Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2018 submitted by Intellectual Property Office of Serbia 

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

The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models.

Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.

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

Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization

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

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

E-filing system for IP rights is fully functional and is improved on the back-office side with common dispatch module in 2018. The general information available on

http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html ;

the production E-filing website on URL

https://eusluge.zis.gov.rs

System of the e-filing of documents enables to file the applications of industrial design electronically. The receiving of documents and filings for the applications in the procedure and for the registered intellectual property rights are supported as well. Software became operational in May 2016, with the continual work on its improvement.


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

Of the total number of 299 industrial design applications filed in 2018, 181 applications were filed by foreign applicants under the Hague Agreement. Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, while 118 applications were filed directly with the IPO by domestic and foreign applicants (of which 26 were multiple applications, making a total of 195 industrial designs).



Field Industrial Design Applications:

 

 

Year   Hague Agreement   National applications  Total

                                            Foreign   Domestic 


2016      -      282                  16           91              389

2017      -      265                  18           92              375

2018      -      181                  22           96              299



The year 2018 saw the registration of 282 industrial designs, of which

176 were, registered in accordance with the Hague Agreement, and 106 on the basis of applications filed directly with the IPO.


Registered Industrial Design Applications:


Year   Hague Agreement   National applications  Total

                                            Foreign   Domestic

2016       -      251                   13            82              346

2017       -      247                   27            70              344

2018       -      176                   15            91              282



Compared to 2017, the number of applications filed directly with the IPO in 2018, increased for 8. The number of applications filed under the Hague Agreement was 181, which was by 84 less than in 2017.


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

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide annual report of the Office


http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-us/annual-report.106.html in English


http://www.zis.gov.rs/o-zavodu/godisnji-izvestaji.50.html in Serbian



URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs


http://www.zis.gov.rs/intellectual-property-rights/designs/statistics.81.html in English


http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-is/dizajn/статистика.23.html in Serbian


II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 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

All relevant data considering industrial design protection in Republic of Serbia are on our web site on www.zis.gov.rs . That includes most frequently asked questions, design legislation, guidelines and forms, fees, statistics and reports.

Instructions for drafting industrial design application and for the process of filling are available at the website as well as the examples of formally correct industrial design applications. All forms and guidelines are available at the following link:

http://www.zis.gov.rs/prava-is/dizajn/обрасци-и-упутства.20.html

FAQ on industrial design proceedings:

http://www.zis.gov.rs/intellectual-property-rights/designs/most-frequently-asked.76.html

E-filing user guide recommends how to prepare the proper documentation for application – all is accessible through link:

 http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1163.html

E-filing system for IP rights is on our web site.

National database of industrial designs is on our web site as well.

http://reg.zis.gov.rs/DistinctiveSigns/search.htm?lang=en


Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Application dossiers are not available by the official website of the IP Office. In the future the plan is to develop an electronic Industrial design register, similar to the one we did for trademarks.

Application dossiers are stored in paper form according the application number.


Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

The Intellectual Property Office of Serbia uses the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) since 1973. All the documents are classified according to class and subclass of the Locarno Classification. Now the IPO uses and classifies according to the last edition of the Classification.

The classification is used for the novelty examination search, for commercial search and for statistics.

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Intellectual Property Office of Serbia publishes registered national industrial designs on CD-ROM and in Intellectual Property Gazette, 12 times a year.


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

Intellectual Property Gazette is the basic official source of information about all intellectual property rights. Design are published in the Intellectual Property Gazette contained bibliographical data and graphical presentations or images of the industrial design registrations. The Intellectual Property Gazette, in the part referring to industrial designs, is prepared by means of computer using an IPAS system. The following information and bibliographical data concerning registered domestic and international Industrial Design are published in the Intellectual Property Gazette – registration number, application number, filing date, registration date, date of granted priority right, validity date, information on the holder of title, information about the design has been registered. Industrial designs are published in grayscale technique and color technique.

Since the beginning of 2010 the Intellectual Property Gazette is published only in electronic form in PDF format on the website of the IPO at the following link.

http://www.zis.gov.rs/electronic-publications.462.html

IP Gazette is published on monthly basis through IPAS.


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

All the searches at the Office are computerized. Each working station has fast internet access and industrial design databases are accessible through it. Examiners use national data base of design applications and registered designs and also use IPAS, internal data base which contains more information available through workflow.  Apart from that, industrial design examiners are trained to use International Databases such as Hague Express and DesignView.


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

The information services available to the public through the Office are as follows:


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

Legal status information is available in paper form.


