Annual Technical Report 2013 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Croatia (CWS/ATR/PI/2013/HR)

 

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

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

 

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

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

Patent applications in 2013

National patent, applications
253 in 2013 +1,6% compared to 2012

International patent applications entering the national phase
9 in 2013 -25% compared to 2012

Foreign applications filed directly to SIPO
23 in 2013 -28% compared to 2012

Patent applications filed by resident applicants
230 in 2013 +6% compared to 2012

Extended European patent applications (designation fee paid)
282 in 2013 -43,5% compared to 2012

International applications filed at SIPO as a RO
37 in 2013 42% compared to 2012

Granted national patents
159 in 2013 +2,6% compared to 2012

Granted European patents with HR as designated state
942 in 2013 +16,7% compared to 2012

Consensual patents, registrations
74 in 2013 -17,8% compared to 2012

Number of valid national patents
4243 in 2013 +21,5% compared to 2012

Number of valid consensual patents(i.e. registered without substantive examination)
403 in 2013 +4% compared to 2012

Valid patents in 2013 by field of technology

26,7% organic chemistry
23,4% preparation for medical, dental or toilet purposes
7,5% transportation
5,2% fixed constructions

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year

In 2013, a total of 253 patent applications were filed with the Office, representing a slight increase in the number of applications as compared to the previous year (approximately 1.6%).

Out of that number, a total of 230 applications were filed by resident applicants, representing an increase in the number of applications as compared to the previous 2012 (approximately 6%).

The number of resident legal persons (companies) that filed a patent application in 2013 also slightly decreased in comparison to the previous year – 31 applications were filed in contrast to 32 as filed in the previous year, while the number of natural persons as applicants increased by approximately 7,5% - from 185 to 199 applicants. Even now, resident applicants are predominantly natural persons, making a high share of86.5% of the total number of resident applicants.

Non-resident applicants filed with the Office a total of 23 applications, out of which 10 applications were filed by natural persons and 13 applications by legal persons. The number of the applications filed by non-resident legal persons (companies), although being low, is almost reduced by half as compared to the previous year.

The number of international applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that entered into the national phase of the procedure in the Republic of Croatia in 2013, slightly decreased as compared to the previous year, meaning that 9 applications were filed in contrast to 12 filed in 2012.

The number of the requests for the extension of the European patent applications to the Republic of Croatia on the basis of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Patents (Cooperation and Extension Agreement) between the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the European Patent Organization, as in force from 2004 to 2008, published in the EPO Bulletin during 2013, was 282, which is 43.5% less as compared to the last-year’s 499 requests.

In 2013, the number of requests for the entry of the extended European patents according to the same Agreement was 207, which is significantly less (34%) as compared to the previous year, when the number of requests was 272.

The mentioned decrease in the number of PCT applications in the national phase and requests for extension of the European applications and patents is in linewith the anticipation that with a lapse of time from the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Patent Convention foreign applicants will practically completely switch over to patent protection in Croatia by aEuropean patent based on the European Patent Convention. In 2013, the number of such requests increased as expected, and reached 774 requests, in comparison to 557 requests filed in the previous year, making the increase of 39%.

In 2013 the Office has received 37 international applications filed to it as a receiving office according to the PCT, which represents an increase of 42% as compared to the previous year.

According to technical fields, the majority of applications of resident applicants filed in 2013 were in the following IPC classes: B60-B68 (transportation) 13,9%, E01-E06 (fixed constructions) 12,6%, G01-G12 (measuring) 11,3%, F01-F04 (machines or engines) 8,2%, A61 (preparations for medical and dental purposes) 6,5%, A41-A47 (personal or domestic articles or appliances) 6,0%, F15-F17 (engineering in general) 6%, F21-F28 (lighting and heating) 6%, H01-H02 (electrical engineering) 3%.

According to technical fields, the majority of applications of non-resident applicants directly filed with the Office in 2013 were in the following IPC classes: A61 (preparations for medical or dental purposes) 26%, A41-A47 (personal or domestic articles or appliances) 13%, B60-B68 (transportation) 13%, and C07 (organic chemistry), 8,7%.

