Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2022 submitted by Ukraine/State Enterprise "Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property" (UKRPATENT), State Organization "Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations" (UANIPIO)

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:

  • Link to pages with information in English, Spanish, or French
  • The URL will remain stable over time (at least three years, preferably more)
  • Goes to the specific information requested, not to a general homepage
  • If the URL goes to a long PDF document such as an annual report, please indicate which sections or pages contain relevant information.
  • Provide additional instructions for using the URL if needed. For instance, if the page requires the user to login first, or if the requested information requires selecting certain options or filters on the page that can not be included in the URL. 

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:

  1. Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
  2. New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies(plans) mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
  3. Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
  4. Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
  5. Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.

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

 

The main document determining the directions for the development of industrial design information activities in 2022 was the Plan of Activities of the Office which contained strategic directions «Patent information support in the intellectual property sphere and provision of wide public with access to the information related to intellectual property rights acquisition» and «Implementation of the modern information technology», which in particular envisage:

  • comprehensive development of the main directions of information support in the intellectual property sphere;
  • unification and harmonization of the patent documentation of Ukraine with due account of the world experience and in accordance with the international standards of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current legislation of Ukraine;
  • implementation of series of actions aimed at ensuring acquisition of users to electronic Patent information resources and current publications of the Official Electronic Bulletin "Promyslova Vlasnist " ("Industrial Property").

The main activities in 2022 were aimed at automating the processes of prosecution of applications and titles of protection for industrial property rights (IPR):

  • development of technological automated systems for processing applications and titles of protection for IPR;
  • automation of the document workflow and provision of a comprehensive electronic processing of information;
  • development and implementation of freely accessible information resources for a wide range of public;
  • development of IT infrastructure;
  • improving the information infrastructure security level.
  • running on enhancing the software of the automated workstation for the preparation and implementation of new versions of the International Classification of Industrial Designs in Ukrainian translation (AWS LOC) in terms of optimising the flow of technological processes in time, accuracy and correctness.

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

In 2022, according to the planned tasks the works were performed on the following projects:

  1. Improvements to the comprehensive automated record keeping system for applications for designations and industrial designs (hereinafter referred to as the CARKS ADID) continued.

The main purpose of the system is to automate procedures and functions in information and technology processes of document management on applications for registration of industrial designs, marks for goods and services, geographical indications, rights to use already registered qualified indications of the origin of goods and geographical indications, as well as to automate procedures and functions in information and technology processes of document management on applications, maintaining the relevant state registers in order to simplify and accelerate the processes of acquiring respective IP rights , reducing the costs and time in the course of the processes of document management for IP rights.

2. Improvement of the Special Information System (hereinafter - SIS) to provide access to up-to-date data related to pendency of applications and maintenance of the state registers for intellectual property rights (IPR) titles of protection was in progress.

The SIS ensures Internet access to information on any IPR in a mode that is as close to real time as possible. The search engine of the system, which has a universal search interface, provides open and authorized access to any document of the electronic dossier of the object. The SIS has two search engines – a simple and an advanced one. The advanced search has an additional search tool that allows restricting the search by the type of industrial/intellectual property object and by legal status. According to the selected type and legal status it is possible to select any parameter for the search .

In 2022, as part of the development of SIS, a section was improved, which was designed to display daily information about industrial designs for which the submission date is set.

3. As part of the development of the project on the creation of the automated system for the Systemic Means of Creation and Use of the Information Registers of the Office information system objects (SMCUIR), a set of functions for maintainance and use of the classifiers and registers was implemented, which provide unambiguous classification and record of objects in the information system environment, creation of services for the use and identification of the Office's information system objects, creation of tools for maintaining the organizational structure, creation of tools for the organizational structure management, and provision of access to system-wide classifications of any Office's information system components.

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

The main types of information activities in the field of industrial designs include: support of examination of industrial designs applications, the in-house database updating for the use in the examination body, publication of official information on registered industrial designs in the official electronic bulletin, creation and improvement of information and reference systems for information support of a wide range of users via the Internet.

