Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2016 submitted by the Rospatent

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

(a)  Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization

Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) is being carried out in five main areas:

- development of electronic interaction with applicants;

- electronic record keeping and optimization of record-keeping processes;

- Information support of users;

- inter-departmental electronic interaction;

- development of hardware and software infrastructure.

On the site of Rospatent, the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans of Rospatent's activities":

http://www.rupto.ru/about/strategy.

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

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2016:

-   operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Registers for Inventions and Utility Models (hereinafter referred to as EGR).

-   a system for official Internet publication of information on intellectual property subject matter from the EGR was implemented and trialed.

-   examiner’s departments were re-deployed to the preparation of electronic correspondence and electronic signing thereof in the automated information system of paperless prosecution of invention examinations.

- In 2016, modernized software was introduced for the prosecution of legal decisions of the Chamber of Patent Disputes (PPS)- ASBBD ‘PPS’. As a result of this, the department of legal representation was given the opportunity to conduct office work electronically, and the ability to make entries in all State Registers directly from the records management system.

-   Operation continued of the PCT Electronic Applications Library automated system

-   Operation continued of the system for filing and receiving electronic invention applications. The electronic invention application filing service has been integrated with the automated information system of paperless prosecution of invention examinations.

-   Operation continued of an automated paperless prosecution system for examining applications to amend entries in the registers for inventions and utility models (including extending and renewing the validity of a patent) (Patent Prosecution).

The transition to paperless prosecution has had a positive influence on the work of expert staff and interaction between subdivisions involved in registration activities. The transition to electronic prosecution has seen a gradual decline in the use of paper-based information, a reduction in the time taken to process documents and search for required information, thereby leading ultimately to increased productivity and better public awareness of patent rights and amendments thereto, as well as the status of patent documents.

In 2016, the State Register of Russian Federation Inventions (EGR IZ) and the State Register of Russian Federation Utility Models (EGR PM) records continued to be completed. As of the end of 2016, the registers contained:

- EGR IZ: 207,467 patents;

- EGR PM: 61,012 patents.

In order to ensure the completeness of foreign documentation submitted and uploaded onto the PatSearch system, incoming documentation is constantly monitored. As gaps are detected in the arrays of documentation, a request is sent promptly to the relevant foreign patent office; receipt of data is constantly being monitored.

During 2016, work was carried out on populating data; after formal verification fitness for purpose, completeness, and compliance with specifications on the website, some errors were identified. After verifying downloaded data during 2016, errors were detected in the arrays of Germany, Australia, China, Republic of Korea, and EPO (111,884 documents). All errors were corrected by re-uploading the data. As part of the previously signed agreements with foreign offices on data exchange and other written agreements, work is ongoing to ensure the quality and completeness of the upload onto the system.  

In 2016, the Rospatent and FIPS websites provided access to a wide range of databases, including official electronic publications.

The content and structure of the website, representing Rospatent’s activity within its terms of reference (www.rupto.ru) reflect the most important issues in relation to the functioning of the system of intellectual property protection in Russia. Regulations and press releases are regularly posted on events relating to Rospatent activity and events in the system of intellectual property protection.

The ‘Public Services’ section of the Rospatent  website has been fundamentally restructured, and includes all necessary regulatory documents, instructions, diagrams and forms for contacting the agency. New sections have been developed and opened: ‘Public Council’, ‘Board of Rospatent’, and ‘Normative Legal Acts No Longer in Force’. In accordance with the principles of openness, the following sections have been updated: ‘Plans’, ‘Public Procurement’, ‘State Service’, ‘Anti-Corruption’, ‘Normative Legal Acts, Compliance with the Provisions of which is Monitored by the State’, ‘Cooperation with Executive Authorities’, ‘Licenses and Contractual Relations’, ‘Contacting Rospatent’, ‘Federal State Information Systems’, and ‘Forms of Documentation’. In the ‘Public Data’ section, the sub-sections ‘Subordinate Institutions’, ‘Examination Plan’, ‘Examination Results’, and ‘Patent Attorneys’ have been updated in the form of data arrays in machine-readable format. Information on the demand for Rospatent’s public data section is posted online.

Along with the Rospatent website, the FIPS website (www.fips.ru) likewise developed rapidly in 2016, focusing on comprehensive support for users at various stages of legal protection and intellectual property protection.

New sections have been created: ‘Patent Search’, and ‘FIPS Procurement’. The following pages have been updated: ‘Official Publications’, ‘Search Engines and Databases’, ‘International Organizations and Patent Offices’, ‘Foreign Databases’, ‘Classifications’, normative documents in sections on industrial property subject matter, ‘Conferences and Seminars’, ‘Vacancies’, ‘Scientific Activity’, and ‘Main FIPS Activities’. Information has been updated in the following sections and headings of the FIPS website: ‘Leaders in Electronic Filing of Applications’, ‘Patent-Information Products’, ‘FIPS Services’, ‘Library of Normative Documents’, and ‘Samples of Applications’.

In the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) section of the FIPS website, the following headings are regularly updated: Thematic meetings, Internet navigator for patent information resources, Guide to VPTB collections and Internet resources, Bibliographical indexes and lists, Recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations forming the national nanotechnology network, and translations into Russian of the EPO publication ‘ Patent Information News’.

In 2016, Rospatent  and FIPS pages were created on Facebook, containing interesting material on the topic of patent law, the most striking current inventions, and answers to users’ questions.

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

At present, applicants and representatives thereof may interact with FIPS electronically using services provided on the FIPS website (www.fips.ru) and on the State Services Portal. (www.gosuslugi.ru).

The FIPS website enables electronic filing of applications for inventions and utility models, as well as electronic correspondence through the ‘Personal Office’ service for applications for inventions and utility models filed previously. 

In 2016, the following measures were taken to increase the number of applications filed electronically:

-   reliability of the electronic filing system and ease of use thereof were increased;

-   use of electronic filing software services was enabled;

-   use of electronic filing of applications was promoted;

-   newsletters were sent to organizations proposing the use of electronic services for filing applications;

-   thematic meetings were held and advisory user support systems for electronic filing were offered;

-   electronic filing through TISC was organized.

Much attention was paid to Rospatent’s participation in the programs initiated by the RF Government:

-   Unified State and Municipal Services (Functions) Portal (hereinafter, ‘EPGU’);

-   inter-agency electronic interaction system (hereinafter, ‘SMEV’), including the transition to electronic interaction with the Treasury;

-   creating a basic State information resource (hereinafter, ‘BGIR’);

-   participating in the establishment of unified electronic government infrastructure by connecting Rospatent’s automated systems to the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’).

In 2016, a Consolidated Plan for the transition to electronic provision of public services was developed and approved.

As part of the implementation of the Consolidated Plan, information on all Rospatent services has been updated in the Federal Register of Public Services (FRGU), and descriptions of 26 public services have been made available on EPGU.

Technical requirements for the development of interactive forms of filing applications for 20 services have also been sent to the Ministry of Communications. As of December 31, 2016, it has been possible to file applications for eight Rospatent services with EPGU, while a further 12 services are carrying out testing of interactive forms. The new forms are expected to be launched on EPGU during the first quarter of 2017.

Interaction with the Federal executive authorities is provided using the inter-agency electronic interaction system. Version 2.4.4 of the SMEV web-service was developed and registered in a production environment in compliance with methodological guidelines for the development of eleсtronic services and use of electronic signature technology in the course of inter-agency electronic interaction.

