Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2022 submitted by Italian Patent and Trademark Office
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of patent information activities and expected time frames for their realization
The Italian Office is constantly evolving to improve its services for the users.
In June 2021 a national strategic plan on industrial property was approved at Ministerial level for the period 2021-2023. Its main goals are:
- improve the IP protection system,
- encourage the use of IP, particularly by SMEs,
- facilitate access to IP and promote patent awareness,
- ensure a stronger IP enforcement,
- strengthen the role of Italy at international global level.
In line with the implementation of its strategic plan, the main areas of interest of the Office in 2022 were the following:
- improving publication times for bibliographic data and patent documents-improvement of full-text search technologies;
- improving workflows for examining patent applications;
- new service for requesting and issuing documents in plain copies;
- new IT platform project
- development of relations with the chambers of commerce;
- coordination of the national network of patent libraries (PATLIB) and patent information points (PIPs);
- definition and management of national funding measures and projects for the promotion and valorization of industrial property rights (Brevetti+);
- definition and management of funding measures dedicated to capacity building for the benefit of Technology Transfer Offices of public research bodies ( TTO call);
- definition and management of initiatives to encourage the implementation of the prototyping phase in order to facilitate the process of transferring inventions from the research system to the business system (Proof of Concept call);
- implementation and development (in partnership with NETVAL - Network for academic research valorisation) of the “Knowledge Share online platform” (link: https://www.knowledge-share.eu/en/), designed to facilitate the interaction between university technology transfer offices (TTO), academic researchers and industry partners. The “Knowledge Share Platform” allows users to easily access information related to patents and technologies, which represent the excellence of the scientific know-how in Italy. Over 1,600 patents are showcased and presented in a clear and simple way, by highlighting the advantages that the technologies can bring to the sector of interest. The platform brings together companies, investors and innovators interested in the research field.
- Maintaining and developing relationships with Business and User Associations is also an important part of policy making in the field of patents. A consolidated network of 36 associations has grown over the years, managed by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office. Its members are regularly updated on national, European and international IP dossiers. To this end, the Office gathers them twice a year at its headquarters and sends them a monthly newsletter.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In 2020, the Italian Patent Office (UIBM) introduced the national route for PCT applications designating Italy and implemented its online filing system. In 2021-2022, software tools for examining PCT applications were implemented and then consolidated.
A new service was made available to users for requesting and issuing documents in plain copy, i.e. without attestation of conformity to the original of the documents contained in the files relating to IP applications and licences, as well as related applications.
In late 2022, UIBM introduced from the 1st of January 2023 the pdf-a standard (ISO 19005:2005) as the only accepted format for filing patent documents.
New IT Platform
The feasibility study of the new IT technical infrastructure was completed in 2022.
Based on the information provided by the interested stakeholders, the new infrastructure will make the management of the administrative procedures at the Office more efficient and will, above all, significantly expand the IP services offered to the users, innovating those that are already in place.
Activities are envisaged to start by March 2023 and the end of the project is envisaged by mid-2025 with a full live operational integration with the new platform by the end of 2025.
Major improvements expected after the Go-Live are:
- Improve the reliability and completeness of data. Currently not all information are easily accessible, and data must be previously analyzed, retrieved and enhanced to become useful and understandable.
- Simplify usability of the platform for internal and external users and make information more user-friendly.
- Improved services (filing system, examination system, databases), including the introduction of new features.
- Provision of new services to external partners (companies, researchers, development agencies, proxies, etc).
TTO call for proposal (measure fully managed by UIBM)
This initiative aims to increase the intensity of technology transfer flows to enterprises by supporting the enhancement and protection of industrial property of projects promoted by TTOs (Technology Transfer Offices). It is addressed to: Italian universities and public research organizations, as well as scientifically-oriented Institutes of Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS).
The TTO Call in 2022 was funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Mission 1. "Digitalization, innovation competitiveness, culture and tourism" - Component 2 "Digitalization, innovation and competitiveness in the production system" - Investment 6. "Industrial Property System" funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.
