Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2019 submitted by the Russian Federation/ Rospatent
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I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEMARK INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of trademark information activities and expected time frames for their realization
Within the frameworks of the federal project “Information infrastructure” of the national program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” Rospatent implements activity to create and operate an information system for informatization of IPRs registration and protection procedures.
As a result of this activity implementation, it is envisaged to create by December 2021 14 information systems for informatization of IPRs registration and protection procedures.
In 2019, along with activities of the Federal project “Information infrastructure” there were conducted activities aimed at reducing the time for the provision of state services on state registration of objects for IPRs protection; activities aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens, using digital mechanism of public services”. Further work on optimization of the Office workflows and the development of electronic services will allow achieving significant results.
In 2019, the work aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens, using digital mechanism of public services” was continued. The conducted activities were focused on the improvement of functional range of personal accounts for electronic services and information user support, including answers for questions, incoming through the technical support service. There were conducted relevant regular meetings on how to work with digital services, to update the information, published within the “Filing application” section at FIPS webpage https://new.fips.ru/ podacha-zayavki.
The above-mentioned activities allowed to achieve in 2019 that 81 % of all national applications were filed electronically.
Users become more interested in e-filing mechanisms and digital interaction, this brings the increased number of views under tutorial videos, posted within the “Application filing” section, that exceeded 15800 views.
In addition, work continued to secure a reduction in labor costs for expertise in comparing the names of goods and services;
- in 2019, a version of the ICGS (11-2019) information database of names of services was developed, and systematically organized on the basis of semantic links;
- by the end of 2019, a version of the user interface was made available for generating, populating, and modifying the above mentioned information DB of good and services (G/S) names by the expert user, who will be able to manage and monitor matching of specific names of G/S specified by applicants in trademark applications. If there is a connection between the projected system and a database of trademark numbers and associated G/S, the designed framework, which describes the semantic links between the names of G/S, will make it possible to perform automated searches in G/S lists of applications and registrations not only for exact matches with the name sought, but also to find all names of similar G/S under given parameters.
On the site of Rospatent the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans":
http://www.rupto.ru/ru/about/plans.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
As a result of 2019, it was planned to create 11 SIS, 2 IS, 7 SHS and 1 supporting IS in the volume of the 1st stage.
2019 results:
- SIS “Management of formal checks on the possibility for performing legally important actions”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented a function for formal checks at the stage of formal examination of applications for registration of trademarks and appellations of origin, as well as a designer of technological regulations for formal checks).
- SIS “Smart examination system for means of individualization”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented a function for search by description by words of trademarks and optical characters recognition of individualization means filed for registration).
- SIS “Decision-making support system in the field of Intellectual Property”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented analytical panels:
- Director General panel based on information on the execution of a state task
- Regional panel based on patent information and reflecting various territorial, temporal, and species sections).
- SIS for document management
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented basic functions for managing processes and documents, registration and processing of incoming and outgoing correspondence, as well as functionality focused on the registration procedure of trademarks and appellations of origin).
- SIS “Single state digital register for results of intellectual activity”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented a function that is prescribed by the administrative regulations of Rospatent for recording to the State register the information on registrations of trademarks and appellations of origin).
- SIS for documents storage management
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system focused on the storage of the information on the current workflow for registration of trademarks and appellations of origin).
- SIS “Distributed ledger of objects for IPRs protection and means of individualization, occurring in circulation”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system for turnover and management of rights to trademarks).
- SIS “Single information workspace for internal interaction”
There is implemented a function of employee workspace with the integration of technological user services such as e-mail box, access to network file system.
- SIS for integration and management of legal and reference information
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of subsystems for internal interaction on the integration of information systems and software services for maintaining legal and reference information as well as the administration).
- SIS “Omni-channel interaction of Rospatent with stakeholders when providing public services, services under international agreements and treaties, publication of publicly available information on activities in the field of registration and protection of intellectual property in the form of open data”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a subsystem “Personal account”, a subsystem for maintaining omni-channel interaction, and administration subsystems for supporting seven public services:
- State registration of transfer under a contract of an exclusive right to an invention, utility model, industrial design, trademark, service mark, registered integrated circuit topography, computer program, database;
- Amendment to state registers of inventions, utility models, industrial designs of the Russian Federation, as well as to patents for an invention, utility model, industrial design;
- Extension of the exclusive right to a trademark, service mark, collective mark;
- Restoration of a patent for an invention, utility model, industrial design;
- Amendment to state registers for trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin of the Russian Federation, to the List of well-known in the Russian Federation trademarks, as well as to certificates for a trademark, service mark, collective mark, for an exclusive right to appellation of origin).
- SIS for supervision of the use of rights to results of intellectual activity
There is implemented a function of subsystem for preparation of control and supervision activities, and a subsystem for administration.