In 2016, the type of information on registered intellectual property subject matter was developed and registered in the production and test environment of the Inter-Agency Electronic Interaction System (SMEV 3.x).

SMEV 3.x was integrated in a test environment with types of information from the Federal Tax Service (FNS), ensuring the receipt of extracts from the Unified State Registers of Legal Entities (ЕGRUL) and Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP).

In 2016, work was carried out to update the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal in respect of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’) in order to comply with the Guidelines on the use of ESIA version 2.5.

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

Inventions

Data relating to the filing of applications and the grant of Russian Federation invention patents for 2015-2016 are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

From Table 1, above, it can be seen that 2015 saw decline in both the number of applications filed (8.63%), and in invention patents granted (3.37%) in comparison to 2015.

The invention patents granted in 2016 were distributed according to the IPC sections as follows:

Table 2

The largest number of patents for inventions granted in 2016 was to Russian applicants for Section С of the International Patent Classification (IPC) – CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY; this year, this section was the most popular for Russian applicants; as for foreign applicants the most popular section was Section A - HUMAN NECESSITIES .

The least popular Section among Russian and foreign applicants alike remains Section D – Textiles and Paper.  The number of patents granted for this Section in 2016 comprised only 0.75 per cent of the overall number of patents granted for inventions.

Utility models

Тable 3

In 2016, the number of applications received for utility models fell.  The number of applications received decreased by 6.67 per cent, and this decline was seen both in applications filed by domestic applicants (6.66 per cent), and, by foreigners (6.76 per cent). The total number of patents granted likewise declined, by 1.48 per cent.

Data on the distribution of patents for utility models by IPC Section are presented below.

Тable 4

The leading IPC Section in 2016 remained Section B – Performing Operations and Transporting – while second place was taken by Section A – Human Necessities. As in 2015, Section D – Textiles and Paper – continued to be the least in demand, with the lowest number of certificates granted.

Over 10,000 applications for inventions and utility models were filed electronically during 2016; for inventions- 9,873 (over 23 per cent of the total number of invention applications), and for utility models- 880 (approximately 8 per cent of the total number of utility-model applications).

In order to conduct correspondence electronically on applications for inventions and utility models filed is done through the Personal Office service of the FIPS website.

The growth in electronic filing of applications for inventions and utility models is presented in the diagram below:

The main factors influencing the substantial growth in electronic filing of applications in 2016 were the promotion of electronic interaction with Rospatent, and the implementation of a number of projects to integrate electronic filing systems with the prosecution systems of applicants and representatives thereof.

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

The following pages of the Office’s websites contain:

• Information on patent legislation- Regulation section: http://www.rupto.ru/docs;
• Office Annual Report- Rospatent Annual Reports section: http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;
• Statistical information- Statistical Data section: http://www.rupto.ru/about/stat;

Monitoring of the quantitative and qualitative indicators for the main activities of FIPS in 2016 is provided on the FIPS website in the FIPS Main Activities section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/osn_deyat;

• Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/links;

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;

• Rospatent News: http://www.rupto.ru/press/news;
• FIPS News:http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/news/.

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

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

One of the most important tasks of a patent office, including Rospatent, is to provide an environment conducive with filing patent applications for industrial property subject matter, thereby promoting inventive activity in the country.

The main measures aimed at addressing this issue include:

• - posting instructional materials necessary for preparing and filing applications for all types of industrial
•   property on the Rospatent website;
• - providing advice on matters relating to the registration and filing of applications;
• - providing opportunities for all categories of users to work with the GPF and other patent information
•   products available in the Library free-of-charge;
• - holding thematic meetings of heads and specialists of Rospatent and FIPS with patent attorneys and other representatives of the business community to familiarize themselves with new laws in intellectual property, as well as thematic training meetings on working with services for electronic filing of applications;
• - holding internships and training for work with patent documentation, etc.

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for the grant of patents for inventions and utility models, and corresponding electronically using the ‘Personal Office’ service: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/

Answers to frequently asked questions are posted on a section of the FIPS website.

Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru to obtain professional help from technical specialists.

The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:

• State registration of inventions, and grant of patents in respect of inventions, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/reg_iz

• State registration of utility models, and grant of patents in respect of utility models, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/reg_pm

• Access to documents for patent applications for inventions, utility models, industrial designs, and issuance of copies of said documents:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/oznakomlenie_iz_pm_po

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of State registration of inventions, and grant of patents in respect of inventions, and duplicates thereof

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_315_25052016#Adm_reg

• Rules for compiling , filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of inventions, and forms thereof

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#I

• Requirements relating to documents included in an invention patent application

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#II

• Information on an invention patent application published in the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#III

• Procedure for carrying out an information search when conducting a substantive examination on an invention patent application, and submitting a report thereon

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#IV

• Procedure and time limits for informing the applicant of the results of an information search on an invention patent application, and publication of a report on said search

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#V

• Procedure and conditions for carrying out an information search on an invention patent application upon the request of the applicant or third parties, and providing information on the results thereof

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_316_25052016#VI;

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of State services relating to the State registration of utility models, and grant of patents in respect of utility models, and duplicates thereof:  

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_702_30092015#adm;

• Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of utility models, and the form thereof:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prikmert_701_30092015#adm;

• Requirements relating to documents included in the application for grant of a utility-model patent:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_701_30092015#4;

• Information on the grant of a utility-model patent published in the Office Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_701_30092015#11

Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the State service relating to access to application documents for grant of a patent for an invention, utility model, or industrial design, and issuance of copies of said documents: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_615_28_08_2015#adm_regl_oz

• Procedure for accessing application documents relating to applications for grant of a patent for an invention, utility model, or industrial design, and issuance of copies of said documents:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_614_28082015#poryadok    

• Guidelines on issues concerning examination of applications for inventions and utility models:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/rec_inv;

• ‘Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples’ section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya/;

•  ‘Electronic Interaction with Applicants’ section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/;

• The ‘Personal Office’ service facilitates correspondence on stage of prosecution for applications filed both in hard-copy, and using the electronic application filing services:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/pers_kab;

• Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues/;
• Fee calculator: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/poshl_s/k_p
• Patent Law subject matter section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects;
• For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/new
• Frequently Asked Questions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/right_vopr.

Details of seminars and other similar events held in 2016 can be found in Part 5(e).

(b)  Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Access is provided on the Rospatent and FIPS websites to the following resource:

-   A database of invention applications filed between 2007 and 2016 (containing a brief summary of the prosecution of applications, and updated daily).

-   A database of applications for industrial designs filed between 2007 and 2016 (containing a brief summary of the prosecution of  applications, and updated daily).

As part of the automated paperless prosecution information system for examining inventions, access is provided to primary materials for applications for inventions and utility models, versions of the application components (invention claims, descriptions), bibliographic data and versions of documents sent to applicants, images of incoming correspondence, and outgoing correspondence, signed electronically.

(c)  Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), reclassification³ activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information

With regard to the revision of the International Patent Classification (IPC), in 2016 Rospatent prepared a new full version of the IPC 2017.01. It was issued  in machine-readable form in Russian for internal use, and as web-publication for external users of patent information. For that purpose a total of 1,483 amendments to the previous version of the IPC-2016.01 were processed by specialists.

