Annual Technical Report 2008 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (SCIT/ATR/ID/2008/RU)
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
As of January 1, 2008, Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation came into force and the Patent Act of the Russian Federation was officially repealed.
Patent rights in industrial designs are governed by the provisions of Chapters 69 and 72 of Part IV of the Civil Code.
During 2008, Rospatent did work to prepare for the entry into force of the Administrative Regulations, which govern Rospatent’s activities relating to the performance of the State functions imposed on it, organization of the receipt of applications for an industrial design, and the consideration, examination and grant, in accordance with the established procedure, of RF patents for industrial designs.
On December 26, 2008, the above Administrative Regulations entered into force.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
Table 1 shows the rate at which applications were filed and patents granted for industrial designs in 2007-2008.
The overall growth in the number of industrial design applications filed decreased somewhat in comparison with 2007 (by 2.32 per cent) on account of Russian applicants. The number of applications received from foreign applicants increased by 13.17 per cent.
The number of patents granted for industrial designs fell in comparison to 2007 by 9.03 per cent.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs
Web page addresses on the Office site, which provide statistical information relating to industrial designs are the Statistics section: http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/regions/okrug2007.rtf and http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/regions/otrasl2006.rtf; (handbook for use of intellectual property subject matter in federal regions of the Russian Federation), http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/regions/otrasl2007.rtf (handbook on the use of intellectual property subject matter for all types of economic activity); and the Provision of legal protection for intellectual property subject matter section of the Rospatent Annual Report http://www.fips.ru/rep2007/R1.htm#1.
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
During the reporting period the following were published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system (primary publication section):
• 3,657 announcements concerning industrial design patents.
Documents providing protection were prepared and sent to rightsowners for all types of industrial and intellectual property subject matter.
CD-ROMs containing the Official Gazette were printed by a firm which specializes in publishing such products.
Paper publications are printed on the FGU FIPS polygraphic base using a Docutech 6100 operational printing system by electrographic means.
All printing materials are transferred electronically in PDF format.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
Table 2 shows Rospatent publications on industrial designs.
In 2008, the annual index to the Gazette for 2007 was issued:
• for the Industrial Designs Official Gazette on paper — one volume.
The Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system and the corresponding paper Gazette are distributed by subscription. The latest Gazette is available on the Rospatent site.
Mass storage media and microforms used
Data are stored on paper, diskettes and optical disks, as well as in the form of databases or data files.
Databases and office automation
In 2008, the Office published the following industrial design databases:
- The Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM, with 12 disks per year. Alongside the Official Gazette on CD-ROM, the Gazette was published on paper;
- Sets of information on industrial designs for 2005-2007, on one DVD each;
- A retrospective file of information on industrial designs for 1993-2004 on one CD-ROM. All CDs and DVDs are distributed together with the MIMOSA software, providing a search of bibliographical data, International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS) indexes, a list of essential features, and also combinations thereof;
- International Classification of Industrial Designs (ICID) (seventh and eighth editions) on CD-ROM and paper (eighth edition);
- An annual index (one volume) was issued for the Industrial Designs Gazette on paper.
In 2008, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the Rospatent Internet site and registers of Russian industrial designs continued to be kept with an indication of their legal status.
Data on the FIPS industrial designs database, the number of documents contained therein, a retrospective and frequency of updating are contained in Table 3.
Data on FIPS open registers, the number of documents contained therein, a retrospective and frequency of updating are contained in Table 4.
In 2008 operation of the current systems for the prosecution of industrial design applications, the FGU FIPS Automated Database and the RO RF Automated System, continued. The RO RF Automated System was completed to take account of changes to legislation, reflected in the Administrative Regulations adopted for the performance of the functions of the Federal Office, stemming from the requirements of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
In 2008, the CD-ROM collection continued to be updated with disks from the Industrial Designs database, with documents providing protection from 1993 to 2008. During 2008, the database was increased by 3,657 patents for national industrial designs (with illustrations attached).
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
The web page addresses on the Office site, which provide access to:
• Gazettes online – Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/default.htm;
• Other industrial design information sources, including downloading of the main data file – in the Information search system section, Databases http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm; Classificators http://www.fips.ru/russite/classificators/classificators.htm#pro; Registers of Russian Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rude.htm; and Register of Russian Industrial Design Applications http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rudeap.htm subsections.
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)
In the Rospatent system, the International Classification of Industrial Designs – ICID (Locarno Classification) is used. For the publication of patent documents in 2008 the eighth edition of the ICID was used.