The document management for industrial design applications is carried out by means of an automated system that has full functionality of the text processing and record keeping at all stages, from application filing to maintenance of the State Register of Ukraine for Industrial Designs.

An automated worksite of the Editorial Department was used to form the information arrays which are included to the publications in the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property".

The International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), Thirteenth Edition (LOC (13)) translated into Ukrainian was used for the classifying industrial designs.

Information and Reference System (IRS) "International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification)" for LOC (13) in Ukrainian translation, the form and content of which fully conforms to the official publication of the Locarno Classification, published on the WIPO website, is available free of charge.

Throughout the second half of 2022, all necessary works had been arranged to provide for introduction of the Fourteenth Edition of the Locarno Classification (LOC(14)) in Ukrainian translation in the state system of IP legal protection sstarting from January 1, 2023, including the creation of the corresponding IRS.

In 2022, measures were taken to update computer and telecommunication equipment, software, as well as to upgrade security hardware and software.

Organizational and technical measures were taken to decommission obsolete equipment and for deployment of new computer equipment.

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

Applications filed:

in 2021 – 1,838, in 2022 – 819, i.e. 55.4 % less than in the previous year.

In 2021 - 1,682 applications filed by national applicants, in 2022 - 729, i.e. 56.7% less than in the previous year.

In 2021 - 156 applications filed by foreign applicants, in 2022 - 90, i.e. 42.3% less than in the previous year.

Registered Certificates:

in 2021 – 1,751, in 2022 – 656, i.e. 62.5 % decrease less than in the previous year.

Over the course of 2022, 455 applications for industrial designs were filed with the use of the electronic application filing system (55.6 % of the total amount of the industrial design applications filed), which is 53.2 % less comparing to 2021 (972 applications).

In comparison with the previous year, in 2022 the following areas experienced rapid changes: construction (+14.7%), health, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (+171.4 %), packaging (-11.7 %), advertising (+11.8%), tools and machines (-58.8 %) and textile goods and fittings (-7.1 %).

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

Annual Reports, Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Activities, statistical information:

https://ukrpatent.org/uk/articles/statistics

News of the Office on the issues related to industrial design:

https://ukrpatent.org

Information on the industrial design legislation:

https://ukrpatent.org/uk/articles/zakonodavchi-akty.

Information on intellectual property representatives (patent attorneys) providing services in the field of intellectual property rights protection:

https://sis.ukrpatent.org/uk/services/patent_attorneys/

 For easy uploading of data on industrial property rights in JSON format and further formation of own databases, the SIS API based on the HTTP protocol was created and is constantly improved. The SIS API is available at: https://sis.nipo.gov.ua/api/v1/open-data/.  

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
  2. Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
  3. Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
  4. Other activities

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

Information for users on different procedures and sources of information on industrial designs, in particular, information on the legislation in the sphere of industrial designs, services and Office activities related to the information on industrial design, statistical information, etc. is published on the website of the Office (https://ukrpatent.org/).

Information for applicants on filing applications for industrial design is available on the website of the Office (https://ukrpatent.org/).

The applicants may file applications for industrial designs on paper media, as well as electronically.

For electronic filing of industrial design applications the Electronic Applications Filing System EAFS-2 http://base.ukrpatent.org/efiling. is used. Applicant's personal account was implemented in the system providing access to all documents generated in the process of interaction between the examination body and applicants in the course of prosecution of industrial design applications.

To work with the systems there is the Electronic Filing System User Guide developed  and is available in electronic form.

The Electronic Applications Filing System for industrial designs is available at http://base.ukrpatent.org/efiling

To sign documents, an electronic digital signature is used.

Access to online publications containing information on industrial designs is provided through the website of the Office (https://ukrpatent.org/uk).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

All application materials for industrial designs irrespective of the way of their filing, namely in electronic form, on paper carriers, by e-mail, fax and other telecommunication networks, are entered automatically or after scanning and stored in the electronic document archive and used by technological systems in the processing of applications.

Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g. International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classifications

The International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), Thirteenth Edition (LOC (13)) translated into Ukrainian was used for the classifying industrial designs.

The IRS International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) for the LOC (13), translated into Ukrainian, the form and content of which fully conforms to the official publication of the Locarno Classification on the WIPO website, is accessible for free.

Throughout the second half of 2022, all necessary works had been arranged to provide for introduction of the Fourteenth Edition of the Locarno Classification (LOC (14)) translated into Ukrainian in the state system of IP legal protection starting from January 1, 2023, including the creation of the corresponding IRS.

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
  2. Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URL), etc.
  3. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
  4. Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

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

  6. Other sources

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

Information on industrial designs was provided through publication in electronic editions in the field of intellectual property rights protection, free information and search Internet resources of the Office - the Information and Reference System (IRS) and SIS:

Information concerning industrial designs was published in Volume 2 of the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property" in the following sections: "Official Information", "Information on the Grant of Certificates of Ukraine for Industrial Designs" and in Notices section.

In 2022, 44 issues of the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property" were issued.

Publications in electronic information resources contain:

- the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property"for the section "Information on the Grant of Certificates of Ukraine for Industrial Designs" - bibliographic data, an image/set of images of the product;

- Special Information System (SIS) - contains information on applications for industrial designs, information on the grant of certificates of Ukraine for industrial designs. In addition, as an additional operational component, information on the legal status of certificates is provided.

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

In the Notices section of the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property", with the periodicity of its release, announcements are published in respect of industrial designs (to the extent provided by the respective applicable Law of Ukraine) which include information on changes in the data entered into the State Register of Patents of Ukraine for Industrial Designs, information on issue of duplicates of patents of Ukraine for industrial designs, information on modifications due to the correction of errors and other information relating to the state registration of industrial designs.

The said information is available at https://base.uipv.org/searchBul/.

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

The list of information resources available to examiners is given in "Establishment and Maintenance of Electronic Search File: File Building, Updating, Storage, Documents from other Offices Included in the Search File ".

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

For information support of a wide range of public, free access to the information concerning industrial designs is provided through the website of the Office - IRS "International Classification of Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification)", SIS and the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property"

The following documents are also freely available on the website of the Office: Annual Reports of the Office, Annual Technical Reports of the Industrial Designs Information Activities of the Office, quarterly issues of the Internet publication "Industrial Property in Figures", unofficial translations of WIPO Standards into Ukrainian , which are of the greatest practical importance and relate to various IPRs, including industrial designs (section "WIPO Standards").

Information on services available to external users is provided in the first part of section 5 "Promotion Activities Aimed to Support Users in Access and Efficient Use of Industrial Designs Information".

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

Information concerning the legal status of registered industrial designs to the extent prescribed by the applicable Law of Ukraine is published in the Notices section of the Official Electronic Bulletin "Industrial Property" https://ukrpatent.org/uk/articles/bulletin-ip.

In addition, such information is provided in the SIS.

-       Other sources

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
  2. Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
  3. Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
  4. Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
  5. Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
  6. Other matters

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

The main tool for examining industrial design applications and maintaining state registers is the Comprehensive Record Keeping System for Applications for Designations and Industrial Designs (CARKS ADID). The whole cycle of the formation, approval, signing, transmission and registration of documents is carried out on the basis of the electronic technology. The integrated search engine enables to search for similar industrial designs in the arrays of national applications and registrations, etc.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

The server part is based on Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) server x86 platforms (HPE Synergy 480 Gen10, HPE ProLiant DL380Gen10, HP ProLiant DL380Gen8).

Information storage models are: HPE 3Par StoreServ 8400, HP 3Par StoreServ 7200, HPE MSA2050, HP MSA2040.

The Storage Area Network (SAN) is based on the HP SN3000B, HP SAN Switch 8/24.