BREVETTI + call for proposals (with INVITALIA as implementing agency)
Brevetti+ is the incentive for the economic exploitation of patents, funded by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and managed by Invitalia (Invitalia is the National Agency for Inward Investment and Economic Development.). Addressed to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, in 2022 Brevetti+ was refinanced with a budget of 30 million euro (of which 10 million are “National Recovery and Resilience Plan” resources, Mission 1. "Digitalization, innovation competitiveness, culture and tourism" - Component 2 "Digitalization, innovation and competitiveness in the production system" - Investment 6. "Industrial Property System" funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.).
This support measure funds the purchase of specialized services for the economic enhancement of a patent in terms of profitability, productivity and market development related to the following areas:
A - design, engineering and industrialization
B - organization and development
C - technology transfer
Links in Italian:
https://www.invitalia.it/cosa-facciamo/rafforziamo-le-imprese/brevetti
Proof of Concept (PoC) call for proposals (with INVITALIA as implementing agency)
This initiative supports patent enhancement activities. The objective of the measure is to raise the level of maturity of inventions patented by the research system to enable development actions also, and especially, by companies. It is addressed to: Italian universities and public research organizations, as well as scientifically-oriented Institutes of Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS).
The PoC Call in 2022 was funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 1. "Digitalization, innovation competitiveness, culture and tourism" - Component 2 "Digitalization, innovation and competitiveness in the production system" - Investment 6. "Industrial Property System" funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.
Link in Italian : https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/pnrr-bando-di-8-5-milioni-per-i-progetti-poc-di-valorizzazione-dei-brevetti
Development of the Knowledge Share online platform
In partnership with NETVAL - Network for academic research valorisation – and Politecnico di Torino as partners, through a 1 million euro budget from the fund of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Mission 1. "Digitalization, innovation competitiveness, culture and tourism" - Component 2 "Digitalization, innovation and competitiveness in the production system" - Investment 6. "Industrial Property System" funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU.
The European Commission (Directorate-General for Research and Innovation) has included in 2022 the KNOWLEDGE-SHARE.EU platform in the list of THE EUROPEAN BEST PRACTICES FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AT EU LEVEL.
Link: https://www.knowledge-share.eu/en/ (ENG link)
Main areas of patent information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
- Adaptation of the IT systems to the new sequence list standard (ST 26),
- Issuing of plain copies
- Implementation of online filing and examination tools regarding the new examination procedure of international patent applications.
In the framework of the UIBM Academy the following main topics were on the agenda:
- Valorization of public research results
- Green technologies and assets protection
- Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property
- European and national tools for the valorization of industrial property rights
- Introduction to the unitary patent package
- Valuation of intangible assets
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
ITEM | 2022 | 2021 |
Patents -National Filings | 9,077 | 11,031 |
Patents- National Grants | 7,325 | 7,248 |
Utility Models - National Filings | 1,678 | 1,768 |
Utility Models - National Grants | 1,674 | 1,766 |
PCT Patent filings | 144 | 15 |
PCT Patent Grants | 27 | 0 |
PCT- Utility Models filings | 30 | 5 |
PCT- Utility Models grants | 7 | 0 |
Link: https://statistiche.uibm.gov.it/
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Specific reports on patents are published at the link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/brevetti/reportistica-sui-brevetti
Reports on filings and grants are regularly published on an annual basis. Specific reports on technological areas and trends are also available.
Dedicated webpages on biotechnological patents are also available at the link: https://www.uibm.gov.it/biotech/index.html
A special observatory of the patenting activities of Italian Public Universities and Research Centres was set up in 2013 and is regularly updated. It is named PATIRIS and is available at the link: https://patiris.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/
The Official UIBM Annual Report 2022 is not yet available.
Link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/comunicazione-ed-eventi/pubblicazioni-uibm
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
Link: https://servizionline.uibm.gov.it/deposito-online-new/pubblica/index.html (On_line filing -in Italian)
Link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/deposito-titoli/modulistica-per-il-deposito-cartaceo (Paper-filing - In Italian)
Link: https://uibm.mise.gov.it/index.php/it/brevetti ("How to Get an Italian Patent”- in Italian)
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
The application dossier is available at: https://www.uibm.gov.it/bancadati/Advanced_search/type_url?type=pt&cl=1
Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), reclassification3 activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information
Patent applications are assigned to a category in accordance with the International Patent Classification (IPC) after being submitted to the novelty search that is carried out by the European Patent Office. On 28th September 2022, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office officially joined the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC). Consultations with the EPO as well as the training initiatives for the staff are underway in order to effectively implement the CPC on Italian applications.
Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents
Patent applications are filed in Italian. The dossier submitted to the EPO for the novelty search, consists of all patent documents, both in English and Italian, (description, claims, abstract, if any). Only the Italian version is published. The abstract is not mandatory according to the Italian patent law.
III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
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)
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
All calls and incentives related to patents and described above are announced on the Italian Official Gazette and on the websites of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) and on the UIBM website.
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases
Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
The Patents of the Italian Public Research Institutes (PATIRIS): link https://patiris.mise.gov.it/index.php/en/
The PATIRIS platform’s database aims at establishing itself as a permanent patenting overseer for universities and public research institutes in Italy (PRIs). The new service, developed by the UIBM in collaboration with NETVAL stems from the upgrade of the original PATIRIS platform, first created in 2013 in collaboration with the University of Bologna.
Based on the Open Patent Services (OPS) data source provided by the European Patent Office (EPO), the new platform allows easy access to information relating to patents filed by 119 national research bodies since 1950. Through its own search tool, it enables user to use different search criteria simultaneously.
PATIRIS provides data and information based on the “patent families” generated by the Italian public research and shows direct links to the patent portfolio of each Institute mapped on the Knowledge-Share (KS) platform, a project jointly owned by UIBM, NETVAL and the Politecnico di Torino.
Access to the platform is free of charge.
KNOWLEDGE SHARE: link https://www.knowledge-share.eu/en/
The access to the platform is free of charge.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Other sources
Patent data are published in compliance with Italian patent law, at the end of the 18th month from the filing or priority date if the deposit is accepted.
Patent information are available to external users on the public database:
link: https://www.uibm.gov.it/bancadati/Advanced_search/type_url?type=pt&cl=1
For the UIBM staff an on-site tool called NSARA is available.
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
An on-site tool called NSARA is used that consists of the back-end for patent examination and the front-end for online filing.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Cluster on-site Qemu (KVM-based)
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Galera MariaDB Cluster
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
ElasticSearch and Solr
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
SNMP-Based (Nagios, Observium), NetBox
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF PATENT INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries
Publications related to different business procedures and patent information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
“KNOWLEDGE SHARE” in an online platform that facilitates the interaction between university technology transfer offices, academic researchers and industry partners, by providing a portal that enables users to easily access information related to patents and technologies that represent the excellence of the scientific know-how in Italy. See above .
Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)
Cooperation with universities, research centers, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
- TTO Call for proposals: see above
- Proof of Concept (PoC) call for proposals: see above
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
The Office runs its own Academy. The UIBM Academy seminars (online, face-to-face or hybrid) target all stakeholders interested in IP. Advanced training is provided by the UIBM to the human resources involved in the TTO call – Knowledge Transfer managers and Innovation Promoters - who have, among other things, the difficult task of performing, as a free support service, the analysis of the IP portfolio of Italian SMEs and promoting the culture of IP innovation and technology transfer.
Master in Open Innovation and Intellectual Property (with LUISS University as managing body)
The Open Innovation & IP Master’s degree serves to cultivate experts or budding entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs in driving innovation and protecting intellectual property as a company asset. This interdisciplinary program will delve into the entire life cycle of innovation – from conceptualization of an idea to the creation, protection and commercialization of it – including anticipating and applying countermeasures in terms of appropriation of a firm’s IP by competition.
Link: https://www.luiss.edu/ammissione/offerta-formativa/master-open-innovation-intellectual-property (ENG link)
Master in IP valorization for Knowledge Exchange & Impact (KEI) (with University of Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum as managing body)
The program of Masterin “Intellectual Property Valorisation For Knowledge Exchange & Impact (KEI)” aims to:
- train participants to acquire knowledge and theoretical and practical managerial skills for the management of intellectual property and major activities of technology transfer;
- generate moments of confrontation and opportunities for growth in the network of relationships;
- raise awareness of the national innovation ecosystem through visits and appointments organized in partner universities throughout the national territory;
- deepen within the project work a topic of interest, accompanied by professionals in the field.
Link: https://master.unibo.it/kei/it (ITA link)
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information
The UIBM exchanges bibliographic data and full-text information with the EPO by ftps connection. The authority file is shared with WIPO.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information
Participation in Working groups organized by the EPO on CPC, data quality and security.
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.