In 2008, work was completed on the preparation of the new ninth edition of the ICID in Russian, which will enter into force on January 1, 2009.
The translation has been completed and scientific and terminological processing carried out for all new names of items, including those presented to WIPO by Rospatent, included in the ICID alphabetical list.
All the amendments and updates to ICID-8 adopted by the Committee of Experts in 2008 have been processed and prepared for inclusion in the publication of the ninth edition of the ICID, both in electronic and paper form.
During the transition to the new version of ICID, the collection of industrial designs is not being reclassified.
Bibliographic data and processing
All industrial design application documents received by the Office in 2008 were numbered using optical text recognition software and the bibliographical data in electronic form are used in the Russian Federation Industrial Designs automated prosecution system, the Automated Database and for publication of information electronically.
Two-digit INID digital codes are used to index bibliographical data on standard forms and in the automated system.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:
- national and foreign special or general gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various types of carriers, grouped in accordance with ICID indexes or gazette issues;
- a specialized collection of a wide range of titles of industrial design publications, which comprises materials containing publications from national gazettes with a translation of the name of the industrial design into Russian and other literature. This collection is grouped according to the ICID indexes and varies in depth according to each country.
In 2008, on the Rospatent site access was granted through the Internet to:
- an information search system relating to national patent documentation;
- registers of Russian patent documents relating to industrial designs;
- registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2008 for the grant of industrial design patents;
- the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette.
Rospatent Internet resources include the following databases:
- a database of industrial designs (contains information on 32,500 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2008 inclusive);
- a database of industrial design applications filed in 2008 (contains information on the prosecution of 9,500 applications);
- an ICID database.
Updating
The collection is updated by means of the inclusion of current documentation on industrial designs of the Russian Federation and documentation received from foreign partners of Rospatent as part of the international exchange system, and also through the acquisition of literature by subscription from major foreign publishing houses.
The databases are updated with the following frequency:
- industrial designs database— monthly;
- database of industrial design applications filed in 2007-2008 — daily.
A search of the Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation Automated System is carried out by examiners, which includes all applications from 1991 onwards with weekly updating of the data.
In order to prevent unfair competition when using trademarks and industrial designs, software continues to be used, designed for examiners from the industrial designs division, enabling them to search the trademarks database, on the basis of preprepared search instructions.
Storage, including mass storage media
Storage conditions for the collections correspond to the types of information carriers used:
• patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
• on microcarriers – in metal boxes, files – film libraries (microfilms) and in metal cabinets (microfiches);
• on CD-ROMs – in special cabinets.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
The FGU FIPS All-Union Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division receives information on industrial designs from 49 countries and three international organizations.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
The in-house system used since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, which is used for searches when examining industrial design applications, to create outgoing correspondence, and is the source of electronic data for the publication of information in official editions.
The system contains a file of data on applications and patents, including graphics files with illustrations of industrial designs and the International Classification of Industrial Designs Automated Subsystem.
External databases
When conducting searches of industrial design applications, FGU FIPS examiners use industrial design databases freely available on the Internet. Below is a list of the countries which provide information on their industrial designs in the corresponding Internet databases.
1. Сountries and organizations included in the minimum compulsory search field
Russian Federation
WIPO (The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs)
United States of America
Japan
United Kingdom
Germany
Spain
France
2. Additional information resources from other countries and organizations:
European Union (OHIM), Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
Industrial design applications are registered in the TM-ADMIN system. Procedures for exporting data into the system of prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs – FGU FIPS automated database – have been devised and introduced.
The FGU FIPS automated database is designed to monitor the prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, account for the payment of patent fees, draw up plans and reports relating to the activities of examination divisions, prepare data for publication and obtain information on Rospatent activities included in the Rospatent and WIPO Annual Reports.
The system guarantees the entry and registration of application materials and incoming correspondence, prepares outgoing correspondence, and monitors all processes in the life cycle of applications, beginning from application filing up to the examination decision (grant, refusal, withdrawal), verifies the periods for examination of correspondence and those for carrying out examinations.
The system functions in real time.
The programming language BASIC, Web-Builder, DISI, RE screen editor and WINNIX terminal emulator are used as production means in the Universe SU Database environment.
The FGU FIPS automated database system is integrated with the Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation Automated System (a two-way exchange of data takes place).