Other sources

Industrial Design search is also offered by the Office as a commercial service and in 2018, 32 designs searches for Serbia were delivered to customers.


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

E-filing system for IP rights is fully functional and is improved on the back-office side with common dispatch module. The general information available on

http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html  ;

the production E-filing website on URL

https://eusluge.zis.gov.rs

System of the e-filing of documents enables to file the applications of trademarks, patents, petty patents and industrial design electronically. The receiving of documents and filings for the applications in the procedure and for the registered intellectual property rights are supported as well. Software became operational in May 2016, with the continual work on its improvement.


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

IPAS (Industrial Property Administration System) – acquired from WIPO

With the regard to the development of IPAS, there was a change in the configuration diagrams per request, and the positioning of patterns. New versions of programs belonging to the WIPO were installed and tested (eDMS, WIPOSCAN, IPAS+, WIPOPublish, Designer). A diagram was created also for the indications of geographical origin and it was implemented into IPAS. WIPO eDMS was introduced in the production background of patents, so that now the applications and filings referring to trademarks, patents, petty patents, designs and indications of geographical origin are scanned and introduced in WIPO eDMS.


Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Internal network with workstations and servers. IPAS application and database servers: Fujitsu Siemens Primergy servers.

Internet access is achieved through direct optical connection to the provider at 50Mbit/sec, protected by the Cisco advance security appliance.


Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

Internal database of the national designs is searched through IPAS.


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

Online public register of the national design is updated each day from the IPAS database. The WIPO Publish program is deployed in the internal test environment.


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

Other matters

General information related to industrial design is posted to IPO web site by employees of Design group by means of CMS software.


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

Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

At Office's library at ground floor, all interested parties could free of charge access the industrial design databases which are internally available for external users through IPAS Public at 5 PC stations. Also all interested parties are offered free of charge consultations on industrial design filling and procedures in person, by phone or by e-mails.


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

Various publications related to trademarks such as studies, brochures, newsletters and leaflets are available in paper form or in electronic form on the IPO website http://www.zis.gov.rs/publications.446.html

Education and Information Center (EIC) of the IPO publishes EIC Newsletter with information about important subjects in the field of intellectual property. The EIC Newsletter is intended for all organizations and individuals involved in intellectual property or seeking knowledge in this field. The EIC Newsletter offers informative and educative thematic articles and other important information in the field of intellectual property. The Newsletter is available via official website of the EIC http://www.zis.gov.rs/sources-of-information/newsletter.302.html


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

The Education and Information Center was founded in January 2010 with the aim of raising general awareness and developing professional skills in the field of intellectual property. Оffers a whole range of services in the area of intellectual property helping to upgrade Serbia’s innovation capacities, vigorously supporting the development of its economy as one that is competitive, dynamic and knowledge-based. The fundamental principles guiding the EIC in its work are transparency, objectivity, openness and completeness.

Stimulating universities and other public research institutions to be more active in protecting and exploiting, the EIC held many seminars for professors, researches and students.


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

IPO Serbia has a public library where all persons can get the personal consultancy for industrial design filings and procedures. Through Education and Information center and the seminars, information on industrial design system and the proceedings are delivered to the public. Each month on third Thursday, Open Door event is organized in IPO for customer’s consultations beside the opportunity for consultations every day on regular basis.

Wide scope of education and information services is adjusted to the various target groups including: business companies and institutions that offer support to business, organizations involved in R&D, institutions of high education, institutions for the enforcement of the intellectual property rights and others. The education is performed in the form of lectures, seminars, conferences, consultations on protection, use and management of intellectual property rights. In 2018, 41 seminars were delivered to different stakeholders groups with 1272 participants. 17 seminars were delivered to universities, 11 for SMEs, 6 for general public, 5 for R&D institutes and 2 seminars for enforcement institutions. Small and medium enterprises are specially offered the service designed in particular for them, Intellectual Property Pre-diagnosis and “1to1” consultations and altogether 47 of such services were delivered. The Office was present at the 5 trade fairs as well as at two fairs dedicated to for lower level of education (primary and secondary schools), “Science is not a boogieman” and “Researcher’s night”, offering consultations during and information on different IP issues.

E-filing user guide, electronic certificates description and installation manuals, recommendations how to prepare the proper documentation and graphic data format for application – all is accessible through link:

http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1163.html    

E-filing system for IP rights was prepared and started in April 2016.

http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html 


Other activities

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

The officials of the IPO attended Liaison Meetings on Industrial Design in EUIPO in 2018.


Assistance to developing countries

There were several visits to Serbian IPO of the experts from countries: BiH, WIPO and Uzbekistan.


Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS