification, Rospatent prepared a list of names of new types of industrial design, for discussion at a session of the Committee of Experts on the Locarno Classification.
Other activities
III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
Rospatent publications on industrial designs are presented in Table 2.
Тable 2
Publication Title | Form of Publication | Frequency of Publication |
Official Rospatent publications on industrial designs | ||
Industrial Designs Official Gazette (primary publication section), including the following sections:
RF Industrial Design Patents |
Bibliographic data, image of an industrial design, list of essential features of an industrial design. |
Once per month
|
Notifications
| Information is published on changes made to entries in the State Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation.
Information is provided by the appropriate subdivisions of the Institute and Rospatent in the established form. | |
Court decisions on infringement of the rights of patent owners | Court decisions on the infringement of the rights of patent owners (at the patent owner’s request) | |
Since January, 2014, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter, ‘FIPS’), which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7460.
Gazette documents are in PDF format.
The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:
- Administrative Regulations for performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions relating to the keeping of registers of registered intellectual property subject matter, publication of information on registered intellectual property subject matter, applications filed and patents and certificates granted, on the validity, termination and renewal of validity of legal protection in relation to intellectual property subject matter, the transfer of rights in protectable subject matter, and the official registration of intellectual property subject matter:
- Regulations on the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs:
- Official Publications section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/;
- Daily Publications of Information on Registered Trademarks and Appellations of Origin section: http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/days_tm.htm.
- Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
The forms of notifications on industrial designs published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs, are presented in Table 3:
Table 3
1. Notifications containing communications on changes to information concerning State registration of an industrial design |
PD4L Change of denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of patent owner |
ТС4L Change of author’s(s’) details |
ТЕ4L Change of correspondence address |
2. Notifications containing communications on termination and restoration of validity of an industrial design patent |
MZ4L Premature termination of validity of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request |
ММ4L Premature termination of validity of a patent owing to non-payment within the prescribed period of the fee for maintenance of the patent in force |
MF4L Revocation of a patent |
NF4L Restoration of validity of a patent |
3. Notifications containing communications on extension of the term of validity of a patent for an industrial design, grant of a duplicate patent |
ND4L Extension of term of validity of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request |
RH4L Grant of a duplicate patent |
4. Notifications containing communications on agreements relating to disposal of the exclusive right in an industrial design, transfer of an exclusive right in an industrial design, without the conclusion of an agreement with the patent owner |
PC4L State registration of an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right |
QB4L State registration of an agreement on disposal of an exclusive right |
PC4L State registration of the transfer of an exclusive right without an agreement being concluded |
QZ4L State registration of changes to a registered agreement |
RL4L Recognition of a registered agreement as invalid |
QC4L State registration of cancellation of a registered agreement |
QC4L Cancellation of a registered agreement |
QC4L State registration of termination of validity of a registered compulsory license |
QA4L Registration of an open license |
QZ4L Registration of a request for withdrawal of a request for an open license |
QZ4L Insertion of amendments in a registered agreement |
5. Notifications containing other communications on registered industrial designs |
ТK4L Correction of obvious and technical errors in publications of information on industrial designs in the Industrial Designs Gazette |
RZ4L Other changes relating to registration of industrial designs |
The web page addresses on the Office website providing access to online publications:
- Industrial Designs in the Official Publications section
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/prom_obr;
- In the Information Resources section, subsections:
International Classification for Industrial Designs
Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents subsection
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.
From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:
Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation;
Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Industrial Design Patent.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
FIPS examiners can access all freely available information resources on the Internet, including information on industrial designs. A list of information resources available can be found on the internal FIPS network, and is updated regularly. The list includes information resources from both the countries and organizations included in the minimum compulsory search field at FIPS and also from other countries. For each resource there is an Internet address, retrospective review, and a brief description of search and browsing options.
The minimum compulsory search field should include patent documentation dating back 15 years from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States of America, France, Japan and WIPO. The scope of the search may include any publicly available documents regardless of language, age and type.