The general network infrastructure is based on:

  • the cluster made of two Checkpoint NGTP 5600 devices which contains the VPN and Firewall modules for Internet connection and provides control of access to the Internet sites and security of the Office IT infrastructure from complex threats and harmful attacks (botnets, targeted attacks, APT attacks and zero day attacks);
  • the separate Checkpoint SandBlast Appliance TE100X device. Threat Emulation further prevents infection of networks from unknown sources, protects against the zero-day vulnerability and targeted attacks;
  • further prevents infection of networks from unknown sources, protects against the zero-day vulnerability and targeted attacks;
  • internal router (designed on the Unix server) to support the Office local computer network.

The local computer network includes the set of HP Aruba 8320, Aruba 2930M, HP Procurve 2910al-24G, HP 2530-48, HP 2510-48 switches and divided into fifty virtual networks (Vlan).

The server infrastructure is completely virtualized. The Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 and VMware ESXi operating system is used on physical servers which allow to create and operate the productive virtual servers. The servers of virtualization are grouped into Hyper-V clusters which allow to organize high availability of the productive servers with the Microsoft Windows Server 2019, Microsoft Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Windows Server 2012R2, Microsoft Windows Server 2012, Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 and CentOS 7 operating systems.

The MS SQL Server 2017, MS SQL Server 2016, MS SQL Server 2014, MS SQL 2008R2, MS SQL 2005, PostgreSQL, MySQL are used as the databases management systems.

Domain structure of the Active Directory (AD) is designed to allow the centralized management of all information resources, including users, computers, files, peripheral devices, access to the services, network resources, websites, databases, etc.

Multiple domain controllers are used to organize the fault-tolerant domain structure.

The WSUS server provides updating of the servers and client's computers operating systems.

The ESET anti-virus server provides centralized control of all anti-virus programs on the user computers, anti-virus databases updates, report generation on database updates and existing threats.

For data backup, Veeam Software is used – Veeam Backup & Replication, which provides continuous protection of virtual and physical servers for their reliable recovery. There is a disaster recovery plan for all servers and services.

Other Microsoft System Center 2019 products, namely Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) are also used for virtualization management and for installing operating systems and to configure programs, respectively.

The activities on the IT infrastructure development, carried out over the reporting period, were aimed at building the fail-safe core of the computer network, increasing its bandwidth, security and manageability, replacing the obsolete components of a hardware part of infrastructure, consolidation and virtualization of the servers. The servers of virtualization are integrated into clusters, which ensure high availability of all systems.

In total, the corporate network consists of 650 personal computers, 24 physical and 105 virtual servers, 6 storages of information and various switching equipment.

For the information systems users the Internet connection is provided to search and browse information.

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The data from a number of sources (internal and external) are used while carrying out examination of applications for industrial designs:

- The database of international registrations of industrial designs. The information is downloaded to this database from the WIPO website (https://www3.wipo.int/designdb/en/). 

-  The Central Electronic Document Archive (CEDA) database, providing for storage of documents and their attributes in electronic form;

The in-house databases are updated in the course of processing applications and within maintenance of the respective State Register.

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

 

Information concerning international registrations of industrial designs is downloaded in batches once a day from the WIPO website and stored in the database of international registrations of industrial designs. The Comprehensive Record Keeping System for Applications for Designations and Industrial Designs (CARKS ADID) is populated and updated in the course of examination, processing of agreements on the transfer of rights, issuance of licences and maintenance of the state register. The whole cycle of the formation, approval, signing, transmission and registration of documents is carried out on the basis of the electronic technology. The integrated search engine enables to search for similar industrial designs in the arrays of national and international applications and registrations, etc.

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

The administrative management functions are implemented in Designations AS using separate software subsystems and modules.

Thus, to maintain the registers and legal status of titles of protection industrial designs, a multifunction subsystems are operative within the automated system. The information from this system is forwarded to relevant databases for publication and for drawing statistic reports.

The Indicators AS is characterized by the capability to form multiple reports and implementation of a mechanism of calculation of indicators by objects which have multiple details for all IP rights. The Indicators AS is built on a modular basis and provides automation of data loading, preparation of data arrays, and drawing of statistic reports.