- IS “Infrastructure to search for patent information and means of individualization”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented a prototype of an open search platform and a prototype of a search service. The main purpose of these prototypes is the testing and approbation of technological solutions that form the basis of the system).
- IS “Management of centralized maintenance and support of information technology infrastructure and users”
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented user maintenance requests management).
- The procurement and commissioning of the supporting hardware and software systems were made:
- “System of secure remote access”;
- “System for ensuring the continuity of operation”;
- “Integrated information security system”;
- “Software-defined data processing center”;
- “Basic information technology systems and services”;
- “Automated workplaces of FIPS”;
- “Automated workplaces of Rospatent”.
- Supporting IS for digitalization
The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system focused on the digitalization of information contained in incoming paper materials of applications and correspondence on registrations of trademarks and appellations of origin).
The above-mentioned projects focus on the establishment of a comfortable information environment in the field of IP for citizens, businesses, state organizations, and federal executive authorities.
The implementation of these services will allow applicants interacting with Rospatent absolutely digitally, including the issuance of digital protection documents.
It is also worth noticing that the SIS “Decision-making support system in the field of Intellectual Property” will make it possible to conduct an analysis of patent activity based on various indicators in Russia and all over the world, in particular in terms of priority areas for the development of science and technology. This system will allow forecasting the development of priority areas of the economy both in Russian and its distinct regions, as well as assessing the progress in reaching set targets of national and federal projects relating to the field of IP.
Stable operation of the TM-ADMIN electronic document management system for trademarks and service marks was achieved in 2019.
Work performed in 2019 on the automatic verification of lists of goods and services in the process of an examination of a claimed designation within the electronic management system for trademark applications allowed for an improvement in the effectiveness of examiners’ work not only in terms of the accuracy of the automatic verification of claimed formulations of terms, but also the graphic visualization of the results of the automatic verification of lists of goods and services.
In 2019 the transition was made to the automatic registration and uploading to the TM-ADMIN system of incoming correspondence related to trademark applications with an electronic signature from personal user accounts on the FIPS website. As a result, the labor costs associated with the registration and processing of secondary correspondence have been reduced, the time required for the delivery of documents to industry examination departments has been shortened, and potential operator errors in the manual registration of documents have been eliminated.
In addition, work aimed at reducing examination labor costs related to the comparison of names of goods and services has been continued:
- in 2019 a version of the database of names of services from the International Classification of Goods and Services (11-2019), systematized on the basis of semantic connections, was developed
In 2019, applications to register trademarks continued to be received electronically using the electronic filing service AWS Registrar.
In 2018, ESR TM and List WTM records continued to be completed.
As of the end of 2019, the registers contained:
- ESR TM: 664064 registrations;
- List WTM: 210 registrations.
Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
In 2019, the number of requests for the provision of public services (hereinafter referred to as requests) filed with Rospatent electronically increased by 9.82% compared to 2018.The list of measures aimed at increasing applicants’ interest in applying electronically for the provision of government services is as follows:1. Expanding the functionality of electronic interaction services.
In 2019, a new version of the AWS (Automated Work Station) Registrar service was commissioned, which provided the option to file applications and paperwork.
2. Conducting monthly thematic meetings for FIPS specialists with users of electronic filing services for applications for inventions and utility models, applicants and representatives thereof, as well as all those wishing to participate in the process of electronic interaction with Rospatent and FIPS when submitting and reviewing applications.3. Posting of educational video materials and programs on the FIPS website.4. The FIPS technical support service is conducting a review of requests from users of electronic services. In 2019, about 5,000 requests were considered.5. Any interested person may obtain the necessary knowledge and practical experience in preparing documentation electronically for applications for the grant of a patent for an invention or utility model. One-to-one training is conducted in the computer room of the patent library, and is free-of-charge.
In 2019, 55,686 applications for State registration of trademarks and service marks were filed electronically.
In 2020 there are plans to continue work on the development of electronic filing services and promoting the use of electronic filing and electronic communications among applicants and patent attorneys. This will make it possible to expand the circle of users of electronic filing services and maintain growth in the number of applications filed.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
From Table 1, below, it is clear that the overall number of trademark registration applications filed in the Russian Federation in 2019 increased in comparison to 2018.
The growth is 15.05%, due to the increase in the number of applications from Russian applicants (by 19.33%).
Applications received from overseas applicants exceeded the previous year’s level (by 7,25%), due to the growth in the number of applications under the international procedure (by 5,80%).
Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 1.06 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2019 in comparison to 2018 occurred both due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 1.56%) and for foreign applicants (by 0.31%) due to international applications (by 3.28 %).
