Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2014 submitted by Norwegian Industrial Property Office

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

Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) is a government authority organized under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries.
Main office goals:

• Handle applications on industrial rights with correct quality and within due time
• Contribute to increase in IP awareness and knowledge in Norway

Main priorities:

• Customer orientation, efficiency and competence.

Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization

Strategic technical focus:

• Established case handling efficience project (2015->) to improve internal process and tools
• Continue to improve and maintain the SANT IP Automation System for  Case Management and registry handling
• Automate integration to WIPO for Hague (MECA Hague) transactions
• Upgrade infrastructure where further virtualization of servers and Oracle databases, Documentum, Microsoft servers and Citrix clients are central (2015)
• Reuse of national registers: Integration to national registries for citizen birth number and company ID (Master Customer database).
• Enhanced tech cooperation with WIPO to ensure 100% electronic exchange (2015 - 2017)
• Implement electronic gazette publication (2017)
• Improve online surveillance services, online search and create online payment for renewals (by 2016)
• Create national archive (separate) live from production according to national standard (By 2017)
• Create and host the national anti-piracy information site (by 2015)

New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks

• All rights searchable in DSView (OHIM)
• Participation in OHIM Convergence Programme for harmonisation
• Board of appeals is now a separate public institute with dislocated office, see link below.
• The modernization and porting of the IP case management system to MS.Net (4.n) completed, in the 10th year of full production for system. From 96 to 33 workflows for all IP-handling.
• Agreements with contractor for time-capsule archive for IP case handling was signed
• Scan production line replaced by Abbyy-recognition server and adaptations. 
• New e-mail integration to create documents directly in IP case management system created. 
• Project for online payment solution for renewals started. Project aim to allow direct payment (payment card) or payment order generation of all renewal fees.
  • This project is a continuation of the current on line search service and the newly created surveillance service, where customer can make a portfolio and be warned when renewal is due, and for other events, such as change in legal status and new records/events in application or IP-right.

Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year

• Participation in OHIM Convergence Programme for harmonisation
• Board of appeals is now a separate public institute with dislocated office, see link below.
• The modernization and porting of the IP case management system to MS.Net (4.n) completed, in the 10th year of full production for system. From 96 to 33 workflows for all IP-handling.
• Agreements with contractor for time-capsule archive for IP case handling was signed
• Scan production line replaced by Abbyy-recognition server and adaptations.
• New e-mail integration to create documents directly in IP case management system created.

Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

                                                            2010            2011             2012             2013            2014
Filings

• Direct National applicant            279              262               303               276               301
• Direct foreign applicant              350              257               233               186               217
• Int.designations Hague              165              519               610               831               700
         Total new                            794            1 038            1 146           1 293            1 218

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• Number of individual designs  2 200          2 950             3 200            4 300           3 900  (approx)

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• Registered DS rights                 588            1 009            1 154           1 199            1 220
• Refused                                         0                 0                     0                  0                   0
• Shelved/withdrawned                  52                62                   51                74                67
         Total decisions                   640            1 071             1 205           1 273           1 287

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• Number of renwals                    613               658                660              610               628

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• Total number of rights in force                                                                                    8 402

2014-highlights  

• - Time from filing to registration decreased  - customers satisfied with quality and timeliness.
•  - 20% increase in usage of public search services.  
• - SANT/Acsepto IP automation system availability measured to 99.5%

Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.

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II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

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Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs

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Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

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Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

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Other activities

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III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

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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)

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Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.

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Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

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Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

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Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

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Other sources

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IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

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Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

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Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

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Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

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Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

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Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

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Other matters

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V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

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Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

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Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

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Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

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Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

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Other activities

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VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

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International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

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Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

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Assistance to developing countries

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Other activities

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VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

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