Annual Technical Report 2004 on Patent Information Activities submitted by EAPO (SCIT/ATR/PI/2004/EA)

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 term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

There were 1630 patent applications filed at the EAPO in 2004, or 22,6 percent increase as compared to 2003.
International applications made up the bulk of Eurasian applications received in 2003 - there were 1321 international applications, or 81 percent of the total number of applications filed that year. The number of international applications increased by 16,6 percent compared to 2003. 149 applications, or 9,1 percent of the total number of Eurasian applications, were filed directly with EAPO. The number of Eurasian applications filed decreased by 55,21 percent compared to 2003.
The number of Eurasian applications filed through national patent offices of the Agreeing States in 2004 was 164, or 9,8 percent of the total number of Eurasian applications filed this year. The number of those applications increased by 53,9 percent compared to 2003.
The applicants from the states that are parties to the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) filed 231 Eurasian applications. It is 32 percent more than in 2003

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

EAPO issues its official publications using own publishing facilities for all prepress processes. The unified publication technology involves scanning, optical character recognition, editing, proofreading and blueprint make-up. All data used for publications (including bibliographic data in Russian and English, pages in facsimile mode, full-text descriptions, first pages, blueprints etc.) is stored in one database (IPDL HIVE system, developed on outsourcing basis for EAPO). Information is extracted from the database by client software in required formats. The client software also provides broad automation of everyday operations at every workplace of the publication department. About 14450 Eurasian documents were stored in IPDL HIVE system's database at the end of 2004.

Printing of EAPO publications is performed by other companies on contractual basis.

See attached file EAPO_Publications_2004.pdf for detailed information on publications of EAPO in 2004.

All mentioned information is published in Russian, with the exception of Eurasian Patent Specifications CD-ROM that contains reference bibliographic data and claims in English as well, and Annual Report with text both in English and Russian.
Annual Report contains most complete information on the activities of the Organization and the Office in past year and can serve as additional source of information to this Annual Technical Report.
Announcements of the Office of legal and norm-setting kind are published in Bulletin "Inventions"; more general announcements can be also found at Web-site of EAPO at www.eapo.org

Procedural letters to applicants are formed automatically in Common Software legacy system and sent mostly on paper by mail. EAPO uses Microsoft Word for text processing of most of the office documents.

IX. Other relevant 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.