Additional information resources include approximately 30 countries and organizations, including the industrial designs database of OHIM.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
In 2014, subscribers were provided with the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, based on official Rospatent information, on CD/DVD, with a frequency of 12 issues per year.
For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, series of Industrial Designs Official Gazette published in previous years (2011-2013) were offered on CD/DVD.
In addition, users were offered sets of information on industrial designs for 2005 to 2013 on one DVD each, as well as a retrospective set of an array of information on industrial designs for 1993 to 2004 on one DVD.
All CDs and DVDs are distributed together with MIMOSA software, which provides searching by bibliographic data, ICID indexes, and a list of essential features, as well as combinations thereof.
The Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the FIPS website, and upkeep of the registers of Russian industrial designs with an indication of legal status continued.
Users are also provided with free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation patents for industrial designs received after January 1, 2005.
In 2014, the Rospatent website provided online access to:
- registers of Russian industrial designs;
- registers containing information on prosecution of applications filed between 2007 and 2014 in respect of industrial design patents;
- Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs.
Registers of Russian industrial designs contain the following databases:
- an industrial designs database (includes information on 54,000 patents from 1993 to 2014, updated monthly);
- a database of applications for industrial designs (includes information on the prosecution of 35,000 applications filed between 2007 and 2014, updated daily).
The FIPS website provides users with access to:
- the information-search system for industrial designs;
- registers of Russian industrial designs;
- registers containing information on prosecution of applications filed between 2007 and 2014, in respect of industrial design patents;
- Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs ".
IPS users are given access to:
- a database of industrial designs containing information on 54,000 patents from 1993 to 2014, updated monthly;
- the ICID database.
Databases are updated as follows:
- database of industrial designs- monthly;
- database of industrial design applications filed between 2007 and 2014- daily.
Users’ work with the information-search system
Examiners are able to work with all databases. Access to the industrial design databases is provided to third-party users on a contractual basis.
In 2014, as part of the cooperation agreement between Rospatent and the appropriate organizations, the following had access free of charge to:
- full-text invention and utility model databases, and industrial design databases:
- 107 Technology and Innovation Support Centers
- Two organizations of Rostekhnologiya
- all FIPS databases:
- 99 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
- 131 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 11 organizations of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service
- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
- 94 organizations of the taxation service
- 44 users of the Court for Intellectual Rights
- Two users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies (RosOboronPostavka)
- Two organizations of the Federal Customs Service
Third-party users are granted free access to the following industrial design databases:
- a database containing documents published in the latest issue of the Industrial Designs Gazette.
- ICID database.
The web page addresses on the Office website which contain information relating to information products and services provided by the Office, are:
- Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;
- How to purchase publications and databases subsection:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;
- Carrying out searches – in the Information Resources subsection:
Information-Search System:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/;
Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;
Industrial Designs Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/prom_obr;
- Patent databases – Databases subsection of the Information-Search System section:
- Information on accessing and using resources – in the Information-Search System section:
Services, http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;
and Instructions for use of Information-Search System
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_1a/ subsections.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
All patent document databases contain information on legal status that is updated monthly.
Automated database subsystems for determining legal status use data from official publications that contain information on newly registered protection titles or amendments. Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are posted on the Rospatent website in the Information Resources section. The status of industrial design patents may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated”.
Information on the legal status of industrial designs is published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, posted on the FIPS and Rospatent websites, and also in the Industrial Designs FIPS Gazette on CD/DVD:
- information on the grant of RF patents for industrial designs;
- information on amendments to the entries of the State Register of Russian Federation Industrial Designs (Notifications section of the Gazette).
In the Information Resources section of the Office’s website, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of registered subject matter in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.
Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2015 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.
In 2015, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location. The number of FIPS employees working remotely increased from 132 in 2014, to 178 in 2015.