Out of the total number of patent applications of non-resident applicants filed directly with the Office (23), the largest number was filed by the applicants from the countries of the EU (13), which amounts to 56%.

During 2013 a total of 1175 patents were entered into the Office register, out of which 233 (20%) patents were granted via the national route and 942 (80%) were European patents with effect in the Republic of Croatia. The total annual number of patents entered into the register is higher by 11,7% as compared to the previous year. The number of patents granted via the national route decreased by 9,5%, whereas the number of European patents increased by 16,7%.

Considering the categoryof the holders of European patents entered into the register of the Office, non-resident legal persons make as much as 94%, while among the holders there is only one resident legal person and two resident natural persons.

At the end of 2013, a total of 4646 patents were valid in the Republic of Croatia, out of which 403 were consensual patents(i.e. registered without substantive examination). Compared to the previous year, the total number of patents as in force is higher by approximately 20%.

As per technical fields, the majority of the valid patents are in IPC classes C07 (organic chemistry) 26,7%, A61 (preparations for medical or dental purposes) 23,4%, B60-B68 (transportation) 7,5% and E01-E06 (fixed constructions) 5,2%.

In 2013, in the field of legislative activities, the Patent Act and the pertaining implementing Regulations were amended for the purpose of achieving their full alignment with the acquiscommunautaire of the European Union, primarily relating to the introduction of a Supplementary Protection Certificate and the possibility of electronic filing of subsequent submissions with the Office, during the granting procedure or the entry of a patent into the registers of the Office.

Other legislative activities related to the harmonization with the changes occurring in the international legal provisions.

With the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, beginning with 1 July 2013, the Office became a body competent for granting a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC), by applying the Regulation (EC) 469/09 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009, and the Regulation (EC) 1610/96 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996, concerning Supplementary Protection Certificates for medicines intended for humans or animals, as well as for plant protection products. The Treaty Concerning the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union provides for that any medicinal product or any plant protection product, respectively, protected by a valid basic patent in Croatia, and for which the first authorization to place it on the market as a medicinal product or a plant protection product, respectively, was obtained after 1 January 2003 may be granted a certificate in Croatia, provided that the application for a certificate is lodged within six months from the day of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union (up to 1 January 2014).

Based on this, a total of 68 applications for a Supplementary Protection Certificate were received in 2013.

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

Annual reports:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/about-sipo/annual-report/archive/
Statistics:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/about-sipo/ip-statistics/
http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/(Official Gazette)
News:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/news/

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

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

Filing on paper (instructions, Patent Examination Guidelines):
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/Patent/guidelines-pat-en.pdf

E-filing :http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/e-prijava/

International Patent Clasification (HR, EN):http://www.dziv.hr:8080/mkp/index.php

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

The application dossier is available in the Office database containing public data from Registers (Patent Applications Register, Patent Register and SPC Register), accessible through the Office website, free of charge. The Office maintains a complete history of its patent files in paper form and all information for patents applied from 2000 to date in electronic form.

Free of charge searchable data base containing published information on patents applied for or granted is available at:

http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/patents/

A range of search options available: Publication number; Croatian title; Publication date; IPC; Inventor; Applicant; Applicant/Holder (State); English title; Application date; Date and number of earlier application from the former FPO; European patent application/publication number; European patent application date; Priority – country/application number/application date; PCT - application/publication number; PCT - application/publication date, Patent representative, Abstract

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

Published patent applications and granted patents are classified by the Office according to the latest version of IPC advanced level.

The indexing schemes are not used by the examiners when classifying patent documents

The reclassification has been done regularly through the special tool developed in house. The Office uses the content of the latest IPC Validity file (201301) for validating IPC symbols.

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

Titles of all national applications are translated into English language and used for on-line database, offered by the Office.

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URLs)

Main types of patent publications are available on paper and online via:
Patent register search
http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/patents/

Official Gazette :
http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/

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

Since May 2009 the Office no longer publishes the Gazette on paper but only electronically. Current issue and archive of all issues since May 2009 are available free of charge at the Office's web site. Upon order and against payment Office provides issues of the Gazette on digital carrier. Since October 2013 the Official Gazette is published every two weeks (previously once a month).