The Indicators AS has the ability to expand the list of indicators. The function of an automated analysis of estimated data was implemented. The database of the "Indicators" subsystem provides for the possibility of entering data on the main economic indicators of the state's development and other external factors.

The website of the Office provides free access to:

Other matters

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
  2. Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

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

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

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

 In order to satisfy public needs for patent information, the Public Patent Documentation Collection (PPDC) being the most comprehensive patent library in Ukraine available to the public (Intellectual Property Office Library) functions in Ukraine.

International exchange with foreign patent offices has long remained the main source of foreign patent documentation. The PPDC also contains methodological, reference and informational and periodical materials.

Free access to the PPDC materials was provided for users to work both in the reading room and in remote access mode. The customers` work with foreign documentation funds available at the PPDC on optical media is carried out jointly with the consultants. Information concerning the contents of the PPDC and its quarterly updates was published in the relevant sections on the Office's website.

Throughout 2022 proper storage conditions for the PPDC documents were ensured to meet applicable requirements and guarantee the documents’ safety.

The PPDC is located on three specially adapted and equipped premises of the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion (depositories with the total area of 81 sq m and a reading room of 40 sq m). It is equipped with 10 modern computers with appropriate licensed software, as well as scanners, printers and xerographic copying machines.

To enable users to make online access to the electronic information resources,  the Internet access based on Wi-Fi technology was provided for users' convenience in addition to the traditional Internet access.

The Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion provided, including on the PPDC basis, all necessary consultations as well as services both on free-of-charge and commercial basis. Various types of information and documentation retrieval were conducted.

Overall, in the reporting year, the largest number of contracts was for the following types of patent information services:

-provision of practical recommendations on drafting application materials for industrial designs;

-provision of consultations regarding verification of the correctness of drafting application materials, including those related to industrial designs, etc.

Consultations on frequently asked questions were provided daily, namely on the issues relating to:

  • matters on the procedure for obtaining legal protection for industrial property rights (drafting, filing and examination of applications) and payment of fees for the activities related to the protection of IP rights;
  • matters on patent information searches in online databases and information and reference systems.

During the reporting period, pursuant to inquiries of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Tax Service of Ukraine, court-appointed managers, trustees in enterprises bankruptcy, 1,198 name (company) information searches of data on IP rights in Ukraine were carried out.

Since April 2017, the WIPO Depository Library has been operating in Ukraine, providing free-of-charge access to documents.

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

The Office`s website provides free access to

In order to provide information support to the development and functioning of the state system of intellectual property legal protection, in particular, to improve the Ukrainian patent and terminology base, standardization and unification of terminology in the intellectual property sphere, the Office carries out translation of the WIPO Standards into Ukrainian, primarily those that have more practical value and relate to various IP right types, and ensures their timely updating.

In total, twenty-nine WIPO Standards (with no official status) have been translated and are available on the Office website in WIPO Standards section.

-       Cooperation with universities, technology and etc

Technology and Innovation Support Centers Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) is an international project launched by WIPO in April 2009. The goal of TISC is to provide innovative development, access to knowledge and advice in the sphere of IP rights and patent information. In Ukraine, the process of establishing the TISC network was initiated by the signing on July 23, 2018 of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and WIPO on the establishment of Technology and Innovation Support Centers in Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Memorandum).

Regional TISCs are created by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation and the Agreement on Participation in the TISC project between the institution responsible for implementing the project in Ukraine. The provisions of the Memorandum and the Agreement provide for joint participation in the implementation of tasks defined in the Draft of the Memorandum.

Project implementation:

As of the beginning of 2022, 17 centers were opened in 10 regions of Ukraine. Unfortunately, due to the full-scale invasion of the russian federation, some of the institutions, on the basis of which TISC was launched, have suffered significant destruction or are generally under Temporary Occupation (centers in Kharkiv and Rubizhne).

At the beginning of 2022, the report on the status of implementation of the Memorandum and achievement of quantitative indicators for the Draft document was sent to the WIPO representatives.