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
Equipment used:
HP DL380 server – 4 units
(ОM-4GB, processors-2, external memory – 200GB)
HP DL580 server – 2 units
(ОM-8GB, processors – 4, external memory-300GB)
HP P4 and Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 120 units
Software:
SINIX, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003 operating systems.
Carriers used:
SDLT and Ultrium magnetic tapes
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
The Central Patent Collection (TSPF) contains national and foreign patent documents on all types of industrial property subject matter, including industrial designs, both in the form of full-text descriptions of inventions for applications and patents, and also bibliographical and abstract information; as well as reference-search and other information.
The FGU FIPS VPTB provides free access to the TSPF without any restrictions and serves all categories of users in Russia (including examiners) and neighboring and other foreign countries.
The Library premises are equipped with protective lighting and an automatic fire-fighting system.
Collection management, preservation
The specialized collection of industrial designs includes:
- full descriptions for industrial designs from foreign countries;
- (artistic) design periodicals;
- advertising prospectuses and catalogues;
- thematic collections of publications from the national gazettes of a number of foreign countries;
- method-related and reference literature.
The overall volume of this collection is 2.2 million editions, including:
- around 120,000 full descriptions of industrial designs from foreign countries;
- national and foreign journals on the designs and new types of products constitute more than 34,800 copies;
- thematic collections from national gazettes of a number of foreign countries constitute more than two million publications;
- a special collection of advertising prospectuses and catalogues linked to exhibitions, as well as advertising for new goods and other items containing 46,800 copies of publications.
The collection of official industrial design publications in the TSPF is provided by various countries and covers various periods.
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 FGU FIPS VPTB is equipped with a special room for work with information on industrial designs for all categories of users.
In 2008:
- the number of gazettes issued constituted about 18,700 storage units on paper and more than 2,000 on an electronic carrier;
- the number of thematic collections issued constituted 15,600 units;
- the number of design journals issued constituted about 9,300 copies;
- the number of advertising prospectuses and catalogues issued constituted more than 14,900 copies.
In 2008 users were given access to the Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD, with a frequency of 12 issues per year. Alongside the Official Gazette on CD-ROM, the Gazette was published on paper.
Additionally, users were offered sets of information on industrial designs for 2005-2007, each on one DVD, and also a retrospective set of files of information on industrial designs for 1993-2004 on one CD.
All CD-ROMs and DVDs are distributed together with the MIMOSA software which provides a search of bibliographical data, ICID indexes, a list of essential features and also combinations thereof.
In 2008, users were offered the ICID (seventh and eighth editions) on CD-ROM and on paper (eighth edition).
An annual index (one volume) was issued for the Industrial Designs Gazette on paper.
In 2008, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the Rospatent Internet site and registers of Russian industrial designs, with details of their legal status, continued to be kept. Users are also granted free access to information on applications for the grant of a Russian Federation Patent for an industrial design, with a date of receipt after January 1, 2007.
Users' work with information search system:
Access for external users to the industrial designs database is provided by agreement.
Table 5 contains data on the number of search system database inquiries.
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.
The web page address on the Office site for the electronic filing of an industrial design application – electronic filing procedure is missing from the site.
The web page addresses on the Office site which provide information on commercial procedures include:
• application filing procedures – Administrative Regulations on the performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of the State function relating to the organization of the receipt of applications for industrial designs and their consideration and examination, and the grant, in accordance with established procedure, of Russian Federation Patents for Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/npdoc/apo_pr.htm; Fees section http://www.fips.ru/potrf/index.htm; http://www.fips.ru/potrf/poshl.htm;
• publication procedure – Administrative Regulations on the performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of the State function 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 therefor, validity, and termination and renewal of validity of legal protection for intellectual property subject matter, transfer of rights in protected subject matter, and official registration of intellectual property subject matter http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/adm_reestr.htm; Regulations on Official Publications of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks in the Publications section http://www.fips.ru/izdan/pol.htm; Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/des.htm; Databases section in the Information Search System section http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm; Open Registers section http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/index.htm; http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rude.htm; Industrial Designs section in Prospectus of Publications and Databases for 2008 in the Publications section http://www.fips.ru/izdan2008/po_ofi.htm;
• examination and grant of a document providing protection, in relation to industrial designs – in the Normative Documents section - Office Acts subsection http://www.fips.ru/npdoc/ved_doc.htm#2;
• procedures for filing objections and appeals relating to industrial designs – Patent Disputes Chamber section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/pat_palata.htm .