Table 1
2018 | 2019 | % 2019 to 2018 | |
Total number of trademark and service mark applications filed, including: | 76062 | 87509 | 115,05 |
- by Russian applicants | 49122 | 58616 | 119,33 |
- by foreign applicants | 26940 | 28893 | 107,25 |
of which under international registration procedures | 17404 | 10089 | 105,80 |
Total number of trademarks and service marks registered, including: | 66006 | 66707 | 101,06 |
- in the name of Russian applicants | 39880 | 40501 | 101,56 |
- in the name of foreign applicants | 26126 | 26206 | 100,31 |
of which under international registration procedures | 16753 | 17303 | 103,28 |
By December 31, 2019, there were 457570 trademark registrations in force.
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
The following pages of the Office’s website contain:
- Legal information in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section -Regulation section:
- Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:
http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;
- Rospatent: Figures, Facts and Projects 2019
https://rupto.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2019-short-version-en.pdf;
Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/links;
- Guide to the resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS and Internet resources:
- Information noticesin the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section:
http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/trademarks/informatsionnye-soobshcheniya.php;
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK 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
Thematic meetings on electronic filing of trademark applications and maintaining electronic correspondence in the course of office work are held regularly.
In 2019, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 6 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 215 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from Voronezh, Korolyov, Ryazan, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Saint Petersburg, who were representatives of various enterprises and organizations and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 49 people participated in the meeting via video-conference, organized on the basis of 6 TISCs.
Free, one-on-one training for users of electronic trademark application filing systems is held in the computer room of the library (VPTB).
The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:
Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for registering trademarks and service marks, and electronic correspondence:
http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-tovarnyy-znak/
State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and the issuance of certificates for trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and duplicates thereof:
Recognition of a trademark, or a designation used as trademark, as a well-known trademark in the Russian Federation:
- Access to documents of applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of such documents:
- section "Forms of documents":
http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documentforms;
- Filing Applications section/ "Filing an application for an invention, utility model, trademark, appellation of origin» rubric:
https://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-tovarnyy-znak/index.php
- Fees section:http://www.rupto.ru/ru/activities/dues;
- Fee calculator:http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/kalkulyator-poshlin/index.php;
- Frequently Asked Questions section:
http://www.rupto.ru/ru/faq/chto-takoe-tovarnyy-znak-i-znak-obsluzhivaniya.
Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru to obtain professional help from technical specialists.
Questions concerning paper and/or electronic filing of trademark applications with FIPS were reviewed at 26 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 2019 in 10 regions of the Russian Federation. Details of these events can be found in Part 5(d).
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
In 2019, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2019 (updated daily).
Throw the TM-ADMIN system for electronic document flow for trademarks and service marks examiners have an access to documents on the electronic processing of applications, including primary application materials, documents related to application correspondence, and structured data.
Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
In 2019, the Trademark and Registration Division continued to participate in activities to improve the International Classification of Goods and Services for the registration of marks (Nice Classification, hereinafter ‘NCL’), with the aim of establishing conditions for the use of the new WIPO standards in the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and improved international classifications for industrial property:
- preparation of proposals concerning amendments to the 11-th edition of the 2019 version of NCL, to the 29-th session of the Committee of Experts on the Nice Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
-preparation of the official translation into Russian of terms used in the 11-th edition of the 2020 version of NCL, ‘NCL (11-2020)’;
-translation into Russian and formatting of terms used in NCL(11-2020) for the WIPO International Bureau support service, ‘Goods and Services Manager’/MGS Madrid Goods & Services Manager, and for the multi-lingual service of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) TM class, and transfer of formatted materials to the WIPO International Bureau and EUIPO;
- the terms of NCL (11-2020) and LEXINTU-12 (2020) have been prepared in Russian in a special format for downloading into a software package for electronic filing with Rospatent of trademark registration applications by applicants, as well as into a software package for electronic record-keeping when examining trademark registration applications at Rospatent.
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
Since 2011, a procedure of automatic electronic classification of the figurative elements of the input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications submitted from the WIPO International Office, under the sixth edition of the International Classification of Figurative Elements (Vienna Classification) of Trademarks, has been used. This was made possible in 2006 when the SILOIZ system of linguistic description and search for similarities in figurative elements was introduced, itself a sub-system of the automated system, Trademarks in force in the Russian Federation (АS TM RF).
The results of classification as an additional service are provided to experts when examining claimed trademark designations.
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
The Trademarks and Registration Division participates in the regulatory and method-related settlement of issues in the consideration of applications for registration of non-traditional trademarks, and the publication of corresponding information. Moreover, information received through Rospatent’s involvement in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications is widely used.
Other activities
III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.