Specialists of the Centers receive internal training together with the representatives of the central TISC, and are granted access to the WIPO distance learning courses, WIPO and NIPA training materials are sent out, and participation in events organized by NIPA is provided, in particular:

  • in 2022, 2 educational events and an international conference were held with the participation of TISC specialists, together with WIPO and the Polish Patent Office;
  • representatives of the central TISC and regional TISC were involved in a series of trainings within the framework of the training program for teachers from WIPO – WIPO-Ukraine IPTI project – prospective teachers of the National IP Training Center (IP Academy);

The TISC specialists of the Office have developed two Guidelines on the protection of intellectual property in the IT industry and marketing activities, which are published in the public domain at the link: https://tisc.ukrpatent.org/ipguides.html

Prior to the full-scale invasion, the TISC network focused on the development of entrepreneurial education and the formation of a startup culture in higher education institutions, on the basis of which the Centers were opened, with further raising awareness and advising stakeholders of this process, in particular: regional TISC provided advice on the formation of startup schools, setting up work with clients and generating data for websites.

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

Detailed information on activities of the state system of intellectual property legal protection in 2022 is published on the Office website, in particular, in the quarterly issues of the Internet publication "Industrial Property in Figures", in the 2022 Annual Report.

In 2022, the specialists of the Office participated in specialized and educational events in the field of intellectual property, organized by both the Office and other international organizations, including WIPO, EPO, EUIPO, etc.

About 20 NIPA specialists completed WIPO Distance Learning courses of the IP Academy on the following topics:

  • DL101 General Course on Intellectual Property;
  • DL201 Copyright and Related Rights;
  • DL203 Intellectual Property Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions;
  • DL302 Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications;
  • DL317 Arbitration and Mediation Procedure under the WIPO Rules;
  • DL318 Patent Information Search, WIPO;
  • DL320 Basics of Patent Drafting, WIPO;
  • DL450 Intellectual Property Management;
  • DL511 Software Licensing Including Open Source).

Almost 150 representatives of the Office joined 32 WIPO training webinars on using services of PATENTSCOPE, Madrid, Hague systems and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), as well as events on the role of IP in various sectors of the economy and creative industries.

Employees of the Office participated o regular basis as listeners and speakers in educational and training conferences, seminars and discussions on various topics of intellectual property law, including regional seminars organized by the CEBS group, in particular, the Regional Seminar on Trade Secrets for Central Europe and Baltic States (on April 5, 2022) and the International Conference of National IP Training Centres organized by WIPO on May 23-24, 2022.

-       Other activities

In 2022, in order to popularize knowledge about intellectual property, formation of culture and respect for intellectual property, raising awareness in the field of intellectual property, the following was carried out:

– on the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day (April 26, 2022) - together with the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland - an international online conference "Intellectual Property in the World of Games";

– webinar on the topic "Registration of Trademarks" (June 27, 2022) - together with the Creative Industries Development Office under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, with the support of the USAID Program "Competitive Economy of Ukraine" - a lecture on the trademark registration procedure was organized for representatives of the creative industries sector;

– a series of events for schoolchildren, in particular, an online lesson on intellectual property for the children of NIPA employees (April 1, 2022), offline classes at the National Ecological and Naturalistic Center for Student Youth of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and four schools in the city of Kyiv.

In order to provide information support and highlight the peculiarities of the use of intellectual property rights, in 2022 the section "Information Support for Invention" was updated, materials from the IP Academy library were posted, and other sections and structural elements of the web resource were regularly updated.

The innovative and information resource the Industrial Property Exchange (http://exchange.iii.ua/uk) is designed to promote registered inventions, trademarks and other industrial property rights on the market and to seek actively potential partners and investors, as well as to place orders from the industrial economic sector.

The main goal of the Factory of Ideas (http://fabrikaidei.iii.ua/) is to identify, support and promote development of gifted and creative youth, young scientists, inventors and researchers.

