Annual Technical Report 2008 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Slovakia (SCIT/ATR/ID/2008/SK)
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. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year
117 applications for industrial designs were filed with the Office in 2008. It is in total 3.3 % decrease in comparison with 2007. From the foreign applicants the most active are Czech Republic (12) and Poland (12).
Although the Slovak applicants filed 85 applications (increase by 10.4 %). Share of domestic application makes 72.6 %.
93 designs were registered in the year 2008, that is less by 7 % than previous year.
On December 31, 2008 there were 1,369 industrial domestic design registrations valid.
For the comparison there are the statistics of the years 2002 - 2008 in industrial design area:
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs
URL to annual technical reports on designs:
http://www.wipo.int/scit/en/atrs/
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=9&idd2=909
URL to the Annual reports of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic:
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=11&idd2=92
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
Publishing, including printing, copying techniques and electronic printing
Publication of industrial designs
The Office publishes registered industrial designs in the Official Gazette.
Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR“
Industrial design information forms part of the Official Gazette - “ Vestník ÚPV SR”, covering all industrial property rights in one publication. IPO SR started to publish the Official Gazette only in electronic form on CD ROM as from January 2008 (number of Gazette 1/2008). In 2008 the Gazette had a circulation of 200 copies, of which 62 were distributed monthly by subscription. Other copies were sent free of charge to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO, to information and consulting sites INNOINFO, within the frame of industrial property information exchange to foreign offices and as the statutory copies according to the act as well. Electronic form of Official Gazette, available to the public in the Internet free of charge, contains searchable data, which are regularly updated.
The following numbers of industrial designs were published in the Official Gazette 2008:
79 registered industrial designs
130 registered industrial designs with the extended term of validity
For text proccessing, typing and printing are used MS Office 2003, FineReader 9.0, Adobe Acrobat 8.Professional SK, Agfa FotoLook 3.6, Quark Xpress Passport 7.3, Corel Draw 11, Adobe Design Standard CS4.
SLEX99 – Lexicon of Slovak language are used for the data processing; the photocomposing and printing is carried out by the Office.
The Desk-Top Publishing technology is used for data and image inputs processing, for the Gazette and first pages of the design documents.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
The Gazette contains industrial design announcements arranged in following main chapters:
-list of registered industrial designs (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered industrial designs (arranged according to the classes of the Locarno Classification)
-list of registered industrial designs with the extended term of validity (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered industrial designs with the extended term of validity (arranged according to the classes of the Locarno Classification)
-list of registered industrial designs with postponed publishing (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered industrial designs with postponed publishing (arranged according to the classes of the Locarno Classification)
-list of published registered industrial designs after expiration of adjournment term of publishing (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of published registered industrial designs after expiration of adjournment term of publishing (arranged according to the classes of the Locarno Classification)
-official decisions (lapse (expiration), etc.)
-assignments of rights and other changes of owners
-cancellation of the industrial designs registration
-partial cancellation of the industrial designs registration
-registration of licensing contracts in respect of industrial designs
-termination of licensing contracts
-right of lien
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data
@SKIPO - Electronic Slovak Industrial Property Office Portal
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=99
@SKIPO is an integrated system of e-services that offers access to on-line databases, on-line services and @filling room. The purpose of the portal of the Office is to provide the public with all our e-services from one place and in transparent manner and gives the possibility to communicate electronically with the Office. The effort of the Office is to make available as much information in electronic form, which are placed on internal network now, as possible. All data from databases are provided free of charge.
ON-LINE DATABASES
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=2
IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage. Most frequently used databases are
-"Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters", give public access to information from national registers of industrial property rights and are daily updated http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en
-"Design Classifications" contains Slovak version of 8 th edition of Locarno Classification (fully searchable), links to other classifications systems for classifying designs used in the world and other useful information http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=sk?idd=13&idd2=1303
-"Official Gazette" enables looking on an single issue, searching in the selected issue and searching in all issues http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=14.
In the part "Foreign on-line databases" are available links to most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=sk&idd=19.
ON-LINE ORDERS
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=1&idd2=
IPO SR makes available electronic order forms on Official Gazette, magazine Intellectual Property and E-zine, publications of the IPO SR and IPO CZ, Annual Reports, patent documents and searches (see the part „Products and services", chapter VI).
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification (please indicate whether industrial designs are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)
The current version of the International Classification for Industrial Design (Locarno Classification) is used for classifying of industrial designs, which are classified by Office´s experts.
Bibliographic data and processing
The WIPO Standard ST.80 is used for industrial design bibliographic data coding in all relevant outcomes or records. All bibliographic data are being processed in electronic database form. The fully searchable data are updated and made available to the public daily in the Internet.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
Industrial design search file of the Office comprises the industrial design collection of the Slovak Republic and also former Czechoslovak Republic.