 The following number of amendments of various types were processed:

- introduced new entries -                                                                                                       693

-  deleted entries -                                                                                                                   295

- amended entries with subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein -           49

- amended entries without subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein -    452.

In accordance with the newly created IPC classification scheme definitions, informative references were removed from these IPC schemas.

In 2016, in the frames of the IPC revision work conducted by WIPO comments and proposals on the following projects had been prepared by Rospatent: M760 (through the whole text), M757 (A61F), F027 (A23P), F032 (G06F), F008 (A61B19/00), C466 (A61B), and F026 (A23K).

Reclassification of the retrospective part of the national collection of patent documents for the version of IPC 2016.01 is in the process of completion.

Parallel to the IPC the FIPS examiners had begun assigning СPC symbols on all current applications for inventions and utility models since 2016.

In 2016 as in previous years examiners used indexing codes for classifying additional information on national patent documents.

The alphabetical subject index for the current version of IPC-2016 is electronically issued in Russian. In 2016, the preliminary assignment of an IPC classification to applications for inventions and utility models received by FIPS was continued, in order to send them to the appropriate examination division for substantive examination of applications for inventions and the examination of utility models.

In 2016, 45,586 applications for inventions and 10,343 applications for utility models were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions.

International applications received by the International Patent Cooperation Division of Rospatent in its role as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority are assigned a preliminary IPC index classification, which determines the appropriate examination division for each application.  In 2016, 3,212 international applications were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions for the purposes of conducting an international search.

(d)  Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents

In 2016, abstracts continued to be published in Russian and English for RF patents granted for inventions as part of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette . The Gazette is posted on the FIPS website. In addition, abstracts in Russian are published as part of the publication Descriptions of Inventions for RF Patents on paper (identical to publications in the Gazette posted on the website).

With the aim of providing examiners and other categories of users with comfortable conditions when working with foreign patent documentation, immediate translation assistance is provided for patent documentation, both from Russian into other languages and from other languages into Russian, in both written and oral form.

In connection with carrying out significant work to translate foreign documents on all issues related to intellectual property, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’)  works actively to supplement thematic dictionaries on the latest subjects. In 2016, more 3,000 dictionary entries were prepared that are used when working in the VPTB display room.

VPTB performs translation from foreign languages and prepares summaries of foreign legal and patent literature.  In 2016, the titles of articles and books were translated into Russian and prepared summaries of 3700 publications of interest to specialists in legal protection of intellectual property.  The amount of legislation from foreign countries translated in 2016 was approximately 638 pages (Australia, Vietnam and USA).

The results of this work are entered into an electronic catalog of legal and patent literature: ‘Legal Protection of Intellectual Property: National and Foreign Publications’. The electronic version of the catalog, containing details of publications dating from 1992 to the present day, is available on the FIPS website in the section ‘VPTB Division’, and is accessible to remote users online. This catalog comprised 100,700 documents as of January 1, 2017.

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

(a)  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)

Table 5 contains data on the main types of Office publications in the field of patent information, carriers and also the frequency of publications.

Тable 5

During 2016, the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS), which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7436.

Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

All  Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette for 2014-2016 available at:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/iz_pm

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:

• Regulations on the official publications of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_rospatent/prik_rosp_105_04082015

• Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/;

• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.

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

The Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, is published three times per month.

The forms of notifications on inventions and utility models published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, are presented in Table 6:

Table 6

 The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site providing access to online publications:

• Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/%20-%20page=search&type=IZPM&number=0#page=bulletin&type=IZPM

• In the Information Resources section, International Classifications subsection: 

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=classification&type=IZPM;

• Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents:

 http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:

Register of Inventions of the Russian Federation

Register of Utility Models of the Russian Federation

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Invention Patent

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Utility Model Patent.

(c)  Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases

Examiners primarily gain access to patent information through the in-house search system, PatSearch. The search arrays of the PatSearch system include patent documents from Russia and the USSR going back to 1924, of the CIS countries, foreign countries in the PCT minimum documentation, as well as a DWPI array. If the information contained in the PatSearch system is insufficient, examiners may consult patent-office databases that are freely available on the Internet (mainly Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE, EAPATIS, and the databases of USPTO and the patent office of Japan). In order to view correspondence relating to applications in the patent offices of Japan and Korea, examiners can access the AIPN and K-PION databases, respectively. 

Where necessary, examiners perform searches in commercial databases.  These are mainly databases provided through the STN International platform.  These databases are generally consulted during searches on chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. In 2016, more than 1100 searches of this type were carried out.

Examiners have access to the VINITI commercial abstracts database. It contains arrays of Russian abstracts of sources of domestic and foreign scientific and technical literature (periodicals and serial publications, books, dissertations, conference materials, theses, patents, legal documents, and deposited scientific work), of which Russian sources comprise 30%.

In addition, examiners may perform information searches in any source freely available on the Internet.

Electronic resources of non-patent literature, acquired on a commercial basis, are available to Office experts via the inter-library subscription service, and electronic document delivery systems.

(d)  Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

In 2016, development of a continuous publication system from Rospatent’s Electronic State Registers (EGR) was completed. Since January, 2017, the system has been available to a wide range of users.

The main difference with the new publication system is the publication of patent information immediately after the information is entered into the EGR, thereby obviating the need to accumulate documents as content for the next Gazette.

The new patent information publication system enables immediate publication on the FIPS Internet portal of information on intellectual property subject matter entered into the EGR. This will make it possible to shorten the time for publication of intellectual property subject matter to several minutes after the information is entered into the EGR.

An advantage of the new publication system is also an increase in the efficiency of preparing the published materials by transferring the main preparatory work for the publication to the stage prior to entry into the EGR.

Advanced tools have been developed in the new system for ease of editing and providing effective monitoring.

Owing to the publication changes, amendments have been made to the Official Gazette- one Gazette will include a whole range of publication dates, and the Gazette will be a regular publication, updated on a daily basis.

Since information will be continuously entered into the EGR, Gazettes will be replenished, updated and posted in the ‘Official Publications’ section of the FIPS portal on a daily basis.At the same time, the Gazettes will be ‘closed’ in accordance with the current approved and customary issue dates thereof (once, twice, and three times per month). Gazettes thus issued will include documents with publication dates falling within the traditional interval between the Gazettes.

An ‘Official Publications’ section has been created on the FIPS website, where official publications will be posted, as well as publications based on official publications.

Official Rospatent communications, records of official publications containing information entered into the State Register, and lists of various types of intellectual property subject matter, Rospatent Official Gazettes, and official publications of international classifications, may be accessed in the ‘Official Publications’ section.

In the ‘Information Resources’ section, there are open registers and the information retrieval system of the FIPS Internet portal, which is updated on the basis of official publications.

In the ‘Official Publications’ section, searches are available by document number, type of intellectual property subject matter, type of document (application, registration information, re-issue, notices), classification, filing date, etc.

For ease of viewing documents, users are provided with the following options:

 - Displaying an abbreviated  (e.g. information on the author and right holder) or complete bibliography, with the option to reproduce/ hide it, as well as displaying all or selected parts of documents;

 - Displaying notification groups in the form of a list with a page view and the option to sort and filter notifications by date and type;

 - Download data for subsequent use: a document with complete information in PDF format and legally significant data with an electronic signature;

- Various navigational options will be available in the section, e.g. links to other related documents.