In 2015, in order to improve the accessibility of State services provided by Rospatent, a hardware and software system was installed and configured which enables remote examination of claims and objections in the Chamber for Patent Disputes for inhabitants of the regions. Participation in the hearing is provided through a browser, and no additional software installation is required for external participants. Implementation of the system received a favourable response among patent attorneys.
In 2014, an automated paperless document flow system was put into operation for examining industrial design applications (Industrial Design Applications).
In 2014, an automated paperless prosecution system was put into operation for examining applications for registration of industrial property agreements (Agreements), providing paperless prosecution and State services (integrated into the State Services Portal) electronically, as well as integration into the Electronic State Registers.
In 2014, an automated paperless prosecution system was put into operation for examining applications to enter changes into the Registers of inventions, utility models, and industrial designs (including extending and restoring the validity of a patent) (Patent Prosecution).
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Equipment used (industrial design search systems):
HP DL380 server – 7 units.
(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)
Сервер HP DL580 – 4 units.
(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)
HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 70 units.
Software:
Windows 7, Windows XP,
Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server operating systems.
Carriers used:
Ultrium magnetic tapes
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
The in-house system in use since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs automated system, which is used to conduct searches during the examination of applications for industrial designs, and draft outgoing correspondence, and is a source of electronic data for the publication of information in official publications.
In 2014, data from incomplete applications were migrated onto a new automated paperless document flow system for examining industrial design applications (Industrial Design Applications), providing examiners with a wide range of features.
Industrial design software continued to be used, providing a review of trademark database search results on the basis of pre-prepared search instructions, in order to prevent unfair competition when using trademarks and industrial designs.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Examiners of applications for industrial designs are provided with the results of information searches in the automated system for verbal searches, RF Trademarks, and the system for formalized linguistic descriptions of trademark images, SILOIZ, for similarities between verbal or figurative elements of trademarks and verbal and figurative elements of industrial designs that have been the subject of applications.
In 2014, the results of 1,234 searches for similar verbal elements and 2,955 searches for similar figurative elements of industrial designs were prepared using the automated system for RF trademarks for examiners of 1,332 industrial design applications.
Examiners from the industrial designs department analyze and use the results obtained in taking substantive decisions regarding elements similar to the trademarks found.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Industrial design applications are registered in the TM-ADMIN system, and procedures to export data to the system for the prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs- FGU FIPS automated database- and the Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system, have been developed and introduced.
Paper documents are transferred into electronic format and uploaded onto the Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system using Data Center software, and, in particular, primary industrial design application materials and additional documents relating to industrial design applications are transferred and uploaded to electronic applications.
The automated industrial designs database is used to generate various statistical reports.
The system guarantees the entry and registration of application materials and incoming letters, prepares outgoing correspondence, monitors all the processes of the application lifecycle – from the filing of an application to the decision of an examiner (grant, refusal, withdrawal) – and monitors the time taken to consider correspondence and conduct examinations.
The FGU FIPS automated database system is integrated into the Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system.
Other matters
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
The industrial designs collection is intended both for examiners and other categories of users. Information on industrial designs in the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) is provided to all categories of users on a fee-free basis.
The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:
- national and foreign specialist and general Gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various carriers, arranged according to ICID indexes or Gazette issue number;
- a specialized collection of a broad range of industrial design publications, consisting of materials containing publications from national gazettes with a Russian translation of the name of the industrial design and other literature. This collection is arranged according to ICID indexes with collections of varying depths for each country.
The collection is kept up to date by including current documentation on RF industrial designs and documentation from Rospatent’s foreign partners received under international exchange, as well as by acquiring literature through subscription from major foreign and Russian publishers.
The specialized collection on industrial designs includes:
- periodicals on industrial design and style;
- advertising brochures and catalogs;
- thematic collections containing publications from the national Gazettes of a range of foreign countries;
- methodology and reference literature.