The IPO SR built in 2008 the manual industrial design search system in the card catalogue form, arranged according to international industrial design classification, updated regularly.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
In 2008, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR received industrial design gazettes from the following states and organizations: AT, BA, BE, BG, BR, BX, CH, CZ, DE, EE, FR, GB, HR, HU, IT, LT, LV, MD, MK, PL, PT, RO, RU, SI, UA, US a WIPO.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
The online industrial design database serves for all industrial design procedures and searches. Select registry data are available to the public in the Internet.
It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for industrial designs.
External databases
Czech registered industrial designs database in the Internet
WIPO International Design Bulletin CD-ROM
OHIM - Industrial Designs Database
Hague Express Database
National databases USPTO and IPOUK
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
The Office automation management system contains industrial designs registry (data since 1991) using “INVENTIO” software.
Administrative databases based on Lotus Domino and Fabasoft eGov Suite.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
Equipment used:
LAN is built on base of the Cisco technology, Fast ETHERNET 1000/100/10 Mbit/s, WINDOWS 2003 Server; MS SQL Server 2005; workstations PC Pentium, Windows XP, thin client WYSE VX0.
Linux Red Hat Enterprise 4.0,
Informix Dynamic Server 10,
Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 4.0,
Ultranet – Ultra Console 2000
SAN HP MSA 1500 CS,
HP Storage Works MSL 5026 series library, MSL 2024,
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.06.00
VI. Administration of industrial design information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Planning, administration, automation, security
In 2008, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 1 396 users and 1 327 of it were from the public. In total there were provided 7 309 borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 25 100 copies of patent documents for the manual and computer search purposes, as well as copies from technical periodicals and other associated and non-patent literature were made. In 2008 there were performed 208 patent searches, 2 431 trademark searches and 36 design searches based on 1 043 written and 81 personally requests.
The Office’s reading room including the search workstation opens daily from 8:00 to 15:00 except the Wednesday (9:00-16:00).
All online services and other basic information are available via Internet address of IPO SR www.upv.sk.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
The Office library provides following services to the public:
-general information - provided by Office's experts
-lending service (Official Gazettes, special monographs and reference literature) in the reading room
-interlibrary lending service
-international interlibrary lending service
-sale of special monographs and periodical publications ("Intellectual Property", Official Gazette Vestník ÚPV SR" in paper) upon request or on the place
-reprographic services upon request or on the place
-on-line searches in Office's search system, self-service during a personal visit
-searches upon request - orders in written and online form
-registry information provided in the reading room
-CD-ROM workstations available in the reading room
Industrial design information on the World Wide Web:
-general information
-information about Office activities (seminars, training courses, etc.)
-application guide and forms
-administrative fees
-relevant laws
-Annual Reports
-selected registry data
-Official Gazette
-order forms (searches, Official Gazette, special literature)
-Locarno Classification (8-th edition)
-design classifications and related information
-annual technical reports on design information (2002-2008)
Patent Information Centres and Contact and Information Points
Since 2003 the Office has established 10 contact and information points, while four of them are the Patent Information Centres. They are located in state, regional and district libraries as well as in the Slovak National Library in Martin and Centre of Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava. A list of centres and points is available on the Office's web site http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=10&idd2=. (For more information see the annual technical report on patent information.)
The co-operation with patent information centres and contact and information points within the PATLIB network continued also in 2008. Experts from the IPO SR had consultations with representatives of centres and under the co-operation agreement new information products were provided regularly. Employees of the centres took part in PATLIB Conference 2008 in Warsaw, in conference organised in the IPO SR on the occasion of World IP Day as well as in seminar aimed on providing electronic services by the IPO SR.
Information and Consulting Sites for Innovations
The mission of the thirteen "innoinfo" centres operating in the regions of Slovakia is to orientate especially the small and medium sized entrepreneurs in the field of innovations and industrial property. „ Innoinfo" centres are established in business incubators, regional consultancy and information centres, regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at the Universities of technical orientation.
The Business and Innovation Centre Bratislava, by means of which the Office got into Slovak branch of the European Enterprice Network, joint the innoinfo network in September last year. Because the Office was forced to repudiate an Agreement on Mutual Co-operation with one of the partners, the number of "innoinfo" centres is presently the same as in the past (13), three of them are operating at universities.
Information Centre
Within their professional consultancy activities, the Centre staff provides the public with the necessary IPR-related information personally, by telephone (+421 48 4300 131), mail or e-mail infocentrum@indprop.gov.sk or by fax. The Information Centre includes also "Helpdesk" providing information about electronic on-line filling.
During the second year of operation of Infocentrum IPO SR noted a moderate growth in number of requests for information. In 2008 total of 4 397 requests for information were processed, most of them were submitted by phone. Nearly 12 percent of requests were received from abroad. Received questions related mainly to the cross-border payment of fees and to trademark registration and renewals without use of services of patent representatives.
To make a work of the Information Centre more efficient and transparent the Office launched a testing of the information system Q-integra at the end of the year 2008.