In addition, for the convenience of the user, it is possible to personalize the visualization of the documents according to the selected user profile or manually select the necessary parts of the document or notification groups.

As part of the development of a system of selective information dissemination, RSS feeds have also been added in the ‘Official Publications’ section of the FIPS Internet portal, by type of intellectual property subject matter, type of document and classifier for intellectual property subject matter where one exists.

VPTB users have access to Rospatent’s automated information-search system, PatSearch, and the Eurasian Patent Office’s EAPATIS search systems, the European Patent Office’s Global Patent Index, etc. 

In 2016, patent information subscribers were presented with the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette, based on official Rospatent information, with full descriptions of inventions and utility models  for RF patents on electronic CD/DVD carrier with search system. They are distributed with a frequency of 36 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents published in previous years (2013-2015) were offered on CD/DVD.

In addition, in the interests of users, the following information products were distributed:

• Annual retrospective sets of invention descriptions for USSR authors certificates and RF patents, from 1924 to 2015, on DVD (a total of 116 disks);
• An information-search system for invention descriptions for RF patents in Russian and English, from 1994 to 2016, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
• Title pages of utility model descriptions for RF documents providing protection, from 1994 to 2016, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
• Descriptions of utility models for RF documents providing protection from 1994 to 2015 on DVD  (15 disks);

In addition, the International Patent Classification, edition 2016.01 (IPC-2016.01), alphabetical subject indexes on CD with a search system, and the Rospatent Annual Report for 2015 on CD were published.

Most products on CD and DVD were distributed with MIMOSA software, allowing  all forms of patent searches to be carried out.

On the basis of official information relating to inventions and utility models, thematic databases are produced for users on CD/ DVD on special request.

In 2016, access to the electronic version of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette was provided on the FIPS website, while the registers of Russian inventions and utility models continued to be updated, and details of the legal status thereof were provided.

Also on the Internet, users are granted free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation invention and utility model patents.  Information on the prosecution of applications is available for applications received after January 1, 2007.

In 2016, the FIPS website provided access to:

1)      the information-search system (IPS) for domestic patent documentation;

2)      the Open Registers information resource, an information reference source which can be used by any person to search for information concerning a patent granted, or the stage of prosecution for applications filed at Rospatent. Reference information is structured by patent number, or application registration number by:    

-  registers of Russian patent documents relating to inventions and utility models;

-  registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2016 for the grant of invention and utility model patents;

3)    the Rospatent’s  Official Gazettes  “Inventions. Utility Models”.

Rospatent Internet resources are compiled in the following databases:

-  a full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 697,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2016 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a retrospective database of Russian patent documents in facsimile form (contains information on 1,431,000 patent documents for inventions from 1924 to 1993 inclusive);

-  an abstracts database for Russian inventions (contains information on 697,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2016 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a database of published applications for inventions (contains information on 497,000 applications for inventions from 1994 to 2016 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  an abstracts database for Russian inventions in English (contains information on 637,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2016 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a full-text database of Russian utility models (contains information on 167,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2016 inclusive, updated quarterly);

-  an abstracts database for Russian utility models (contains information on 167,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2016 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a future-oriented inventions database (contains information on 1,530 patents for inventions that are recognized by FIPS as promising, updated once per quarter);

-  a database of invention applications filed from 2007 to 2016 (contains information on the prosecution of 423,000 applications, updated daily);

-  a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2016 (contains information on the prosecution of 126,000 applications, updated daily).

Users’ work with the information-search system

Office examiners are given the possibility to work with all inventions and utility models databases. 

Access for external users to full-text inventions and utility models databases is granted on a contractual basis.

In 2016, as part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, access was granted:

in relation to full-text inventions and utility models databases, to:

• ­   152 organizations, as part of the Rospatent Program of Cooperation with regions of the Russian Federation
• ­   36 organizations participating in the implementation of the State project to develop nanotechnologies
• ­   126 Technology and Innovation Support Centres
• ­   2 organizations of Rostekhnologiya

in relation to all FIPS databases, to:

• ­   104 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
• ­   234 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• ­   98 organizations of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service
• ­   16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
• ­   95 organizations of the taxation service
• ­   60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights
• ­   2 users of the RosOboronPostavka
• ­   2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
• ­   4 users of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations
•    12 users of the Roskhomnadzor.

External users are provided free of charge with the following databases:

in relation to inventions:

• ­  abstracts databases in Russian and English,
• ­  a database of published invention applications,
• ­  a future-oriented inventions database,
• ­  a full-text database containing information on RF invention patents No.2503161, published in the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette;
• ­  the IPC database

in relation to utility models:

• ­  a database containing information on RF utility model patents No.136275, published in the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette;
• ­  an abstracts database;
• ­  the IPC database.

In 2016, internal and external users made more than 3,283,000 requests to the IPC, of which:

• ­   Approximately 110,000 by internal database users;
• ­   more than 3,173,000 by external database users.

Users’ Work with Registers of Russian Patent Documents

Users of registers are provided with free access to all patent documents of Rospatent’s Internet resources.

In 2016, internal and external users of registers made more than 54,110,000 requests.

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

Users are provided with free access to Rospatent’s Official Gazettes “Inventions. Utility Models”.

Access is provided to all Gazettes published since January, 2014.

In 2016, users accessed Rospatent Gazettes on more than 2,952,000 occasions.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information on information products and services provided by the Office:

• Rospatent Patent and Information Resources section:

http://www.rupto.ru/about/resources?inf_res;

• Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;

How to Access Publications and Databases subsection :

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;

• How to carry out a search – in the Information Resources section, Information-Search System sub-section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system;

Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;

Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette, in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/%20-%20page=search&type=IZPM&number=0#page=bulletin&type=IZPM

Patent databases- Databases subsection in the Information-Search System section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_2/;

Information on how to access and use resources – in the Information-Search System section, 

Instructions for Using an Information-Search System sub-sections:

http://www1.fips.ru/file_site/instr_search_2017.pdf;
Services:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;

Support:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_4/;

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

All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on current legal status that is updated three times a month.

The Automated Database (ADB) subsystems to determine legal status use the given official publications containing information on new registrations of protection titles and changes.  Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are displayed on the Rospatent site in the Information Resources section.  For inventions and utility models patent status may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated”.

Information on the legal status of inventions and utility models is published in the Rospatent’s Official Gazettes “Inventions. Utility Models” on CD/DVD and on the Rospatent site:

- information on the grant of RF patents for inventions and utility models;

- information on amendments to the published information on applications for inventions and to entries in the State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models (Notifications section of the Gazette).

Information is provided  in the Information Resources section of the Office’s website on registrations with an indication of the legal status or stage of prosecution of the registered subject matter in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

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

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

In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2016 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.

In 2016, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location. The number of FIPS employees working remotely increased from 178 in 2015, to 210 in 2016.

From January 15, 2016, in order to improve the accessibility of State services provided by Rospatent, a hardware and software system was put into commercial operation which enables remote examination of claims and objections in the Chamber for Patent Disputes for inhabitants of the regions. Participation in the hearing is provided through a browser, and no additional software installation is required for external participants. Implementation of the system received a favourable response among patent attorneys.

In 2016, the hardware platform of the FIPS Certification Centre underwent modernization. Work was also carried out on the specialized software of the Certification Centre, which, from December 1, 2016, enabled  the transition to the issue of certificates without binding to IP addresses,which increased the fault tolerance of technological processes  using electronic signatures.

In 2016, a duplicating channel for Rospatent’s Internet access was connected, which in 2017 will facilitate an improvement in the speed of access and reliability of systems connected to the Internet.

In 2016, all preparatory work in relation to connecting a segment of the computer network of the FIPS branch in Novosibirsk to a secure channel was completed.

In 2016, Rospatent examiners used the Information-Search System, PatSearch, for invention and utility model examinations. The PatSearch system is a professional search system for patent office examiners to perform searches when examining inventions and utility models. As a result, a wide range of functions and services has been introduced into the system.

Below is a list of the main functions of the system:

- Search in selected arrays

- Index browsing when preparing a request

- Sample analysis (statistics on search results)

- Document viewer (with highlighting of search terms)

- Two-window document viewing

- Print documents

- Export documents

- Consideration of IPC reform and subsequent reclassification

- Search based on the IPC and SPS, as well as the Thomson Reuters (Derwent) classification.

- Multilingual machine translation (including translation of a selection of the document or the whole document, and separate translation of query)

- Analysis of search results (including cluster analysis and construction of semantic networks)

- Espacenet search

- E-Library search

- Amino acid and nucleotide sequence search in the European data bank, EMBL.

In 2016, additional tools were developed in the PatSearch system to search by number range in text boxes.  This includes the PatSearch system providing a number range search in the form of an error message.

The PatSearch system also supports searches of non-patent literature in external sources, including searches of genetic sequences on the European Bioinformatics Institute website. In addition to PatSearch, all examiners enjoy free access to all foreign patent office search databases, and to several databases of non-patent literature.

Extensive use has been made of the opportunity to document search histories, including an indication of search arrays, search query transcripts, and the number of documents located and viewed, as well as a list of documents included in the examiner’s final selection.

(b)  Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Equipment used:

Fujitsu M10-4S server

(RAM – 96GB, processors – 20, external memory – 24 TB)

HP DL380 server – 42 units

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)

HP DL580 server – 18 units

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)

HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations – 1,115 units.

Switching equipment:

Cisco 6509, Cisco 6503, Cisco 4507

Software:

Solaris, Windows XP, Windows 7,

Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.

Carriers used:

Ultrium magnetic tapes.

(c)  Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

In 2016, the main search tool was Rospatent’s in-house search system, PatSearch, which is available at each examiner’s workstation.  The search array of PatSearch includes patent documentation from Russia, the USSR, and CIS countries, and countries included in PCT minimum documentation, as well as an array from DWPI. In total, PatSearch includes more than 70 million original patent documents. Full texts of patent documents not yet loaded into the system may be viewed via built-in online reference to Espacenet.

The PatSearch system supports non-patent literature searching in external sources: genetic sequences searching in the European Bioinformatics Institute databases and non-patent literature searching in the Electronic Scientific Library of the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (eLIBRARY.RU).

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

The main source of information for the principal functions of Rospatent is the State Patent Collection (GPF).

The main source for establishing the State Patent Collection (GPF), including its electronic PatSearch system content, is the international exchange of patent documentation. At present, international exchange continues to exist and evolve in a new format using new information technology based on PatSearch requirements and ensures the GPF is updated free of charge.  

Foreign patent documentation obtained using FTP may be loaded onto the PatSearch system from the websites or specialist Internet resources of foreign patent offices or organizations.

In 2016, information was uploaded onto the PatSearch system from all arrays of patent documentation from PCT minimum countries, as well as an update of the DWPI array.  Arrays of patent documentation have been uploaded onto the system from the USSR and Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), PCT, the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Australia, ARIPO, OAPI, and the Republic of Korea, and English-language abstracts and patent documents from Japan and other countries. 

The total number of patent documents in the original language is 50 million. The system provides viewing of complete descriptions of documents not yet uploaded to the system, but located under the DWPI index, through built-in online access to the arrays of the EPO. Non-patent literature may be searched through built-in access to the external Russian digital library, E-library.

System search arrays

• DWPI array
• Descriptions of USSR inventions from 1924 to 1993
• Descriptions of RF inventions from 1994 to date
• Claims of RF utility models from 1994 (No. 1) to date
• Claims of Russian invention applications
• Unpublished Russian invention applications
• Abstracts of patent documents from the world’s leading countries in English (DWPI)
• Descriptions of inventions from PCT minimum countries, including:
• PCT applications
• EPO
• United States of America
• Japan
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• France
• Austria
• Australia
• Switzerland
• Republic of Korea
• China
• ARIPO
• OAPI

Descriptions of inventions from CIS countries with abstracts in Russian (CISPATENT)

A total is of more than 118 million patent documents.

VPTB users also enjoy access to the GPI EPO system, databases QUESTEL and EAPATIS, and electronic non-patent literature resources: the electronic database of dissertations of the Russian State Library (DDB RSL) and the National Electronic Library (NEB).

The GPF is one of the most accessible and highest-quality patent collections in the world.  The patent documentation of GPF is provided on all carrier types – optical disks, local networks, paper, and micro-carriers.

A significant part of the GPF is available on optical disks (60,300 optical disks as at January 1, 2017). The collection is formed, mainly, from traditional international exchange of patent documentation with foreign patent offices. The patent collection on optical disks contains patent documentation from Russia, the PCT minimum countries, CIS, the international organizations, WIPO, EPO, and EAPO, as well as Denmark, Spain, Serbia, Slovenia, and Finland, etc.; patent documentation is made available to all categories of users in the VPTB display class.

The collection of optical disks is stored in metal cupboards.  Information on disk locations (cupboard number, shelf number, etc.), their usage history, possible exchanges and so on are available in a special technology database.  Work with this collection is free of charge for all categories of users in the VPTB display class.

Information downloaded from the FTP servers is temporarily stored on the local network before being subsequently uploaded onto PatSearch.

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

The Automated Databank (ABD), designed to prosecute applications and protection titles for inventions and utility models, has subsystems that manage the work of examiners and support staff, as well as capturing statistical information on various aspects of the activities of Rospatent subdivisions.

The subsystems for statistics allow the creation of over 300 different forms of reports on the activities of the Office’s subdivisions.

The electronic prosecution system for the examination of inventions (AS EA), which is integrated with ABD, supports the following functional capabilities:

• upload and download electronic documents to Applications e-Work;
• plan examiners’ work, draft master plans and portfolios of examiners’ applications;
• capture statistics;
• provide access to Applications e-Work and application components and bibliographical information,
• prepare outgoing correspondence and sign decisions on issuance of patents by electronic signature,
• verify and revise the electronic package of application elements intended for publication,
• application search function,
• developed user administration system.

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

(a)  Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries

The main functions of the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) is the establishment of the State Patent Collection (GPF), including patent documentation on all industrial property subject matter, scientific and technical and legal and patent literature on all carrier types, and also providing them to all categories of users. In so doing, VPTB fulfills the functions of a public library and the library of the Office at the same time. The main source for the GPF is international exchange, which ensures updating of patent documentation and Official Gazettes of foreign offices, while national and foreign scientific and technical, and legal and patent, literature is updated through subscription and obtaining books and periodicals.

As at December 31, 2016, the GPF comprised 126,640 documents overall. 

In order to assist VPTB readers, both general and specialized reading rooms are provided:

- computer room (for optical disks and remote databases);

- paper and micro-form patent documentation;

- information and bibliography services.

VPTB provides free access to patent collections that are targeted at all categories of RF users, as well as those in neighboring and other foreign countries without any restrictions. Visits and services are free of charge for all categories of library users.

The VPTB patent collection is managed according to type of industrial property and information carrier.

The Library premises are equipped with an alarm system and an automatic fire-fighting system.

A total of 86,100 persons consulted GPF in 2016.

In 2016, users (including examiners) were issued with over 31.4 million exemplars of patent documents: over 29.6 million exemplars on optical disks and from remote databases; over 1.7 million exemplars on paper, and 2,600 exemplars on micro-carrier.

The patent information services of VPTB are provided to remote users on request, including performing patent information searches and factual references, providing certified copies of documents of title and translations of patent documents, etc.  Overall, during the course of the year, over 3,300 patent information services were provided at the request of remote users. 

The Russian patent office does not have a regional network of patent libraries, although in 2016, as part of the project to create Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC), it cooperated with Russian libraries in providing patent documentation.

As part of international exchange of patent information, it cooperates with a number of foreign patent libraries, including the Library of the Patent Office of Austria, the Central Patent Library of the Office of Bulgaria, the State Patent Technology Library of the Republic of Tajikistan, National Library of Great Britain and other libraries.

(b)  Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

The VPTB offers a unique collection of legal and patent, and dictionary and reference literature (PPL collection), which is an important constituent part of the GPF is available. The PPL collection on paper and electronic information carriers includes publications on a wide range of theoretical and practical issues of intellectual property protection in the Russian Federation and abroad, including issues relating to the creation, legal protection, and commercialization of the results of intellectual activity, jurisprudence, protection of intellectual property on the Internet, activity of international organizations, and international cooperation in the field of intellectual property, etc.

The PPL collection contains various types of information source: legislative acts, international and intergovernmental agreements, treaties, regulations, as well as instructions, orders, rules and other documents; comments and reviews; guidelines and study aids; standards in the field of patent and scientific and technical information; annual reports of patent offices; symposium and conference materials; collections of court decisions; collections of statistics; bibliographical publications, industry, terminology and language dictionaries, reference books and encyclopedias.

At present, the PPL collection comprises approximately 90,900 publications, with the oldest publications dating from 1810. 

Aside from the above-mentioned information sources, all categories of users are provided with access to Edward Elgar and MyLibrary electronic books and to the editions of the National Electronic Library (NEB).

The Office examiners are also provided with access to non-patent literature through interlibrary lending and electronic document delivery systems. In order to meet examiners’ requirements, the collections of 8 specialized Moscow libraries are used, as well as databases QUESTEL and the electronic database of dissertations of the Russian State Library (DDB RSL) and the National Electronic Library (NEB).

An electronic catalog, Legal Protection of Intellectual Property: Domestic and Foreign Publications, has been created based on an analysis of publications entering into the PPL collection, bibliographies, publications posted on the Internet, and other sources. The catalog is a comprehensive information resource of patent and legal information and is a search-reference tool for the PPL collection. The catalog is a comprehensive information resource of patent and legal information and is a search-reference tool for the PPL collection. The catalog contains bibliographical descriptions in the original language, and Russian translations of titles and/or abstracts, and as of January 1, 2017, there were approximately 157,500 bibliographic records. The catalog also contains 6,700 links to full-text documents posted on patent owners’ websites.

The VPTB Division posts various information products and materials on the FIPS website. These are prepared on the basis of the State Patent Collection, and obtained as a result of identifying and studying global patent-information resources. During 2016, the VPTB Division section was updated and supplemented with materials.  The following are updated quarterly: Guide to the VPTB Collection and Internet Resources, Internet Navigator for Patent Information Resources, Recommendations on the List of Essential Methodology, Legal and Patent Literature and Documentation for the Provision of Documents for the Patent Subdivisions and Services of the State Science and Education Sector and Organizations of the National Nanotechnology Network, and translations into Russian of the EPO publication, Patent Information News. Bibliography lists are made available on a monthly basis to help regional experts with current issues regarding protection of intellectual property subject matter and jurisprudence, and issues in the commercialization of the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization.

Overall, in 2016, more than 135,600 users consulted the information available in the VPTB Division section of the FIPS website, was viewed 1452,900 pages.

Reference information on the stages of prosecution in patenting subject matter of patent law is published on the Rospatent website in the Subject Matter of Patent Law section:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects.

Information on the systems for granting legal protection abroad is available in the Foreign Patenting section: http://www.rupto.ru/ohrana_zarubezh, as well as in the International Cooperation section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter.

In order to ensure the uniform practical application of the provisions of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulating the grant of legal protection to the subject matter of patent legislation and means of individualization, a range of guidelines have been posted on the FIPS website in the Inventions and Utility Models section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/rec_inv.

To assist the patent subdivisions and the State services of the science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network, a range of method-related materials are available on the website:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/nano_pat;

Recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network, are published in the Rospatent and the Regions section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/recomend;

In the Information Resources section, in the Open Registers, information is provided on registering intellectual property subject matter with an indication of its legal status or state of prosecution: 

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/

Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.

Presentation of patent information analysis capabilities using Office information products:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/present.

For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the “What is Intellectual Property?” heading in the For Beginners section:  http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.

(c)  Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)

The PROMT translation system, installed on the IPS PatSearch and at the examiners' workplaces, is used at Rospatent in order to provide translation of foreign patent information and non-patent literature from the Internet, as well as Word files. In 2016 the PROMT Automated Translation System was updated with the latest version of PROMT PTS 11.

The work has continued on integrating into the PROMT System new and updated customized dictionaries of narrow specialized examiners' themes, distributed according to the thematic profiles based on IPC. This will allow choosing more exactly the translation profile corresponding to the subject of the translated text, which will improve the translation quality of patent and non-patent literature.

Training and consultations for examiners of using the new version of the PROMT PTS System were carried out both at examiners' workplaces and in the "Training and Computer Search" class.

(d)  Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

Given the importance of knowing the basics of intellectual property and in order to train new specialists in the skills for successful work in science, economics and industry, the VPTB Division holds a range of different events in cooperation with universities, research centers, Technology and Innovation Support Centers, etc., including:

• Organizing and holding seminars and practical classes based on GPF for students from a number of Moscow higher education institutions.
• In 2016, 25 excursions and practical classes on working with patent documentation were held, which were attended by 343 persons.
• In order to promote knowledge of intellectual property, thematic meetings with management and senior Rospatent and FIPS specialists have been organized for representatives of small- and medium-sized businesses, students and lecturers of institutes of higher education, and other professionals interested in intellectual property matters.

In 2016, 30 thematic meetings were held. 19 meetings were devoted to acquaintance with new regulatory and legal acts in the field of intellectual property, 11 - to training work with electronic filing services. Overall, the thematic meetings were attended by 2,982 persons, including 589 via video-conference (50 sessions) from 16 TISC.

• Assists with the updating, on a non-remunerated basis, of patent collections of patent documentation on optical disks in the regional organizations of the Russian Federation most actively involved in innovation processes. In 2016, 44 disks with foreign invention descriptions, along with 11 disks of foreign patent periodicals, were sent to the regions of Russia.

In 2016, as part of the Program for Regional Information Support, Rospatent provided 7 new accesses to FIPS’ full-text databases of descriptions of national inventions and utility models to business entities in the Russian regions free of charge, including an additional opportunity for Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) to conduct industrial design searches.

The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 259 organizations in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2016. Access was provided to: 47 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 36 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 13 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nanotechnology Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 140 TISC and 19 other organizations.

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

Organization of education and advanced training for FIPS specialists is carried out within the Unified Training System (UTS) under the principle of continuity with the use of internal and external forms of education starting from the date of hiring. Ensuring of conditions for continuous advanced training for employees is provided by the Statute of FIPS.

Major task in 2016 was to provide conditions for FIPS experts and researchers to learn new by-laws, first of all, rules and administrative provisions entered into force in the second half of 2015 and 2016. The task was completed by internal training that allows to change training programs promptly in accordance with amended laws and enforcement practice.

Organization of training for FIPS employees with the use of internal forms

According to the Consolidated plans of internal training of employees approved by Director of FIPS, the following activities were held in 2016:

• 12 centralized studies on application of provisions of new normative legal acts on rendering governmental services as per implementation schedules for corresponding normative legal acts. The studies were held by heads and members of working groups who participated in preparation of respective administrative procedures for 19 state services;

• 10 centralized studies for heads of departments, their deputies and leading employees of FIPS; the studies cover the issues of respective activity directions and are assigned for different categories of experts;

• 435 studies held directly in FIPS divisions in accordance with quarterly plans on internal training, dedicated to studies of newly adopted regulating documents, examination issues, as well as analysis of the results of internal and external quality control of examination in certain divisions.

In 2016, during training the main focus was made on studying new provisions of normative legal acts regulating rendering state services. Training of experts on use of computer databases selected for information search during examination and applied automated systems was continued.

Within the framework of expertise (experience) exchange with foreign patent authorities, trainings for experts of Japanese, SAR, Indian, Chinese, Brazilian, Kirgizia examiners were held in Rospatent. In the course of trainings, the examiners exchanged the experience in holding substantive examination.

Advanced training of FIPS novice experts

Advanced training of novice experts in the field of inventions and utility models examination is performed on a regular basis; corresponding certificates are granted. In 2016, civil contract was concluded with RGAIS by the results of open tender as per the established procedure; in compliance with this contract, training of the 14th group of FIPS novice experts (27 persons) was conducted.

Training was conducted in accordance with Educational topical plan of 214 teaching hours. Training program took into account new provisions of normative legal acts, regulations and administrative procedures that regulate rendering state services on the state registration of inventions and utility models.

FIPS employee training at RGAIS 

16 FIPS specialists successfully completed Master’s educational program and received a license on educational Master’s program 40.04.01 «Jurisprudence».

11 FIPS specialists continued their training program of higher education (entered the university on their own initiative and at their own expense).

1 FIPS specialist continued his training in postgraduate study.

Training for staff examiners in how to use different search systems

In the reporting year, examiners continued to learn various search tools related to information retrieval. The training courses were conducted in different directions for various groups of listeners, taking into account their level of knowledge and experience:

- Beginners examiners passed a full course of using national and foreign databases and automatic systems, recommended for searching. The course is mandatory for newly recruited examiners.

- Experienced examiners passed trainings in advanced and optimal search techniques in national and foreign databases and automatic systems.

- All examiners took part in training about actual versions of databases and automatic systems. The main aim of training has traditionally been the professional using of the in-house search system PatSearch and its updated functionality. In addition, there was training about using databases containing information missing in PatSearch, such as patent databases of EPO, US Patent Office, Japan, Korea, China, providing full texts of national patent documents, as well as file wrapper information.

- On requests from examiners` departments part of examiners had re-training courses for less confident users of national and foreign databases and automatic systems, individually and in groups.

- All examiners had a training course in classification special features of CPC in order to classify correct according to the CPC while processing applications.

- All examiners had a training course in using updated PROMT version text translation system for the analysis of patent documents found as result of searching in a foreign language.

- All examiners had consultations on any issues related to searching and using databases and automatic systems provided to examiners for the work, as well as software constantly carried out in the search rooms.

In order to ensure the required quality of work delivery, the training courses contained a theoretical part and a large number of examples in the practical part, for better learning and understanding the material. Demonstration and distribution materials were widely used. Brief instructive and methodological materials were developed for each database and automatic system, for future using in the examiners` work.

• In 2016, Rospatent participated in the organization and holding of one international exhibition and two international salons of inventions and innovations:
• March 30- April 1, 2016- 19th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015 (Moscow);
• September 28 - 30 - 12th International Exhibition of Inventions and New Technologies, New Time (Sebastopol);
• November 14-18- 20th International Exhibition "Information Technologies, Computer Systems and Publishing Products for Libraries" (Suzdal’).

In 2016, Rospatent participated in organizing and holding 58 conferences, seminars and round-tables in 25 regions of the Russian Federation.

A total of over 2,000 people from various regions of the Russian Federation attended the conferences, seminars and round tables that took place in 2016.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information about training, seminars and conferences:

-  the "Training" section

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/science/teach/;

 - the "Training seminars" section for TISCs of the RF:

http://www1.fips.ru/TISCs/teach_sem;

   -  a plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/archiv_meetings;

 - conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2016:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/archiv_meetings.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

(a)  International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information

In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts trademark documentation on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to the documentation to the offices of 47 foreign countries and four international organizations.

In order to keep the State patent collection up to date, the VPTB Division of FIPS at present engages in international exchange of patent documentation with 57 countries and six international organizations.

In 2016, VPTB of FIPS received:

- 2,883,593 copies of full descriptions of foreign patent documents electronically (of which 1,301,827 documents were received on optical disk, and 1,581,766  were downloaded from foreign patent office websites or Internet resources) from 20 countries and 3 organizations; 16 annual sets of invention descriptions on optical disks.

- 1,666 copies of Gazettes containing information on inventions were received in all formats from 42 countries and one international organization: 64 paper copies; 265 copies on optical disks; and 1,337 copies were downloaded from the websites or Internet resources of foreign patent offices.

To address the three countries participating in the project CISPATENT were transferred to 16 sets (48 copies) discs.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed at the instigation of WIPO between VPTB and the information and education services of the WIPO information division, as a WIPO Depository Library, VPTB has since 2009 received one copy, in English and Russian, of every new WIPO publication free of charge.

In 2016, Rospatent, acting as a Receiving Office, transferred 966 registered copies of international applications and 530 certified copies of priority applications to WIPO electronically by means of PCT-EDI, without sending paper copies. 

In 2016, 2,903 international search reports and written notes prepared by Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority, were transferred to WIPO electronically by means of PCT-EDI.

Acting as International Preliminary Examining Authority, Rospatent transferred 65 of the international preliminary examination reports to WIPO electronically by means of ePCT.

(b)  Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information

Active participation continued in the work to establish and refine both new and existing WIPO standards in the field of patent information under the relevant Task Forces of the Committee on WIPO Standards.

At the Task Force meetings which took place at WIPO (Geneva, Switzerland) on September 4-10, 2016, which was attended by a FIPS specialist, progress was achieved on the following matters:

During the workshop on standardization of the applicant names has been formulated a list of the main problems associated with the naming of applicants. The participants of the meeting identified priority directions in standardization of the names of the applicants and agreed that it is necessary to develop a standard to specify the names of the applicants.

During the meeting of Legal Status Task Force participants discussed the structure of information on the legal status.  A proposal by Russia about necessity of presence in the structure of the event information of the number of mandatory fields including the "Code of national events" was supported. During the discussion of objectives and scope of the new standard the participants confirmed that the new standard should also apply to the utility models and supplementary protection certificates.

During the meeting of Authority File Task Force took place the discussion on the project implementation, including the scope and objects of the standard on the official list of patent documents published by the IPO. The participants decided to exclude from the scope of the standard the guide for the persons interested in the completeness of the collections of patent documents.

At the Task Force meeting which took place at SPTO (Madrid, Spain) on October 17-21, 2016, which was attended by FIPS specialists, progress was achieved on the following matters:

Decisions were made on the open issues related to the preparation of version 3.0 of the standard ST.96, in particular, XML schemas for international exchange under the Madrid system and the Hague system . FIPS will continue to develop schemas for the search report.

During 2016 on the websites of Rospatent and FIPS the updated texts of the WIPO Standards ST. 3, 26, 60, 14 were published.

            In addition, answers to questionnaires published in the Handbook were prepared and sent to WIPO. The questionnaires concerned:

 - Numbering of applications and priority applications;

 - Questionnaire on the use of WIPO Standards in Rospatent;

- Questionnaire on provision transition scenarios and the date of transition to the use of ST.26.

Active involvement continued in the work of the WIPO Committee of Experts on IPC.

In 2016 Rospatent continued to participate in activities of the working bodies of the PCT Union: Meeting of International Authorities, PCT Quality Subgroup and PCT Working Group.  The following questions discussed during the sessions of the above bodies were of  particular interest for Rospatent  and found support of the Russian delegation:  evaluation of different approaches  to sharing search strategies, strengthening requirements for quality management systems,  development of  a set of measures to ensure the highest quality of international search and preliminary examination, improvement of the system of supplementary searches,  review of the PCT minimum documentation, increased exchange  of electronic documents  between offices and WIPO, more complete and effective use of the results of the International Authorities’ work in the transition of international applications to the national phase.

The adopted recommendations and amendments to the Rules of the Regulations under the PCT are usually integrated in the In-House Guidelines to be implemented within the Office.

During 2016 the cooperation with foreign patent Offices under the Patent Prosecution Highway program (PPH) has been extended. The Memorandum of understanding on the bilateral PPH program (PPH-Mottainai and PCT-PPH programs) between the Rospatent and the European Patent Office (EPO) was signed by the heads of Offices. By the end of 2016 there were 22 patent Offices including the Rospatent participating in the Global PPH program. The program of examiner exchange with the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) under the Intellectual Property Protection Experience Exchange agreement also has been extended.

The number of applications considered for the various types of PPH program increases each year. By the end of December, 2016, 1374 requests for participation in the PPH program were filed at the Rospatent since the inception of the PPH program.

In 2016, the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between Rospatent and WIPO for the creation of TISCs in the Russian Federation continued to be implemented: 

1. Owing to their expiry, four cooperation agreements between FIPS and Kaluga TISC- a branch of the Federal State Budget Institution, ‘Russian Energy Agency’, Ministry of Energy of Russia- have been renewed; between FIPS and  State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Tatarstan, ’Tatarstan TISC’, as part of which organizations are assigned the status of TISC-supporting organizations; an agreement has likewise been renewed between FIPS and State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Komi, ’National Library of the Republic of Komi’, and between FIPS and Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, ‘Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Nikitsky Botanical Garden- National Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’.

2. Two cooperation agreements between FIPS and State Autonomous Institution, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, ‘Yamal Regional Technological Park’, have been signed; between FIPS, and JSC Aerospace Defense Concern ‘Almaz-Antey’, and LLC ‘Intellekt- Aerospace Defense’.

3. Five tripartite agreements on the establishment of level-2 TISCs have been signed between FIPS and Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, Institute of Chemistry of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; LLC Intellectual Property Agency, ‘Borey’; Bryansk State Technical University (BGTU); State Autonomous Healthcare Institution, ’Inter-Regional Clinical Diagnostic Center’; and State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Kazan’ State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia.

As at the end of 2016, TISC had been established at 140 economic entities from 65 regions in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation. A full list of economic entities providing TISC services has been posted on the Internet on the official FIPS website (www.fips.ru) in the Cooperation with Regions of Russia, Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) section.

An important aspect of the TISC project is conducting free training seminars and workshops for training center staff. In 2016, Rospatent held 3 training seminars:

- April 25- 26- a FIPS-organized training seminar for staff of the TISCs of the Russian Federation, on ’Basic resources for patent search on the Internet’ (Moscow);

- April 28- a training seminar organized by WIPO in cooperation with Rospatent and FIPS for staff of the TISCs of the Russian Federation, on ’Foreign patenting’ (Moscow);

 - October 6- a training seminar organized by WIPO in cooperation with Rospatent, FIPS, and State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, ‘Astrakhan’ State Medical University’ of the Ministry of Health of Russia  for staff of the TISCs of the Russian Federation (Astrakhan’).

In accordance with Annexes 1 and 2 to the Agreement on TISC, during 2015, the VPTB Division sent TISC sets of Russian patent documentation on DVD-ROM optical disks (1,092 discs in total).

Information products and materials prepared by the VPTB Division were regularly updated, and posted on the FIPS website in the Information Resources for TISC section. To inform users about information products and services of the VPTB, the TISCS section provides an additional link to the section "VPTB Division."

 From March29 to April 1, 2016, at the Sokol’niki Exhibition and Congress Center, Moscow, the 19th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies ‘Archimedes 2016' took place, with the support of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, WIPO, Rospatent, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and Union Society of Inventors and Innovators. The Archimedes 2016 Exhibition was attended by representatives of more than 300 organizations and participants from 18 countries and 38 regions of the Russian Federation, representing their inventions and innovation projects. For 4 days of work the Exhibition "Archimedes-2016" was visited by more than 6000 visitors.

 On March 30, 2016, as part of the 19th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2016, Rospatent’s practical research conference took place on ‘Normative legal regulation of Intellectual Property Subject in accordance with Amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation’. The conference was attended by representatives of WIPO, as well as administrative and management structures, the public organization, Union Society of Inventors and Innovators, scientists, industrial and other organizations from a number of regions of the Russian Federation. Overall, 95 persons from  Russian Federation and two foreign countries attended the conference: from the Republic of Moldova,  Czech Republic and from 13 regions of the Russian Federation (Moscow, St.Petersburg, Tver’, Kaluga, Togliatti,  Murmansk,  Moscow region, Krasnoyarsk region etc.   

During the conference, 8 papers were presented, and a round table was held on the subject of the conference. Employees of Rospatent, FIPS and Federal State Budgetary Institution, FAPRID, addressed the conference.  

(c)  Assistance to developing countries

In accordance with the Agreements between Rospatent and the International Bureau of WIPO, Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, prepares search reports with preliminary examination reports on applications filed with the International Bureau of WIPO by developing countries.  In 2016, Rospatent received no such applications and no search reports were prepared.

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter.

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.