Тable 2
Publication Title | Form of Publication | Frequency of Publication |
Official publications of Rospatent on trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin and certificates for the right to use an appellation of origin | ||
Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette on electronic carrier with search system(primary publication), including the following sections: Trademarks and Service Marks |
Bibliographic data; images (where available); list of goods and/or services (where available) for applications received after October 1, 2014. |
Twice per month |
Bibliographical data; appellation of origin; indication of goods, for individualization of which appellation of origin has been registered and/or exclusive rights therein have been granted (except information containing a description of the product’s special properties) (where available); indication of place of origin (production) of good (borders of geographical subject) (where available) for applications received after October 1, 2014. | ||
Trademarks and service marks | Bibliographical data, images, list of goods and/or services. | |
Appellations of origin | Bibliographic data, appellation of origin, indication of goods, and also indication of place of origin (production) of a good (borders of the geographical subject). Information concerning certificates for the right to use an appellation of origin is also published. | |
Trademarks Well-Known in the Russian Federation | Published with a selection of exhibits approved by the normative documents of Rospatent. | |
Notifications | Information on the changes made to the Electronic State Registers of Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin and the List of Trademarks Well-Known in the Russian Federation is published. Information is supplied by the corresponding subdivisions of the Institute and Rospatent in the established form. In this section notifications concerning trademarks protected in Russian Federation due to international registration are also published. | |
Court decisions on the infringement of patent owners’ rights | Court decisions on infringement of patent owners’ rights (at the request of a patent owner) | |
Annual Rospatent Activity Report for 2018 ( on website) | Structure and composition of data determined by Rospatent | Once per year |
During 2019, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, 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 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format.
Since January 10, 2017 the system of continuous publication of data on trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin in the official bulletins immediately after making entries in the relevant State Register is introduced.
All “Trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin” Official Gazette for 2005-2019 available at:
https://www1.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/UsrTM
The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:
- Regulations on the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin:
- Official Publications section:
https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/UsrTM;
- Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:
http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
In 2019 the following types of notifications on national and international trademark registrations are published.
The forms of notifications on trademarks published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, are listed below (national registration):
- change in the denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of a rights owner and/or place of business or residence;
- change of correspondence address;
- reduction of the list of goods and/or services for which a trademark is registered, for the information of the rights owner;
- change to the individual elements of a trademark, which do not alter its essential features;
- State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for all goods and/or services;
- State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for part of the goods and/or services;
- Segregation of the separate registration of the trademark
- Changing the range of persons having the collective sign right of use
- Acknowledgement the trademark’s being well-known in Russian Federation
- Replacement the national registration with international one
- Replacement the national registration with international one for separate classes
- Converting trademark to collective mark
- Converting collective mark to trademark
- Termination of the trademark legal protection due to the trademark exclusive right expiration
- Fully invalidated trademark protection
- Partially invalidated trademark protection
- Full early trademark protection termination
- Partial early trademark protection termination
- Trademark exclusive right term extension
- Granting trademark certificate copy
- State registration of trademark exclusive rights transfer without a contract
- State registration of trademark exclusive rights pledge (subsequent pledge) under contract
- State registration of trademark right of use granting under contract
- State registration of changes concerning trademark exclusive rights under contract alienation
- State registration of changes concerning trademark right of use under contract granting
- State registration of changes in the contract
- State registration of changes concerning trademark exclusive rights pledge (subsequent pledge) under contract
- State registration of trademark right of use under contract termination
- State registration of the contract termination
- State registration of the trademark exclusive rights pledge (subsequent pledge) under contract termination
- Correcting the obvious and technical errors in the entries of the State Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of Russian Federation and/or in the bulletin publications
- Other changes related to registered trademarks
In 2018, publication of notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration continued.
Forms of notification on international registrations:
- State registration of granting trademark right of use protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- State registration of pledge (subsequent pledge) of trademark exclusive rights protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- State registration of changes concerning granting trademark right of use protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- State registration of changes in the contract
- State registration of changes concerning pledge (subsequent pledge) of trademark exclusive rights protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- State registration of termination the trademark right of use protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- State registration of the contract termination
- State registration of termination of the pledge (subsequent pledge) of trademark exclusive rights protected in Russian Federation due to international registration, under contract
- Correction of obvious and technical errors in Gazette publications relating to notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
- Other changes relating to registered trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration.
The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site providing access to online publications:
- “Trademarks - Official Bulletins” in the “Official Publications” section::
https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/UsrTM;
- International Classification for Goods and Services:
https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/classification/mktu?view=index;
- Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents:
http://new.fips.ru/registers-web/.
From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:
Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Russian Federation
Register of Trademarks Well Known in the Russian Federation
Register of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation
Register of International Trademarks
Register of Russian Federation Trademark and Service Mark Registration Applications
Register of Applications for the Registration of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
In 2019, access was provided to the texts of international and domestic classifications via the Internet:
- International Classification of Goods and Services (NCL, 11th edition, version 11-2019) in three languages, including Russian.
- International Classification of Figurative Elements of Trademarks (Vienna Classification), seventh edition, in Russian.
- Lexical and semantic identifier of goods and services (LEXINTU - 2019), 11 edition, in Russian with changed and corrected names of subsumption groups.
- Lexicographical information gazette of goods and services (LEXINFORM №17), in Russian.
When examining the claimed designation as part of the process of forming an expert opinion, examiners use the TM RF automated system sub-system, enabling them to analyze and select search results by similarity of verbal and figurative elements of marks, and prepare reports on the results. The search results are generated automatically thanks to intelligent indexing, and search instructions prepared by a group of search-engine specialists using the QSS sub-system of the RF TM automated system which was introduced in 1989 to search for similar verbal elements of marks, and using the SILOIZ sub-system of the RF TM automated system which was introduced in 2006 to search for similarities in the figurative elements of marks.
In addition, to examine trademarks an opportunity is provided to analyze information on the figurative elements of marks, both under the codes of the Vienna Classification, searching for data under the classifier’s headings, and also by the results of a search for similarity in figurative elements of marks in the sub-system of linguistic description and search for similarity in mark images, SILOIZ, search result volumes of which are orders of magnitude smaller.
In the course of work relating to the processing of applications and examination of designations claimed for registration as a trademark, examiners use the following databases and auxiliary tools available from external sources:
-ROMARIN (WIPO)
-Manager of Goods and Services/MGS (WIPO)
-Madrid Real-Time Status/MRS (WIPO)
-Madrid Portal for National Offices/MOP (WIPO)
-TMVIEW, TMCLASS (EUIPO)
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
In 2019, subscribers were provided with the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette based on official Rospatent information on CD/DVD, with a search system. Frequency of 24 issues (disks) per year.
For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette published in previous years (2016-2018) were offered on CD/DVD.
In addition, users were offered sets of information on trademarks for 1991 to 2018 on DVD / USB Flash Drive (13 disks and 3 USB Flash Drive), as well as an array of retrospective information on trademarks for 1991 to 2018 by FTP.
All products on CD/DVD/ USB Flash Drive and by FTP were distributed along with MIMOSA information-search system software, which provides searching of bibliographic data, NCL indexes, the verbal elements of marks, and also combinations thereof.
In addition, the website offered users free access to the International Classification of Goods and Services (NCL 11-2019), and to information publications facilitating the classification of, and search for, trademarks: International Classification of Graphic Elements of Trademarks (VCL 7th edition); the reference book, Lexical-Semantic Identifier of the Names of Goods and Services (11th edition), which complements the periodical, Lexicographic Information Gazette of Goods and Services №17.
The Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette was published on the FIPS website, and registers of Russian trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin, trademarks well known in Russia, applications for Russian trademarks and service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia and an indication of their legal status continued to maintain.
Aside from that, users are provided with free access to information on applications to register Russian Federation trademarks and service marks received after January 1, 2005.
Thematic databases can be produced for special customer orders, based on official trademark information.
Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a verbal designation, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for trademark similarities in the automated verbal search system RF TM.
Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a designation of a figurative element, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for similarities in trademarks using the SILOIZ system of linguistic descriptions of figurative elements.
In accordance with existing regulations for a number of government organizations, such work was carried out free of charge.
In 2019, the Rospatent website provided online access to:
- registers of Russian trademarks;
- registers of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2019, supplemented by information on the prosecution of applications filed between 2008 and 2019;
- registers of international trademarks with the indication Russia;
- the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin from the Official Gazettes published in the last month.
Users’ work with the information-search system
Examiners are able to work with all databases: trademarks, service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia.
Third party users’ access to the full-text databases of trademarks is provided on a contractual basis.
As part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, in 2019 free access was granted to:
- for trademark databases:
- 8 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
- 3 users of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, Rosalkogolregulirovanie
- for all FIPS databases:
- 189 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
- 717 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 101 organizations of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service
- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
- 96 organizations of the taxation service
- 60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights
- 2 users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies, RosOboronPostavka
- 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
- 12 users of the Federal Agency of Roscomnadzor.
Third party users are free to enjoy the following trademark databases:
- A database containing information on trademarks and service marks of the Russian Federation, starting with No.501068, published in the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazettes
- The NCL database.
In 2019, internal and external users made more than 3,841,000 requests through the information-search system, related to trademark databases, of which:
- about 78.000 users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;
- more than 3.763.000 - by other database users.
Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes
Users are given free access to all documents contained in the "Open Registries".
In 2019, users made more than 135.608.000 page views of "Open Registries", of which:
- more than 1.778.000 - users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;
-more than 133.830.000 - other users of registries.
Access is provided to all Gazettes published since January, 2014.
Free access to all resources hosted on FIPS website is available in the computer room of the VPTB FIPS department.