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
The following web page addresses on the Office site provide information on information products and services supplied by the Office:
• conducting searches – in the Information Search System section: Services http://www.fips.ru/russite/uslugi/podp.htm, Databases http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm; Open Registers http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/index.htm subsections; Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/des.htm; http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/default.htm section; Collections section http://www.fips.ru/vptb/inf.htm#pat;
• industrial designs database – Databases subsection http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm in the Information Search System section;
• information on access to and use of resources in the Information Search System section Support http://www.fips.ru/russite/support/m4.html; Regulations http://www.fips.ru/russite/documents/m1dop.html subsections.
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
Within the framework of international exchange, in 2008 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent to 50 foreign countries in 53 annual sets.
In 2008, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 114 copies on paper;
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 278 copies on paper.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
Within the framework of international exchange, in 2008 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent on optical disks to 50 foreign countries in 53 annual sets.
In 2008, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 238 copies on optical disks and 380 copies downloaded from the Internet;
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 431 copies on optical disks and 486 copies downloaded from the Internet.
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)
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
In 2008, the subjects of five conferences and seminars, held in different regions of Russia, and also of a number of international exhibitions, were devoted to the problems of protecting industrial designs.
Thus, the competition program Twelfth Moscow International Exhibition of Industrial Property Archimedes – 2008 was presented, including in the nomination of the Best Industrial Design.
Annually, Rospatent holds conferences, seminars and round tables in Moscow with the participation of representatives of international organizations and other States. Below is given brief information on the most important of these.
• From March 3 to 6, 2008, as part of the Eighth Moscow International Exhibition of Innovations and Investments, a conference entitled State Policy in the Intellectual Property Sphere was held. A round table was also in operation, devoted to the practice of protection for inventions, utility models, industrial designs and trademarks, in the light of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/salonVIII.htm).
Representatives of 19 towns and regions of the Russian Federation, along with representatives of the Republic of Belarus (Minsk) and the Czech Republic (Prague), took part in the work of the conference and round table. The conference participants included patent attorneys, representatives of legal and commercial organizations, scientific research institutes and the press – a total of about 120 people.
• On April 2, 2008 in Moscow, as part of the Eleventh International Exhibition Archimedes – 2008, a conference and round table, organized by Rospatent and FGU FIPS, were held, devoted to current issues of legal protection of intellectual property subject matter in the context of the introduction of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/arh2008.htm).
Specialists from 22 towns and cities in the Russian Federation, along with representatives of the Republic of Ukraine and Romania, took part in the work of the conference and round table. A total of about 130 people took part in the presentation work.
• On October 8 and 9, 2008, the Twelfth Scientific and Practical Conference on the Practice of Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Subject Matter in the Context of the Introduction of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/12conf.htm) was held.
Representatives of international organizations, a number of State bodies, and public organizations and associations participated in the work of the conference. A total of about 350 people took part in that work, including: from other foreign countries – ten, and from neighboring foreign countries – 15. The number of regions of Russia represented was 39.
• On December 11, the Second Specialized Exhibition of Trademarks and Industrial Design – 2008 took place (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/tz_2008.htm). Representatives from 19 towns and regions of the Russian Federation, State bodies, legal and commercial organizations, patent attorneys etc. participated in the work of the conference. A total of about 55 people took part in that work.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
From November 25 to 28, 2008, FGU FIPS held a training course for specialists in the area of industrial designs, in which 20 specialists from external organizations took part, of which six were from Moscow and the Moscow region, four from Saint Petersburg, seven from other towns in Russia, two from the Republic of Kazakhstan and one from the Republic of Belarus.
The study program included 20 academic hours of lectures on 12 subjects and ten academic hours of practical activities, devoted to the practice of granting legal protection for industrial designs in the context of the introduction of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, including judicial practice. When the training course was completed, a round table was held on problem issues (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/stage1108.htm).
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
Administrative Regulations on the Performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of the State function relating to organization of the receipt of applications for industrial designs, and their consideration and examination, and grant in accordance with established procedure of patents of the Russian Federation for Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/npdoc/apo_pr.htm; Inventions, Utility Models and Industrial Designs subsection in the Normative Documents section; Normative and Legal Documents subsection in the Industrial Designs section: http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/design.htm;
contain the Annual Report of the Office
Reports, Reviews and Statistics section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/reports.htm;
provide open source codes related to industrial design information systems
References section http://www.fips.ru/russite/search/search.html;
contain industrial design-related news regarding the Office
Main News section http://www.fips.ru/rospatent/index.htm, News section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/news.htm