As of January 1, 2015, the collection contained, in total, over 2.49 million publications, including:
- national and foreign journals on design and new production methods – over 18,500 copies;
- more than 900 books on design;
- advertising brochures and catalogs – over 47,800 copies;
- thematic collections of national Gazettes from a range of other countries – approximately 2.42 million publications;
- a special collection of advertising brochures and catalogs associated with exhibitions, and adverts for new goods and products – over 47,700 copies.
- A TSPF collection contains official publications on industrial designs produced by different countries for various retrospective periods.
- A room has been specially equipped at VPTB for all categories of users working with industrial design information.
In 2014:
- 2,800 paper copies, and approximately 2,700 electronic copies of Official Gazettes were issued;
- approximately 9,800 items from thematic sub-collections were issued;
- approximately 7,500 copies of design magazines were issued;
- more than 200 copies of books on design were published;
- approximately 68,000 advertising brochures and catalogs were issued.
Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The VPTB patent law collection includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection of industrial designs in Russia and overseas. The collection is available electronically and in hard-copy, and also includes publications found on official websites, and contains different types of information sources: national and international law, commentaries and reviews, guidelines, training aids, standards, patent office reports, conference and seminar materials, compilations of court decisions and collections of statistics, etc.
Reference information on the stages of prosecution when patenting patent law subject matter is published on the Rospatent website, in the Patent Law Subject Matter section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects.
‘Recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations forming the national nanotechnology network’ is published in the Rospatent and Regions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/recomend
In order to provide procedural support on the examination of industrial designs, the following has been posted on the FIPS website: ‘Recommendations regarding the examination of applications for industrial designs’, approved by Rospatent Decree No. 48 of March 31, 2009: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_po.pdf.
Brief information on legal protection of created designs: http://www.rupto.ru/about/consult/ks_design/sved.
In the Information Resources section, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of applications in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.
Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.
For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the What is Intellectual Property? heading in the For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
In 2014, as part of the Program for Regional Information Support, Rospatent provided 24 new business entities with free access to FIPS’ full-text databases (hereinafter, DB). In addition, TISC were provided with the opportunity to conduct industrial design searches.
The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 299 organizations in nine federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2014. Access was provided to: 48 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 35 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 40 organizations as part of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nano-industry Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 109 TISC and 18 other organizations.
In 2014, 528 complimentary optical disks of national industrial designs were provided to regional libraries, higher education institutions and information centers in the Russian Federation.
In case of interest, third-party users were offered consultations on various aspects of industrial design activities.
Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
At FIPS, professional development for employees is organized under the Common Training System (ESO), according to the principle of continuous training from the time of hiring, as provided for under the FIPS Charter.
Organization of FIPS employee training using in-house training methods
In 2014, in accordance with the Combined Plans for In-House Training of Employees, as approved by the Director of FIPS, the following were held:
- 33 centralized sessions, for the managers of the structural subdivisions, their deputies, and senior FIPS employees, covering issues relevant to the practice of activities, and targeted at various categories of employee;
- 546 sessions directly in the FIPS subdivisions in accordance with the quarterly in-house training plans. These focused principally on studying newly released regulatory documents, issues in the performance of examinations, as well as analyzing the results of internal and external examination quality control in specific subdivisions, and were conducted by senior staff of the subdivisions in question.
In the second half of 2014, the sessions focused on preparing senior staff and examiners for work under the conditions of the amended Civil Code of the Russian Federation (No.35-FZ of March 12, 2014).
As part of the process of exchanging experience with foreign patent offices, four training seminars were held at Rospatent for staff examiners and administrative and managerial staff from FIPS as an introduction to the law enforcement practices of other patent offices (EPO, OHIM, SIPO, IPOM). The seminars were attended by approximately 240 specialists.
Professional Development of Newly-Recruited FIPS Examiners
In 2014, based on the results of an open tender for the professional development of newly-recruited FIPS examiners of inventions and utility models, a civil contract was concluded with RGAIS, in accordance with which training was organized and conducted of the 12th stream of newly-recruited FIPS examiners, consisting of 28 people. The training was carried out in accordance with the thematic curriculum, and was 220 academic hours in duration.
Training under higher professional education programs
In 2014, 11 FIPS employees continued training under the higher professional education program at RGAIS, three of whom were funded by FIPS (first degree). One person gained a degree, while two others are continuing their studies. Eight employees studied at their own expense, of whom two gained a degree.
21 FIPS employees enrolled at their own expense to study on the RGAIS graduate program (course 40.04.01, Law).
RGAIS post-graduate studies
Three FIPS employees continued their studies as post-graduates at RGAIS on their own initiative.
In 2014, four intellectual-property conferences and seminars organized and held by Rospatent in four regions of the Russian Federation addressed issues relating to industrial design information:
• April 24 – International conference organized in conjunction with WIPO and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first Russian Law on Industrial Designs, on ‘Industrial Designs: Past, Present and Future’ (Rospatent, Moscow);
• June 24-25 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (A.M. Gorky State Budgetary Institution of Culture, Tver’ Order Badge of Honor Regional Universal Scientific Library, Tver’);
• September 24-25 – regional practical research conference for specialists of the Far Eastern Federal District of the Russian Federation, on ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization, ‘Far East Innovation Promotion Agency’, Khabarovsk);
• October 28-29 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (V.Ya. Shishkov Regional State Budgetary Institution, Altai Region Universal Scientific Library, Barnaul).
Other activities
VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Since January, 2014, in order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS has posted electronic Gazettes, including industrial design information, on the Institute’s FTP server, instead of sending information on disks.
In 2014, as part of this international exchange, data access was granted via the FTP server to the patent offices of 47 foreign countries and two international organizations.
In 2014, 2,128 copies of industrial design gazettes were received from 44 countries and one international organization on all kinds of carriers: 24 paper copies; 391 copies on optical disks, and 1,713 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information
On April 24, 2014, as part of the events to celebrate International Intellectual Property Day, the International Conference, ‘Industrial Designs: Past, Present and Future’, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first Russian Law on Industrial Designs, was held at Rospatent. The event was organized by Rospatent, WIPO, the EU Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), and FIPS. The conference was attended by 179 intellectual-property specialists. Among them were representatives of international organizations (WIPO, OHIM, Eurasian Economic Commission), foreign patent offices (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Moldova, Republic of Korea, Romania, Montenegro, South Africa, and Japan), foreign diplomatic and trade missions in Russia (Algeria, Germany, Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland), and of business and academia. During the conference, there was a video-conference with the city of St. Petersburg.
In 2014, Rospatent organized and held two national seminars in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ in two regions of the Russian Federation, at which two FIPS and two WIPO employees delivered addresses:
• June 24-25 – at the A.M. Gorky State Budget Institution of Culture, Tver’ Order ‘Badge of Honor’ Regional Universal Scientific Library, Tver’);
• October 28-29 – at the V.Ya. Shishkov Regional State Budget Institution, Altai Region Universal Scientific Library, Barnaul.
From April 1-4, 2014, at the 17th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2014, which was organized with Rospatent’s support, and attended by 529 representatives from 17 countries, including representatives of 42 regions of the Russian Federation, the traditional competition, ‘Best Industrial Design of the Archimedes Exhibition’, was included in the competition program.
Assistance to developing countries
Rospatent has no special programs to help developing countries. Assistance is provided in response to individual requests from the Offices of developing countries.
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
For the International Conference, ‘Industrial Designs: Past, Present and Future’, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the first Russian Law on Industrial Designs (April 24, 2014), the VPTB Division prepared the following materials:
- A pamphlet on ‘Industrial Designs in the Russian Empire’
- Materials to be placed on optical disks for conference participants:
‘Legal Protection of Industrial Designs in Russia. Compilation of Laws (1864-2013)’; ‘Bibliographic Index in Two Parts: Part I- Laws (1864-2013); Part II- Comments and Reviews’.