Workplace of the IPO SR in Bratislava
Workplace of the Office, which was opened in 2004 in the building of the Ministry of Finance in Bratislava offered especially services concerning the searches in the fields of trademarks, designs and patents in the last year. In the workplace, there is a filing room and room for discussions and negotiations .
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications
The Office's on-line filing room enables filing of the European patent applications, international PCT patent applications and national patent and utility model applications only in electronic form http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=15&idd2=.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to industrial designs; opposition and appeal procedures related to industrial designs; etc.
Webregisters
http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en
IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage. Most frequently used databases are "Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters". Webregisters give public access to data extracted from design register, which is kept by the Office. Data concerning in particular pending design applications, all filed applications or registered designs in the register are daily updated.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., industrial design search service(s) and industrial design databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
Products and services
Comprehensive information concerning the products offered by the Office and other relevant information relating to accession and utilization of the products are on http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=27
-Official Gazette
-magazine Intellectual Property
-IPO SR and IPO CZ publications
-E-zine IPO SR
-on-line order forms
-price list
Basic information about following information services offered by the Office including the contact and the way of their utilization are on http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=28
-IPO SR reading room
-design databases, information and searches
-order of technical publications
-on-line order forms
-price list
Information services offered by the Office, see the part "Information services available to the public", chapter VI.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
In 2008 followed the mutual exchange of industrial design information in the form of official gazettes between the IPO SR and other offices also international organizations, including the WIPO.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
The IPO SR received from JPO registered industrial designs and from USPTO granted design patents stored on CD-ROM in the past year.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
Training courses for national participants
The Intellectual Property Course
(http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
Since 2000, the IPO SR has been an accredited educational institution providing the Intellectual Property Course. The lecturers are university teachers, experts from practice and the IPO SR experts. An overall number of training lessons extends to 342 hours, out of which 227 hours are lectures and the remaining training hours are devoted to hands-on practical exercising and training.
The Intellectual Property course consists of four separate parts:
module A: Intellectual Property and Copyright Law Essentials;
module B: Creativity - Management of Creativity, Marketing and Economics;
module C: Information in the field of Industrial Property Protection;
module D: Industrial Property Law.
In the academic year 2007/2008 11 participants passed the final examination and submitted their final theses.
Supporting activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.):
Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia VIII. (http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
On April 28, 2008, the IPO SR organised in its premises the conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia VIII. Utility models were the main topic of the Conference, because since January 2008 the new Act on Utility Models became effective. April 28, 2008, was also the Open Door Day of the Office for people who were interested in getting information about intellectual property.
Lectures and Seminars
(http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
The IPO SR in co-operation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office organised the seminar Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement from the Point of View of Police and Prosecution for Slovak police and prosecutors in November 2008.
International Seminar on Current Development in Madrid System for expert Slovak public organised by the IPO SR in co-operation with the World Intellectual Property Organization was an important expert event organised in May 2008.
The IPO SR also organised the Meeting of Electronic Services Users in November 25.-26. 2008 within the European Week of Science and Technology. Beginners and advanced users had an opportunity to obtain interesting information also from representatives of the European Patent Office.
Exhibitions (http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=30&idd2=3006)
On April 28, 2008 the IPO SR organised in its premises a vernissage of an exhibition of wooden toys - Development of Design in Slovakia.
In 2008 the IPO SR participated as an exhibitor at 29th international building fair CONECO in Bratislava and at 14th international Engineering Fair in Nitra.
The Office organised in April 22.-24. 2008 5th national contracting exhibition of inventions and technical innovations UmInEx in Banská Bystrica, concurrently with 11th international building fair FOR ARCH SLOVAKIA.
The IPO SR was also represented at 60th international exhibition of ideas, inventions and innovations IENA 2008 in German Nurnberg.
IX.Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
provide information on legislation related to industrial designs
Information on legislation related to designs
- legislation in force http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=21
- related legislation http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=22
- multilateral treaties http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=24
- EU legislation http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=25
contain the Annual Report of the Office
The Annual Report of the Office
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=9&idd2=92
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
Further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR:
Industrial property
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=2
Web page contains basic information which are useful for the applicant by filing the application of particular type of industrial property right, such as application forms, legislation, instructions of the IPO SR, information for applicant, administrative fees, contact to expert assistance, etc.:
Patents http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=14
SPC http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=20
Utility models http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=15
Designs http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=16
Topographies http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=17
Trademarks http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=18
Geographical indications http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=19
contain industrial design-related news regarding the Office
Design -related news regarding the Office
http://www.upv.sk/index.php?lang=en
X. Other relevant matters
New official Office's website was published on 31 August 2009. The ATR on designs for 2008 contains old URL addresses, because previous website is temporary available at http://www.upv.sk/old/.
Original websites of the Office have been actualised till August 30, 2009. Updated websites of the Office are on the address www.indprop.gov.sk or www.upv.sk.