The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information on information products and services provided by the Office:
- Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:
http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/;
How to Access Publications and Databases subsection:
- Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:
https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/UsrTM;
how to carry out a search – in the Search System section:
http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/
- Patent databases - subsection "Databases" in the Search System section:
http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/bazy-dannykh.php
Information on how to access and use resources – in the Search System section:
- Instructions for working with Internet resources FIPS:
https://new.fips.ru/iiss/Инструкция по работе с информационными ресурсами.doc;
- Support:
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
On the FIPS website, users can have access to the information about the legal status of trademarks, that is updated daily.
Moreover, in the Оpen registers of trademark registration applications, information on the stage of prosecution of applications is provided, which is updated daily. Data on statuses are generated on the basis of RF TM automated prosecution system data.
Information on the legal status of trademarks is published in Rospatent’s Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, posted on the FIPS websites, and also in the FIPS Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, on CD/DVD:
- information on the State registration of trademarks;
- information on amendments to the entries of the State Register of Russian Federation Trademarks (Notifications section of the Gazette).
Information is provided in the Search 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://new.fips.ru/registers-web/.
Other sources
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
In 2019, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location.
The hardware platform of the FIPS Certification Centre continued modernization. Work was also carried out on the specialized software of the Certification Centre, which enabled the transition to the issue of certificates without binding to IP addresses, which increased the fault tolerance of technological processes using electronic signatures.
A duplicating channel for Rospatent’s Internet access was connected, which facilitate an improvement in the speed of access and reliability of systems connected to the Internet.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Fujitsu M10-4S server
(RAM – 64GB, processors – 16, external memory – 20 TB)
HP DL380 server – 26 units
(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)
Сервер HP DL580 – 8 units
(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)
HP, IRBIS workstations - 585 units.
Software:
Solaris, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10, AstraLinux, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.
Carriers used:
LTO-7 magnetic tapes.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
The Rospatent in-house trademark databases are as follows:
- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 697,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2019 inclusive, updated daily);
- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 210 trademarks recognized by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property as well-known, updated daily)- for trademark database subscribers;
- a database “Appellations of Origin” (contains information on 762 appellations of origin and certificates of the right to use them from 1997 to 2019);
- the NCL database.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
For searches of verbal and figurative elements of trademarks, an automated search subsystem of the Automated System, Russian Federation Trademarks, is used (RF TM). Special search images are intelligently prepared, and automatically indexed by algorithms. In order to examine a claimed designation, intelligently-prepared, special search instructions are generated to search for similar verbal and figurative elements of marks, packaged by date of completion of the formal examination. The search instructions are run on the server, and the examiners are provided with the search results for analysis and selection in a special interface of reference documents.
Work is carried out daily on the upkeep of the search arrays in the search subsystems of the TM RF automated system to search for similar verbal (QSS subsystem) and figurative elements (SILOIZ subsystem) of trademarks for the purposes of examining the claimed designation.
At the end of 2019, the total number of indexed trademarks comprised 1,441,317 marks with verbal and figurative search elements used to search for similarities between marks. The search array contains all the marks received by Rospatent from 1924 to the present day, including ‘Madrid’ registrations. Searches of the complete array of marks are carried out. Marks are grouped by category in the list of search results.
The search file is updated on a daily basis as incoming applications and constituent elements of marks are processed. Verbal and figurative search elements to be searched are stored on separate servers.
The documents of other Offices are not included in the search arrays.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
At the Office, the following document prosecution systems are used for information on trademarks:
- RF TM automated system for prosecuting applications for trademarks and appellations of origin.
- AS BBD "Office of TМ registrations" automated system for the prosecution of requests received following registration of a trademark (e.g. extension, change of owner or termination of validity).
- The Madrid Paperless Prosecutions of International Registrations automated system.
- TM-ADMIN, the electronic document flow system for registering and handling documents, including scanning, recognition and data entry procedures, document consideration processes, and preparing and sending outgoing correspondence.
- The electronic trademark application filing service, AWP Registrar, is intended for the filing of trademark applications and for electronic correspondence with applicants from the applicant’s personal area, and to provide the processes for exchanging electronic documents between applicants and the Office. It functions using a means of cryptography and electronic signatures, and is integrated into the hardware and software environment of the automated system for paperless prosecution of trademark applications, TM-ADMIN.
- The ‘My Area’ service on the FIPS website is intended for electronic correspondence relating to paper applications, and for a number of documents submitted electronically which require original documents to be submitted with hard-copy signatures.
- Electronic exchange of data with WIPO on the international registration of trademarks is carried out using MECA technology and WIPO Standard ST.66. Decisions on preliminary and final refusal are sent to WIPO electronically.
