Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2016 submitted by Brazil/INPI
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
INPI has initiated a strong effort to make patent information available in digital format. The Office expects to make available all the documentation related to around 700.000 patent applications over the next three years.
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
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Others statistics related to Brazilian patents applications are available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/estatisticas.
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
General guidance manuals for patent filling on paper are available at (Portuguese only)
http://www.inpi.gov.br/portal/artigo/guia_basico_patentes
INPI has discontinued the former electronic filing platform known as e-Deposito, which required a specific software to be downloaded by the user. A new web-based electronic filing tool was launched and can be accessed at
https://gru.inpi.gov.br/peticionamentoeletronico/
The electronic filing manual can be access at (Portuguese only):
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-servicos/arquivos-dirpa/Manual_do_Usuario_DIRPA_27_04_2017_versao_15.pdf
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The dossiers of the application are now indexed and can be accessed on the internet through a patent search system (https://gru.inpi.gov.br/pePI/jsp/patentes/PatenteSearchBasico.jsp), when available in electronic format.
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
Two classification systems are used at the Office, IPC and CPC. While IPC is available in Portuguese (http://ipc.inpi.gov.br) applied by all areas, CPC was not translated and neither all areas apply to classify their documents yet. We use INID (51) for IPC, as expected, and (52) for CPC since December 2014.
INPI pre-classifies an application by allotting an administrative unit, i.e. a technical area, using automated means (neural network algorithm). All administrative units are automatically ranked for every application and the application is then routed to the first technical area ranked. If this first choice is incorrect, the application can be rerouted to another unit, usually the second one ranked.
We suggest our examiners to reclassify a document during the exam. We don’t update our database when a family member of the document is reclassified by another Office due a new IPC version, yielding to many documents reclassified during the exam. When a patent application is reclassified, it receives an automatic publication in the Gazette.
Regarding IPC projects, the INPI has been Rapporteur of 35 projects, being 9 C-projects (creation of new groups), 4 M-projects (maintenance) and 22 D-projects (definitions). We participated in the task force of the WL Distribution Algorithm. We continue our engagement in the IPC-forum and IPC meetings.
We use WIPO systems related to classification, i.e. IPCPUB for the IPC publication, IPCRMS for translating the IPC and IPCRECLASS for reclassification due new IPC versions.
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)
Since April 2005, official notices and selected bibliographic data relating to BR patent applications and granted patents are published in the official weekly electronic Brazilian Official Gazette (Revista da Propriedade Industrial - RPI). Official gazettes are available on the Brazilian Patent Office website in PDF and TXT format, at http://revistas.inpi.gov.br/rpi/, and all published officials gazettes are stored in the library available to the public. Bibliographic data of Brazilian patents are available for consultation at an internal database (SINPI) and at internet (www.inpi.gov.br). Keyword searches in titles or abstracts are available only in Portuguese. Brazilian patent documents' first pages contain bibliographic data, according to WIPO standards.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
Since April 2005, official notices and selected bibliographic data relating to BR patent applications and granted patents are published in the official weekly electronic Brazilian Official Gazette (Revista da Propriedade Industrial - RPI). Official gazettes are available on the Brazilian Patent Office website in PDF and TXT format, at http://revistas.inpi.gov.br/rpi/, and all published officials gazettes are stored in the library available to the public.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
INPI has a collection of DVD and CD-ROM containing published or granted US, Benelux, WO, EP, DE, ES, FR, JP, KR,OA CH, GB and TR patent documents, and paper copies of entire documents can be provided for internal or external demands.
INPI has also a paper collection of BR, US, WO, EP, AU, CA, NL, DE, CH, GB and FR patent documents classified according to the IPC and a microform patent document collection from BR, ES, US, FR, GB, DE and CH. This collection has been frozen since the implementation of search systems.
Internal users access CD-ROM, DVD, Epoque, Dialog, Thomson Reuters’ GENESEQ, CAS-STN, Vantage Point, Freely accessible databases on Internet and SINPI (Integrated System of Industrial Property - internal database).
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
INPI currently gives public access to its patent, trademarks, industrial designs and computer software databases free search tool through our website.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
The Directorate of Patents has recently mapped the patent application workflow based on their legal statuses. An automatic state machine that controls this work flow based on events published on the Patent Gazette is currently being implemented. The intention is that by the end of 2018 the complete legal status information for all the Brazilian patent documents will be directly available to the general public at the office webpage.
A report describing the legal status and state machine development can be accessed at (Portuguese only):
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
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
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.