Official Gazette contains the following published information on patents: Publication of patent applications, Patent application indexes by numbers, classification symbols and applicants, publication of requests for the grant of a patent on the basis of the substantive examination procedure of patent applications, publication of requests for the grant of a patent without the substantive examination of patent applications (Consensual Patents), publication of granted patents and consensual patents, Patent /consensual patent indexes by numbers, classification symbols and owners, Publication of Record of Changes to the respective Register, Publication of the proposals for the Restitutio in Integrum and Continued Processing, publication of the lapse of Patents/Consensual Patents, Publication of a Declaration of Nullity of Patents, Publication of Correction of deficiencies in the published data, publication of Requests for the Extension of the European Patent Applications, publication of European patent application indexes by numbers, classification symbols and applicants, Publication of extended European patents, Lapse of extended European patents, Publication of European Patents, European patent index by numbers, classification and owners, Lapse of European Patents, Corrections of Data to Published European Patents, Publication of Requests for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC) and of its extension, Publication of indications concerning the grant of SPC and its refusal, publication of the lapse of SPC, publication of indications concerning the grant of topographies of semiconductor products.

http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/the-croatian-intellectual/

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

Patent Register available to examiners and formality officers is used for filing all bibliographic data concerning the particular patent. The Register is interlinked with the electronic depository of the patent documents. The coverage of the national patent documents in electronic form is complete since year 1991 when the Office was established. The patent document collection is maintained by an in-house developed document management system.

For the examiners' access to foreign patent documents Epoque system of the European Patent Office is used.

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

General information regarding the Patents and patent protection procedures is provided free of charge. It can be obtained face-to-face at the Office’s informationcentre (acronymINCENTIVE), by phone, via fax, e-mail or posted letter, and are also available at the Office’s web site: http://www.dziv.hr/en/intellectual-property-protection/patents/the-application-process/.

Access to the patent document collection for external users is providedfree of charge by a public database containing published data and documents(http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/patents/)

National patent collection and related data is also publicly accessiblefree of charge through Espacenet, a public patent document service of the European Patent Office containing a worldwide set of national patent collections.

Different types of professional search services of patent databases(http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/search-services-patent/)as well as registry extracts are available upon user’s request against payment (http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/patent/Letak_patent_EN.pdf) through INCENTIV.

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

Detailed legal status information is available in the Patent Register,accessible only to the Office staff, while the basic information on the legal status (e.g. application, granted (in force), lapsed) are publicly available in the public patent database accessible by the Office's web site: http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/patents/

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

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

A wide set of software tools has been developed in-house to support business procedures of the Office, providing a range of tools for efficient processing of the applications and other documents. Office's software system is in the process of migration to a new (open-source platform)

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

- 20Mbit/s leased line used for Internet connection,
-CISCO Network Equipment (LAN based on Fast Ethernet - 1000/100/10 Mbit/s).

SERVERS:
All servers are virtualized under VMware (except mail server)

- VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit for 3 hosts, 192 GB RAM
- Physical Servers: -Dell PowerEdge R610 64GRAM; 12 x CPU Intel Qeon
-Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Qeon
-Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Qeon

Virtualized servers are on the following operating systems:
- Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise
- Win SERVER 2003 St. Ed.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- SUSE Linux Enterprise 10
- Debian GNU/Linux 6

Mail Server:
- MS Exchange 2010 Server Enterprise,
- Physical Server : Fujitsu RX300 S5
- OS Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise

Workstations: Desktop-PC Pentium IV with WIN XP PROF or WIN 7., Notebooks – OS – MS WIN 7.

Storage

SAN
- twoFiberCAT CX500 (EMC) devices. Each of them has two-service processor and 10 disks in -RAID-5 system (9 x 146 Gb FC disks + 1 x 146 Gb FC hotspare disk).