- The Electronic State Register of RF Trademarks and Service Marks, and the electronic list of trademarks well known in the Russian Federation (EGR). Each entry in EGR is signed with the electronic signature of the in-putter, which allows the signatory to be identified and his/her authority to be verified at the time of signing.
Other matters
In order to reduce staff shortages, adoption of remote working with access to FIPS automated systems is ongoing in expert departments.
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
The trademarks collection is intended for examiners and other categories of users. Trademark information is provided on a fee-free basis to third-party users at VPTB.
The trademark collection is available at VPTB both on paper and electronically, and includes:
- Rospatent Official Gazettes;
- pаtent gazettes from foreign countries and international organizations, both special gazettes and ordinary gazettes on industrial property with sections dedicated to trademarks;
- databases containing information on trademarks of Russia, foreign countries and international organizations.
The collection of applications and contracts for intellectual activities results and individualization tools includes trademark, service mark and appellation of origin applications. As of December 2019 this part of the collection constitutes 386,446 documents in paper and electronic form (the reduction of this part of the collection is associated with the writing off of documents in 2019 due to the expiration of storage periods).
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The VPTB collection of legal and patent literature includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection and use of trademarks and service marks in Russia and overseas. The collection is available electronically and in hard-copy, and also includes publications found on the official Rospatent and FIPS websites, and contains different types of information sources: national and international law, commentaries and reviews, guidelines, training aids, standards, patent office reports, conference and seminar materials, compilations of court decisions and collections of statistics, etc.
The Rospatent: Figures, Facts, and Projects booklet, which contains statistical and analytical materials reflecting the main outcomes of the activities of Rospatent and subsidiary organizations in 2019, as well as plans for development of the intellectual property sphere, is published in the “Electronic Brochures” section.
https://rupto.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2019-short-version-en.pdf.
In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of trademarks and appellations of origin.
http://www.rupto.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:
http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/
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://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/dlya-novichkov/chto-takoe-intellektualnaya-sobstvennost-.php.
In the Official Publications section of the FIPS website, information is posted on a daily basis on current registrations of trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin, well-known trademarks, as well as notifications regarding amendments to the State Register of Trademarks:
In the Trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin section, the following guidelines can be found on various examination and prosecution issues:
http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/trademarks/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
In 2019, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (VPTB) of FIPS held 6 thematic meetings of Rospatent and FIPS administration and specialists with business community representatives on the issues of introducing into law enforcement practice new approaches to examining trademark and appellation of origin (NMPT) applications, on the following topics: “Hot issues of trademark applications examination”, “Hot issues of well-known trademarks recognition”, “The practice of considering requests relating to state registration of exclusive right use and requests for amendments to the State Register and to the certificate”, “Common mistakes”, “Tips for using FIPS website search engine to search for information on various IP objects”, “Appellations of origin (NMPT) and regional brands”, “Common mistakes made when submitting applications for an appellation of origin (NMPT)”. 565 persons took part in these meetings, including 172 persons via video conferences organized on the basis of 5 TISCs.
VPTB also held 6 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications.
The new project “IP at Height 56” was launched, within the frame of which a series of lectures and master classes were held with one of the covered topics being “Trademark as a means of promoting youth entrepreneurship.”
Information on seminars and other similar events held in 2019 at universities, TISCs, etc., at which issues relating to trademark protection were considered, is included in Part 5 (d).
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Further professional training for FIPS specialists
One of the key objectives of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property development is a continuous improvement of the professional skills of FIPS employees as a part of a Unified education system based on the continuity principle, starting from the first day of employment.
The main tool for this task in 2019 was a system of studies for various categories of FIPS employees following the introduction of new normative legal acts regulating rules and procedures for the provision of public services.
This task was carried out by training employees under technology training sessions directly in the departments of FIPS and in group lessons.
In accordance with the Consolidated Plan on Internal Training of Employees in 2019, signed by the Head of FIPS, 7 group sessions were organized with 420 FIPS specialists attending. Moreover, 252 sessions were organized directly in FIPS departments. In 2019, the main focus during the study organizational process was placed on studying new normative legal acts in the field of providing public services, as well as on the amendments to the Provision on patent and other fees.
FIPS, by implementing a balanced human resource policy, draws particular attention to the training of employee pool of state intellectual property experts.
The key element of this training is an “Expert-intern” program, during which young specialists receive extensive theoretical and practical experience by working in expert units under the guidance of experienced mentors, and go through training under specially developed advanced programs:
“Training of expert interns under the program “Training of experts conducting application examination for trademarks” (126 academic hours).
The first intake of the “Expert-intern” education program graduated in 2017, and in total, the number of students who received the training under the above-mentioned programs amounted to 25 students in 2017, 122 students in 2018, 88 students in 2019.
The vast majority of expert-interns are assigned on a full-time basis to expert departments of FIPS upon receiving the training, and as a result, the training and advanced training programs for expert staff of FIPS are showing their effectiveness.
Organization of supplementary vocational training at FIPS for specialists of organizations
To satisfy the national economy’s need in specialists with a high level of professional competence in the field of intellectual property, Administration of Rospatent and FIPS made a decision to enhance the educational activities of the Federal Institute of the Industrial Property, taking into account the high professional competence of the expert staff of FIPS.
Activity on realizing the supplementary vocational programs is based under license series 77Л 01 № 0008944 (reg. № 038110), issued 19 December 2016 by the Moscow Department of Education; educational activity is carried out since 2017.
In this period during the sessions of the Scientific and Technological Council of FIPS there were developed and approved 25 advanced training programs and 3 professional retraining programs, all aimed at improving the level of the professional competence of employees in the intellectual property field. Leading FIPS state IP experts, as well as external specialists and practitioners, are invited to teach.
In order to coordinate the educational activity of FIPS, a Scientific Educational Center was created.
In 2019 the Center trained 1092 specialists, with 1069 of them under advanced training programs (55 specialists through distance learning); 23 specialists under professional retraining program “Legal protection of the results of intellectual activity and their rights management”.
Therefore, the number of graduates from the FIPS Center programs in 2019 compared increased two and a half times compared to 2018 and more than twelve times compared to 2017.
Training was provided under the following programs in 2019:
- 33 people attended continuing education courses for examiners reviewing trademark applications;
- 6 people (Novosibirsk Office) attended training in Means of Individualization: Trademarks and Appellations of Origin of Goods.
Issues relating to trademark protection in Russia and international registration of marks were considered at 26 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 10 regions of the Russian Federation during 2019.
The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information about training, seminars and conferences:
- the "Training" section
http://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php;
- a plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community dedicated to acquaintance with the new by-laws for 2019:
- conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2019:
A training videos: https://rupto.ru/ru/sourses/multimedia/video#training-video
- Training video, Preparing an application for registration of a AO:
- Training video, Preparing an application for registration of a verbal trademark:
Other activities
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts electronic Gazettes, including trademark information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 45 foreign countries and three international organizations.
In 2019, the VPTB Division received trademark information from 40 countries and one international organization.
In 2019, 1,593 copies of Gazettes containing trademarks were received from the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries on all kinds of carriers: 24 copies on paper carrier; 28 copies on optical disks; 1,541 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
As part of its participation in international and regional activities and projects relating to trademark information, representatives of the trademark division took part in the following events:
- 29 session of the WIPO Nice Union - Committee of Experts (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, April 29 to May 3, 2019;
- 17th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, July 22-26, 2019;
- In 2019, Rospatent organized and held two national seminars in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’, held in the cities of the Russian Federation (March 11-12, 2019, Penza, November 7-8, 2019, Irkutsk).
Rospatent, in conjunction with WIPO and Bashkir State University, a federal publicly funded higher education institution, organized and held on October 28–29, 2019, in the city of Ufa a national seminar on intellectual property for small and medium-sized businesses, at which issues in the filing and review of applications to register trademarks in the Russian Federation were discussed.
The competitive program of the 22nd Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies, Archimedes-2019, which was organized with the support of Rospatent from March 26-29, 2019, and attended by representatives of more than 300 organizations from 35 foreign countries and 44 regions of the Russian Federation, included the now-customary International Exhibition-Competition of Trademarks and Appellations of Origin, Trademark LEADER.
VPTB of FIPS holds thematic meetings with heads and lead specialists of Rospatent and FIPS for applicants, right holders, patent attorneys, specialists in the field of intellectual property, representatives of business community and other stakeholders. In 2019, VPTB of FIPS held 6 thematic meetings on the issue of introducing into law enforcement practice new approaches to examining trademark and apellation of origin (NMPT) applications, as well as 6 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 780 persons from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from Vologda, Voronezh, Kaluga, Korolyov, Obninsk, Ryazan, Rybinsk, Saratov, Tula, Tver, Saint Petersburg, Khanty-Mansiysk, Cheboksary, Yaroslavl, and 221 persons participated in the meetings via video-conferences organized on the basis of entities having TISC status: Shishkov Altai Krai Universal Scientific Library, Belgorod National Research University, Belgorod State Scientific Library, State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Komi Republic National Library, Chernyshevsky Saratov State University, Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg), M.V. Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University (Archangelsk), North-Eastern Federal University (Yakutsk).
Assistance to developing countries
Rospatent has no special programs to help developing countries. Assistance is provided in response to individual requests from the Offices of developing countries.
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:
http://www.rupto.ru/ru/international-cooperation;
https://rupto.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation
Subsection "Madrid System of International Registration of Marks":
http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/madrid_system. https://rupto.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation/madrid.