Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2023 submitted by Rospatent

Please provide links to your website where the requested information can be found in English, French, or Spanish.  Alternately, you may provide text responses instead of URLs if desired.  If the information is not available on your website in an ATR language, then please provide text.

URLs in responses should meet the following requirements:

The term "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

Information on the following topics is desired:

The 2023 Annual Report (AR) of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) is available in Russian at https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/otchet-2023-ru.pdf and the English version will be published soon at https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/reports2023.

The goals, objectives and plans of Rospatent are published in Russian in the "Plans" section on its official website, available at https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/about/plans

For the new projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies (plans) mentioned above, see the AR paragraph 4.3 on pages 59-61 (Russian version).

In addition, the Search Platform was launched and now available both in Russian and English at https://searchplatform.rospatent.gov.ru/

For the main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year, see the AR paragraph 4.3 on pages 58-60.

For the changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year, see the AR paragraph 2.3 on pages 26-28 and at https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/about/stat (in Russian)

Other useful links:

Rospatent news are available at https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/news


Furthermore, the IP Office’s website contains the following sections:

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

Users of the website of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS), the subordinate organization of Rospatent, have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for the grant of a patent for an industrial design (in Russian):

https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php

Methodological recommendations on the examination of applications for industrial designs (in Russian):

https://www.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php

State registration of industrial designs, and grant of patents in respect of industrial designs, and duplicates thereof (in Russian):

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices/gosudarstvennaya-registraciya-promyshlennogo-obrazca-i-vydacha-patenta-na-promyshlennyy-obrazec-ego-dublikata

Access to documents for patent applications for inventions, utility models, and industrial designs, and issuance of copies of said documents (in Russian):

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-vydachu-patenta-na-izobretenie-poleznuyu-model-promyshlennyy-obrazec-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov

Fees section: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/dues

On the IP Office’s website there is an opportunity to file an application for industrial designs online and to maintain correspondence regarding such an application through the user's personal account (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki

Applications can also be filed from the user’s personal account on the Public Services Portal (in Russian): https://www.gosuslugi.ru/

Information Services Provided on the Basis of SPC: https://www.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/

Information on the activities on the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library (VPTB) of FIPS are available at:

https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/russian_patent_library

In 2023, the two thematic webinars, dedicated to the matters related to industrial designs, were held with the participation of the FIPS specialists for the applicants and representatives of the business community. The webinars covered advantages of using the Hague System for the international registration of industrial designs and the drafting of an application for the international registration of an industrial design, various aspects of administrative procedures for maintenance, renewal and restoration of patents for inventions, utility models and industrial designs. The recordings of the webinars are available in Russian on the FIPS website: https://fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-2023.php.

In 2023, the Regional Development Sector of FIPS organized and held 4 webinars on various issues related to industrial designs for representatives of the Technology and Innovation Support Centers Technology (TISCs) and the business community. The events covered the following topics: "IP Rights Management System", "Practice of Intellectual Assets: Licensing, Alienation of Rights, Investments", "Legal Protection for the Commercialization of the Results of Intellectual Activity", and "Peculiarities of Patenting in Certain Critical Technologies".

The Open Registers section of the FIPS website contains information on industrial design applications and/or information on the examination status. Information on applications is also published in the Official Publications section of the FIPS website.

For the information on classification and reclassification activities and the classification system used, see the AR paragraph 6.1 on page 101 and https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/products_services/classifications

In 2023, the 14th edition of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (ICID/Locarno Classification) was still effective, the Russian version available on the FIPS website since January 2023. During the review of the ICID and preparation of its new 15th edition, in 2023 Rospatent submitted over 6 proposals for further review by international bodies via the online forum. At the 16th session of the Committee of Experts of the Locarno Union the four proposals of Rospatent were approved.

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

For the main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, see the AR paragraph 4.1 on pages 56-57 and 152-153.