NAS
-NetApp DATA ONTAP Release 8.0.2P4
-IBM N3400, 12x600GB SAS, 24x 1TB SATA disks

Backup software
- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 Server Win Per Server Bndl
- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 Option Ndmp Win Per Server

Backup device
- Dell PowerVault TL2000

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The bibliographic data are stored in patent database and patent documents are stored in a network file directory. They are interlinked by different software tools. Data coverage is a complete set of patent data since year 1991 (when the Office was established).

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

Examiners search national Patent Register for national patent documentation. Epoquesystem of the EPO is the main source of foreign documentation.Furthermore, the Office receives certain foreign patent documents on CD and DVD. Official bulletins of foreign offices are mostly available in electronic format and used as such if required.

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

Electronic Patent Register is used for filing all bibliographic data concerning the particular patent application or granted patent. All patent changes (change of ownership, change of name, address, etc.) are recorded and are maintained by Patent Register user interface.

Patent Register is a part of the in-house developed electronic document management system.All incoming and outgoing documents are scanned in Adobe Acrobat and entered into document management system.

MS Word is used for automatic generation of communications to the applicant, based on predefined templates. MS Excel is used for (automatic) generation of different reports, such as public and internal statistic report and reports for other purposes (improving efficiency of patent processes).

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

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

The Patent Library:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/ (EN)
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica/ (HR)

The Patent Library operates within the Office’s information centre (acronym INCENTIV). Library public services include access to the collections and in the reading room, available to public during the working hours of INCENTIV. Browsing of Library collections is available at the premises and on-line at Office’s web page (http://knjiznica.dziv.hr/). User inquiries and reservation requests could also be made via e-mail knjiznica@dziv.hr. The collections contain numerous books and periodicals, primarily in the field of IP or related fields, and are catalogued in the database which is regularly maintained

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

The Patent Library:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/ (EN)
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica/ (HR)

Patent Examination Guidelines:
http://www.dziv.hr/prirucnici/hr_guidelines/hr/guidelines-pat-en.pdf(EN)
http://www.dziv.hr/prirucnici/hr_guidelines/hr/hrpat.htm (HR)

Patent leaflets:
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/patent/Letak_patent_EN.pdf (patent search services)
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/patent/brosura_patent.pdf(basic information on patents in Croatian language)

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

The Office has a developed cooperation with a range of partners, including universities, technology and innovation support centres, development agencies etc.

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

Through the dedicated Section for Education and Development of IP Use (IP Academy), the Office provides a range of internal and external training activities, organized in collaboration with national and international organizations.

Main training events organised in 2013:
- The series of seminars for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
- The series of seminars for Universities.
- The series of seminars for Judicial Academy

SIPO also held several presentations on patent protection for domestic applicants, inventors, academic institutions and industry outside the Office premises.

Trainings and seminars for external users organised and delivered by the Office in 2013 is as follows:
- Workshop: Retrieval and use of IP information, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, February 2013
- Intellectual Property and innovations in the light of state aid, in cooperation with Ministry entrepreneurship and crafts, Zagreb, February 2013
- Sub-regional seminar: Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in cooperation with WIPO, Zagreb, March 2013
- Basics of Intellectual Property for entrepreneurs and scientists, TeraTehnopolis, Osijek, April 2013
- Round table: Implementation of the Procedure for the grant of Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC), in cooperation with Hungarian IP office, Zagreb, May 2013
- Lecture: Searching of IP data bases, Vern Polytechnics, Zagreb, June 2013
- Workshop: Searching of Patent data bases, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, June 2013
- Workshop: Value of Intellectual Property, for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Zagreb, June 2013
- Training of Trainers – Consumers Society, Zagreb, June 2013
- Intellectual Property rights, Workshop for Judicial Academy, Zagreb, October 2013
- Patent litigation and procedures, EPO Seminar for judges, Zagreb, November 2013
- Study visit of students of the Law Faculty in Rijeka, Zagreb, December 2013.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

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

The Office exchanges its patent data in machine –readable form with the European Patent Office. All published documents are sent monthly (every two weeks since October 2013) as well as bibliographic data.

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

 

1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.

 

2.Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.

 

3.Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.