The said Internet resources provide users with the necessary information about partners and investors, relevant grants, competitions, conferences, and research programmes.

As of December 2022, 157 projects have been produced, placed and updated as part of the "Industrial Property Exchange" resource and 279 projects have been produced, placed and updated for the Factory of Ideas.

Educational information was also disseminated through relevant information resources: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

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

Information on the following topics is desired:

  1. International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
  2. Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

  3. Assistance to developing countries

  4. Other activities

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

 The international exchange of patent documentation is carried out by the Office, which was recognised in 2003 as the Centre for International Exchange of Publications in accordance with the "Convention on the International Exchange of Publications" adopted on December 3, 1958 by the UN General Conference on Education, Science and Culture.

As part of the international exchange, in 2022 the Office continued the transition to free international exchange of patent documentation on intangible media, namely by providing access to it via the Internet and spreading data exchange, mainly through the offices' FTP servers.

  Participation in international or regional events and projects related to industrial information

In 2020, representatives of the Office participated in sessions and meetings of WIPO Committees.

Within the framework of international cooperation, the Office's specialists also participated (online) in the work of three Task Forces (TFs) of the WIPO Committee on Standards (CWS) on the development of new WIPO standards, as well as other CWS projects:

  • Legal Status Task Force;
  • Part 7 Task Force (Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation);
  • Public Access to Patent Information Task Force.

In line with the initiatives aimed at developing the global intellectual property infrastructure, in particular, by improving access to information and facilitating its use, within the framework of which WIPO offers a number of free online search services, Ukraine completed the cooperation with WIPO, launched in 2019, within the projects on filling the Global Brand Database and the Global Design Database with the artificial intelligence-based image search technology and its integration with internal systems of the Office.

As a result of this cooperation, the Global Brand Database and the Global Design Database are constantly updated with data on Ukraine.

According to notifications on the WIPO website, from May 2020 the Global Brand Database includes the Ukrainian collection of trademarks, and from June 2020 the Global Design Database includes the Ukrainian collection of industrial designs.

    Assistance to developing countries

    Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

The Department operates a quality management system (QMS) in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015. The Coordination Council for the development, implementation and maintenance of the QMS is in place, authorised persons for the implementation and maintenance of the QMS in structural units have been appointed, and the necessary documented procedures have been identified and developed.  Management and the Chief Commissioner are responsible for the development and implementation of the Quality Policy. In order to determine the effectiveness of the QMS, measurable goals have been developed with the identification of departments and/or managers responsible for achieving them, and an internal QMS audit programme has been approved. The results of the internal audits are discussed and analysed at the Coordination Council meeting, and the summary findings are submitted to the management for consideration and appropriate decisions aimed at improving quality performance. Analysis of the QMS and the level of achievement of goals is carried out twice a year. The final document of the management's analysis is a report on the functioning of the QMS, on the basis of which the management develops plans for the development of the QMS, makes decisions on changes and/or improvements to the QMS, and allocates the necessary resources for the QMS functioning.  Personnel have the opportunity to quickly review the necessary documents and the results of the QMS functioning through orders or instructions sent to structural units, as well as during working meetings in the units.Personnel have the opportunity to quickly review the necessary documents and the results of the QMS functioning through orders or instructions sent to structural units, as well as during working meetings in the units. Ongoing quality control was carried out at the level of chief expert supervisors and heads of sectoral examination departments. Selective control is carried out at the level of the Head of the Examination Department, his deputy, as well as the Quality Control and Improvement of Examination of Applications Department (hereinafter referred to as the Quality Control Department). Each examination department is responsible for the quality of expertise in a particular area. The quality assurance system includes cross-checking by leading experts and quality checks by department heads, the quality control department and the head of the examination department. An internal quality assurance system has been implemented and is constantly maintained. According to this system, a unified approach to examination and searches must be followed in all sectoral examination departments. For this purpose, appropriate control was carried out at the management level of the quality control department.

To ensure the quality of examination and searches, all examiners had online access to the relevant WIPO standards and all necessary regulations and instructions.