The forms of notifications on industrial designs published in the Rospatent Official Gazette on Industrial Designs are presented in Table

Notifications relating to published applications for industrial designs

HZ9L Change of denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of patent owner

HC9L Change of author’s details

HE9L Change of correspondence address

FA9L Withdrawal of an industrial design application at applicant’s request

FA9L Recognition of an industrial design application as withdrawn

HK9L Correction of obvious and technical errors in bulletin publications

HH9L Other changes related to published applications for industrial designs

 Notifications containing communications on changes to information concerning State registration of an industrial design

PD4L Change of denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of patent owner

ТС4L Change of author’s(s’) details

ТЕ4L Change of correspondence address

 Notifications containing communications on termination and restoration of validity of an industrial design patent

MZ4L Premature termination of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request

ММ4L Premature termination of a patent owing to non-payment within the prescribed period of the fee for maintenance of the patent in force

MK4L Termination of a patent for an industrial design upon expiry of its validity

NF4L Restoration of a patent

MF4L Patent termination due to its recognition as being completely invalid

MF4L Patent termination to its recognition as being partially invalid

NG4L Granting of a new patent due to the recognition of an earlier granted patent as being partially invalid

Notifications containing communications on extension of the term of validity of a patent for an industrial design, grant of a duplicate patent

ND4L Extension of term of validity of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request

RH4L Grant of a duplicate patent

 Notifications containing communications on agreements relating to disposal of the exclusive right in an industrial design, transfer of an exclusive right in an industrial design, without the conclusion of an agreement with the patent owner

PC4L State registration of an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right

QB4L State registration of an agreement on grant of right of use

PC4L State registration of the transfer of an exclusive right without an agreement being concluded

QB4L State registration of an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on grant of right of use

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to a commercial concession agreement (sub-concession), according to which the user was granted the right to use the industrial design

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement on grant of right of use

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right  

QA4L Open License Statement

QZ4L Withdrawal of an open license application

Notifications containing other communications on registered industrial designs

ТK4L Correction of obvious and technical errors in the records of the State Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation and/or in publications in the Gazette

RZ4L Other changes relating to registration of industrial designs

Access to online publications:

The Rospatent examiners can access all free available resources in the Internet, containing information about industrial designs.

The minimum scope of the search includes industrial design documentation from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and WIPO. Nevertheless, the scope of the search may include any generally available documents regardless of the language, age and type.

The list of available databases is located in the internal network and is updated regularly.

 The list contains information about industrial design resources of countries and organizations included in the minimum scope of the search, as well as additional resources. Additional resources cover industrial designs information of about 70 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO database Design View. For each resource, there is information about web addresses, previous queries and a brief description of search and browsing options.

Examiners search for International Design Registrations under the Hague System in the databases: International Designs Bulletin, Hague Express, Global Design Database.

For the information products and services available to external users and the conditions of access, see AR paragraph 4 on pages 53-56.

The Design Fund is free of charge to external users. The Paper Designs Fund includes:

  • collections of industrial design publications from official bulletins of the Russian Federation and foreign patent Offices (1992-2013);
  • domestic and foreign books and periodicals on art design, technical aesthetics and advertising;
  • advertising brochures and catalogues of domestic and foreign organizations and firms.

The FIPS all-Russian Patent and Technical Library (VPTB FIPS) has a reading room for users working with the Design Fund.

Access of external users to databases containing information on industrial designs of the Russian Federation, foreign countries and international organizations is free of charge in the electronic resources room of the VPTB FIPS.

For the information on products and services provided by the IP Office, see the following pages:

All patent document databases contain information on legal status that is updated monthly.

Information on the legal status of industrial designs is published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, posted on the FIPS and Rospatent websites.

In the Search section of the Office’s website, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of registered subject matter in the Open Registers: https://www.fips.ru/registers-web/.

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

Under the implementation of the IP Office's 2022-2024 Digital Transformation Program, the operation of the 9 State information systems and the 5 information systems continued in 2023. The systems were designed specifically for the users of the IP-related public services and the technologies used for their development enabled:

  • To improve the full-scale search for the Russian and the world patent collections.
  • To optimize the decision-making process in the formal examination (accounting the fee payment, initial check of the incoming application materials), and the identification of the possibility to take legally significant actions to accelerate the entire decision-making process.
  • To issue an electronic title of protection and the Registry extract. The rightsholder can access the e-document anytime when the title is valid and to forward this electronic document to any
  • To increase the quality of the image similarity search during the substantive examination.
  • To provide applicants with an opportunity to file 3D visual representations of their objects for IP rights.
  • To increase the efficiency of the governance decisions due to the
  • To create the electronic reference information and enhance interconnection between both internal and external systems (federal executive authorities, foreign IP Offices, regional and international organizations).

The advanced approaches and technologies were used for the implementation of the new IT infrastructure. Furthermore, the operation processes of Rospatent were harmonized. The data exchange within the infrastructure is based on a single data model in line with international standards. The interconnection between the systems was ensured through the integration bus that allows to further develop the integration platform. The software integration with the Rospatent’s public services was also introduced.

In 2024, Rospatent plans to further develop the created information systems and services, design and implement new technologies in the process of providing the public services, which will allow to reduce the examination pendency.

Rospatent uses the following hardware used to support business its processes:

Equipment used (industrial design search systems):

8 HP DL380 servers (RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 300 GB)

5 HP DL580 servers (RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 900 GB)

70 HP IRBIS workstations

Software:

Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server, Astra Linux operating systems.

Carriers used:

LTO-7 magnetic tapes.

For the internal databases, see the AR paragraph 4.3 on pages 60-61. Furthermore, as of December 31, 2023, the industrial design database contains information on 124 954 applications and 101 836 granted patents.

In 2023, the State Patent Fund was completed with electronic patent documents. The work on supplementing retrospective data with missing documents was continued. Updating of the electronic patent documents is performed in real-time mode with inclusion of the documents of the Russian Federation, foreign patent Offices and organizations in the information system "Patent Search".

Applications for industrial design are accepted via the e-filing system on the IP Office’s website or through the Public Services Portal. https://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php  https://www.gosuslugi.ru/623102/1

Registration of applications for designs is carried out in the unified system of registration and incoming correspondence, data are exported to the unified data storage system and the paperless system for examination of such applications.

In the information system for digitization of traditional formats, certain types of documents are prepared in modern formats for subsequent examination during the provision of public services, in particular the translation and uploading of primary design application materials and supplementary design application documents into e-filing application.

The unified document repository ensures storage of documents and structured data in WIPO Standard ST.96 format within the public services provided by Rospatent. The system is integrated with all new information systems through a unified API. The unified repository is used for generating various statistical reports on industrial designs. The paperless workflow system for the examination of design applications ensures the registration of incoming letters, the preparation of outgoing correspondence, the control of all the processes in the life cycle of application from its filing to the issue of the examination decision (issuance, refusal, revocation), the control of the time for the examination of correspondence and the time for the examination.

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

Rospatent Library:

Brief information on legal protection of created designs (in Russian):

https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy

In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of industrial designs (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/sourses/publications

Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at https://www.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/ and https://new.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/vptb-information-products.php 

Electronic catalogue of patent law and scientific and technical literature (in Russian): https://irbis.fips.ru/web/index.php?LNG=&C21COM=F&I21DBN=FIPS&P21DBN=FIPS

For the cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc, see the AR paragraph 1.1 on pages 14-15 and 70.

Scientific youth about intellectual property (in Russian) https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/projects/molodezhi-ob-is.php 

Technology and innovation support centers (in Russian) https://www.fips.ru/about/tspti-tsentr-podderzhki-tekhnologiy-i-innovatsii/index.php

For the information on education and training, see the AR paragraph 5.2.1 on pages 84-85 and paragraph 5.3 on pages 87-91.

Furthermore, information about thematic meetings and webinar recordings (in Russian) are available at: https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-2023.php

The following sections of the Rospatent website also contains the relevant information:

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

Within the international exchange of information on industrial designs, Rospatent publishes official Rospatent bulletins, including information on industrial designs, on the FIPS FTP-server and provides access thereto via login and password to the patent Offices of 47 foreign countries and 2 international organizations.

In 2023, 53 design bulletins from 3 countries were included in the Design Fund: 11 paper bulletins; 7 optical disk bulletins and 35 bulletins downloaded from the foreign patent Offices websites.

For the participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information, see the AR paragraph 6.1 on pages 104-105.

On December 4-6, 2023, Rospatent took part in the twelve Session of Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, which was held in a hybrid format via videoconference by the International Bureau of WIPO.

On October 2-11, 2023, the IP Office participated in the 3rd Special Session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) and the Preparatory Committee of Diplomatic Conference to Conclude and Adopt a Design Law Treaty (DLT) in Geneva (Switzerland): https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/news/rospatent-12102023

On July 6-14, 2023, Rospatent took part in the 64th Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization Member States: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/news/vois-10072023 

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS