Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2015 submitted by Rospatent

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

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

Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) is being carried out in five main areas:

- electronic record keeping;

- optimization of record-keeping processes;

- development of decision-support systems;

- development of hardware and software infrastructure;

- inter-departmental electronic interaction.

The following have been published on the Rospatent website:

• Public declaration of the aims and objectives of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property for 2015: http://www.rupto.ru/about/opengov/publ_dec-2015.pdf;
• Informatization Plan for the 2015 fiscal year and 2016 and 2017 planning period: http://www.rupto.ru/docs/orders_rospatent/prikaz_rosp_25_01_2016_7.pdf;
• Rospatent Plan to implement the concept of openness of federal executive authorities for 2015, taking into account the ‘planning horizon’ to 2018:

http://www.rupto.ru/about/opengov/plan_otk_2015.pdf.

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

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2015:

-   operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Registers for Inventions and Utility Models (hereinafter referred to as EGR).

-   a system for official Internet publication of information on intellectual property subject matter from the EGR was implemented and trialed.

-   expert departments were re-deployed to the preparation of electronic correspondence and electronic signing thereof in the automated information system of paperless prosecution of invention examinations.

-   the automated paperless prosecution system of electronic document flow of the FIPS Chamber of Patent Disputes (PPS) for court decision record-keeping was improved.

-   Operation continued of the PCT Electronic Applications Library automated system.

-   Operation continued of the system for filing and receiving electronic invention applications. The electronic invention application filing service has been integrated with the automated information system of paperless prosecution of invention examinations.

-   Operation continued of an automated paperless prosecution system for examining applications to amend entries in the registers for inventions and utility models (including extending and renewing the validity of a patent) (Patent Prosecution).

-   The transition to paperless prosecution has had a positive influence on the work of expert staff and interaction between subdivisions involved in registration activities. The transition to electronic prosecution has seen a gradual decline in the use of paper-based information, a reduction in the time taken to process documents and search for required information, thereby leading ultimately to increased productivity and better public awareness of patent rights and amendments thereto, as well as the status of patent documents.

In 2015, the State Register of Russian Federation Inventions (EGR IZ) and the State Register of Russian Federation Utility Models (EGR PM) records continued to be completed. As of the end of 2015, the registers contained:

- EGR IZ: 125,517 patents;

- EGR PM: 41,010 patents.

In order to ensure the completeness of foreign documentation submitted and uploaded onto the PatSearch system, incoming documentation is constantly monitored. As gaps are detected in the arrays of documentation, a request is sent promptly to the relevant foreign patent office; receipt of data is constantly being monitored.

During 2015, work was carried out on populating data; after formal verification fitness for purpose, completeness, and compliance with specifications on the website, some errors were identified. After verifying downloaded data during 2015, errors were detected in the arrays of Germany, Canada, China, Republic of Korea, and CIS (74,587 documents). All errors were corrected by re-uploading the data. As part of the previously signed agreements with foreign offices on data exchange and other written agreements, work is ongoing to ensure the quality and completeness of the upload onto the system.  

In 2015, the Rospatent and FIPS websites provided access to a wide range of databases, including official electronic publications.

The content and structure of the website, representing Rospatent’s activity within its terms of reference (www.rupto.ru) reflect the most important issues in relation to the functioning of the system of intellectual property protection in Russia. Regulations and press releases are regularly posted on events relating to Rospatent activity and events in the system of intellectual property protection. In order to increase usage of electronic services, a new section, Leaders of Electronic Filing of Applications, has been opened. A new heading, Traditional and Regional Foreign Patenting Procedures, has been created. The headings, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses on Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity (RIA), and Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH), were developed further. In accordance with the principles of openness, the sections on Public Procurement, Fees, Anti-Corruption, Rospatent Commission for Compliance with Requirements for Official Conduct of Civil Servants and Regulating Conflicts of Interest, and Monitoring and Supervision in Legal Protection and Use of RIA were updated. In the Open Data section, 10 sets of data have been posted in a format that ensures automated processing thereof for the purposes of re-use thereof without prior amendment by a person (machine-readable format), and on the terms of its open (free) use.

Along with the Rospatent website, the FIPS website (www.fips.ru) likewise developed rapidly in 2015, focusing on comprehensive support for users at various stages of legal protection and intellectual property protection. The Personal Area service of the FIPS Internet portal has been updated in terms of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication. Materials have been posted in the Patent Information Products section, to help focus users on effective use of information products offered for searching and analysing patent information.

In the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) section of the FIPS website, the following headings are regularly updated: Thematic meetings, Internet navigator for patent information resources, Guide to VPTB collections and Internet resources, Bibliographical indexes and lists, Recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations forming the national nanotechnology network, and translations into Russian of the EPO publication, Patent Information News.

The Directory of Technology and Innovation Support Centers as at November 30, 2015, which includes a list of services provided by these centers, is published in the Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) section.

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

At present, applicants and representatives thereof may interact with FIPS electronically using services provided on the FIPS website (www.fips.ru) and on the State Services Portal. (www.gosuslugi.ru).

The FIPS website enables electronic filing of applications for inventions and utility models, as well as electronic correspondence through the ‘Personal Office’ service for applications for inventions and utility models filed previously. 

Approximately 11,868 trademark applications were filed electronically in 2015 (c.27 per cent of the total number of trademark applications).  In addition, in the Personal Office section on the FIPS website, approximately 2,000 prosecution cases were opened for electronic correspondence.

In 2015, the following measures were taken to increase the number of applications filed electronically:

-   reliability of the electronic filing system and ease of use thereof were increased;

-   use of electronic filing software services was enabled;

-   use of electronic filing of applications was promoted;

-   newsletters were sent to organizations proposing the use of electronic services for filing applications;

-   thematic meetings were held and advisory user support systems for electronic filing were offered;

-   electronic filing through TISC was organized.

Much attention was paid to Rospatent’s participation in the programs initiated by the RF Government:

-   Unified State and Municipal Services (Functions) Portal (hereinafter, ‘EPGU’);

-   inter-agency electronic interaction system (hereinafter, ‘SMEV’), including the transition to electronic interaction with the Treasury;

-   creating a basic State information resource (hereinafter, ‘BGIR’);

-   participating in the establishment of unified electronic government infrastructure by connecting Rospatent’s automated systems to the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’).

As at January 1, 2015, descriptions of 13 State services provided by Rospatent had been posted on EPGU. All services offer the required forms for applications, and information on how to access services, as well as offering the option to file applications electronically for all of Rospatent’s State services. 

As a result of changes in the List of State services (functions) and updating of legal acts regulating the provision of Rospatent’s State services, work was carried out in 2015 to make the relevant amendments to the Federal Register of State and Municipal Services (hereinafter, ‘FRGU’).  

Interaction with the federal executive authorities is provided using the inter-agency electronic interaction system. Version 2.4.4 of the SMEV web-service was developed and registered in a production environment in compliance with methodological guidelines for the development of eleсtronic services and use of electronic signature technology in the course of inter-agency electronic interaction.

In February 2015, the web-service was transferred to a new software and hardware platform using virtualization technology, enabling the operational capacity of the web-service to be increased, and the requirements of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation on ensuring accessibility thereof.

In 2015, work was carried out to update the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal in respect of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’) in order to comply with the Guidelines on the use of ESIA version 2.5.

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

Inventions

Data relating to the filing of applications and the grant of Russian Federation invention patents for 2014-2015 are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

From Table 1, above, it can be seen that 2015 saw growth in both the number of applications filed (12.92%), and in invention patents granted (2.23%) in comparison to 2014.

The invention patents granted in 2015 were distributed according to the IPC sections as follows:

Table 2

The largest number of patents for inventions granted in 2015 was, as in 2014, to Russian applicants for Section A of the International Patent Classification (IPC) – Human Necessities; this year, this section was the most popular for both foreign and Russian applicants.

The least popular Section among Russian and foreign applicants alike remains Section D – Textiles and Paper.  The number of patents granted for this Section in 2015 comprised only 0.8 per cent of the overall number of patents granted for inventions.

Utility models

Тable 3

In 2015, the number of applications received for utility models fell.  The number of applications received decreased by 14.66 per cent, and this decline was seen both in applications filed by domestic applicants (12.28 per cent), and, to a significant extent, by foreigners (almost halved). However, the proportion of the overall number of applications filed by foreign applicants is insignificant, at approximately 4 per cent. The total number of patents granted likewise declined, by 31.13 per cent.

Data on the distribution of patents for utility models by IPC Section are presented below.

Table 4

The leading IPC Section in 2015 remained Section B – Performing Operations and Transporting – while second place was taken by Section A – Human Necessities. As in 2014, Section D – Textiles and Paper – continued to be the least in demand, with the lowest number of certificates granted.

Over 3,000 applications for inventions and utility models were filed electronically during 2015; for inventions- 2,694 (over 6 per cent of the total number of invention applications), and for utility models- 629 (approximately 5.5 per cent of the total number of utility-model applications).

2,215 new prosecution cases were opened through the Personal Office service of the FIPS website, in order to conduct correspondence electronically, while 350 new users accessed the service. The growth in electronic filing of applications for inventions and utility models is presented in the diagram below:

The main factors influencing the substantial growth in electronic filing of applications in 2015 were the promotion of electronic interaction with Rospatent, and the implementation of a number of projects to integrate electronic filing systems with the prosecution systems of applicants and representatives thereof.

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

The following pages of the Office’s websites contain:

• Information on patent legislation- Regulation section: http://www.rupto.ru/docs;

• Office Annual Report- Rospatent Annual Reports section: http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;

• Statistical information- Statistical Data section: http://www.rupto.ru/about/stat;

• Monitoring of the quantitative and qualitative indicators for the main activities of FIPS in 2015 is provided on the FIPS website in the FIPS Main Activities section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/osn_deyat;

• Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/links;

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;

• Rospatent News: http://www.rupto.ru/press/news;
• FIPS News:http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/news/.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT 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

One of the most important tasks of a patent office, including Rospatent, is to provide an environment conducive with filing patent applications for industrial property subject matter, thereby promoting inventive activity in the country.

The main measures aimed at addressing this issue include:

• posting instructional materials necessary for preparing and filing applications for all types of industrial property on the Rospatent website;
• providing advice on matters relating to the registration and filing of applications;
• providing opportunities for all categories of users to work with the GPF and other patent information products available in the Library free-of-charge;
• holding thematic meetings on topical IP issues (including Rospatent systems for receipt of applications for industrial property, including how to submit applications electronically);
• conducting internships and training for work with patent documentation, etc.

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for the grant of patents for inventions and utility models, and corresponding electronically using the ‘Personal Office’ service: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/

Answers to frequently asked questions are posted on a section of the FIPS website.

Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru to obtain professional help from technical specialists.

The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:

• Administrative regulations for the performance by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks of State functions in relation to organizing receipt of invention applications, and review and examination thereof, and grant in the established manner of Russian Federation invention patents:  

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/Pritm_zajavok_na_izobretenie#1;

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of State services relating to the State registration of utility models, and grant of patents in respect of utility models, and duplicates thereof:  

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_702_30092015#adm;

• Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of utility models, and the form thereof:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prikmert_701_30092015#adm;

• Requirements relating to documents included in the application for grant of a utility-model patent:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_701_30092015#4;

• Information on the grant of a utility-model patent published in the Office Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_701_30092015#11

Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the State service relating to access to application documents for grant of a patent for an invention, utility model, or industrial design, and issuance of copies of said documents: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_615_28_08_2015#adm_regl_oz

• Procedure for accessing application documents relating to applications for grant of a patent for an invention, utility model, or industrial design, and issuance of copies of said documents:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_mert/prik_mert_614_28082015#poryadok    

• Guidelines on issues concerning examination of applications for inventions and utility models:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/rec_inv;

• Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya/;

•  Electronic Interaction with Applicants section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/;

• The ‘Personal Office’ service facilitates correspondence on stage of prosecution for applications filed both in hard-copy, and using the electronic application filing services:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/pers_kab;

• Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues/;
• Fee calculator: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/poshl_s/k_phttp://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues/patduty/pat_poshl;
• Patent Law subject matter section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects;
• For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/new
• Frequently Asked Questions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/right_vopr.

Details of seminars and other similar events held in 2015 can be found in Part 5(e).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Access is provided on the Rospatent and FIPS websites to the following resources:

-   A database of invention applications filed between 2007 and 2015 (containing a brief summary of the prosecution of 381,000 applications, and updated daily).

-   A database of applications for industrial designs filed between 2007 and 2015 (containing a brief summary of the prosecution of 115,000 applications, and updated daily).

As part of the automated paperless prosecution information system for examining inventions, access is provided to primary materials for applications for inventions and utility models, versions of the application components (invention claims, descriptions), bibliographic data and versions of documents sent to applicants, images of incoming correspondence, and outgoing correspondence, signed electronically.

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), reclassification³ activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information

With regard to improvement of International Patent Classification (IPC), in 2015 Rospatent prepared a new, complete version of IPC 2016.01, and published it electronically in Russian for in-house use, and produced an online publication for external users of patent information. For that purpose, Rospatent specialists processed a total of 1,424 corrections to the previous edition of IPC-2015:

- New headings incorporated: 1039                           

- Old headings deleted:175

- Headings amended, with subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein: 70

- Headings amended, without subsequent reclassification of documents contained therein: 130.

In accordance with the newly created IPC classification scheme definitions, informative links have been removed from these schemes.

In 2015, as part of the work conducted by WIPO to improve IPC, Rospatent prepared comments and proposals on the following projects: M760 (for the entire text), M757 (sub-class A61F), F027 (sub-class A23P), F032 (sub-class G06F), F008 (group A61B19/00), C466 (sub-class A61B), and F026 (sub-class A23K).

Reclassification of the retrospective part of the national collection of patent documents for the new edition of IPC 2016.01 is in the process of completion.

In 2015, training of FIPS examiners continued in the classification rules of current patent documents using the Joint Patent Classification (JPC). Check-boxes for JPC headings are planned to begin in 2016 in parallel with the IPC headings, on all current applications for inventions and utility models.

In 2015, as in previous years, FIPS examiners used indexing codes for classifying additional information on national patent documents.

In 2015, the preliminary assignment of an IPC classification to applications for inventions and utility models received by FIPS was continued, in order to send them to the appropriate examination division for substantive examination of applications for inventions and the examination of utility models.

In 2015, 38,875 applications for inventions and 11,193 applications for utility models were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions.

International applications received by the International Patent Cooperation Division of Rospatent in its role as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority are assigned a preliminary IPC index classification, which determines the appropriate examination division for each application.  In 2015, 2,345 international applications were assigned a preliminary classification index before being forwarded to the appropriate examination divisions for the purposes of conducting an international search.

Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents

In 2015, abstracts continued to be published in Russian and English for RF patents granted for inventions as part of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette. The Gazette is posted on the FIPS website. In addition, abstracts in Russian are published as part of the publication Descriptions of Inventions for RF Patents on paper (identical to publications in the Gazette posted on the website).

With the aim of providing examiners and other categories of users with comfortable conditions when working with foreign patent documentation, immediate translation assistance is provided for patent documentation, both from Russian into other languages and from other languages into Russian, in both written and oral form.

In connection with carrying out significant work to translate foreign documents on all issues related to intellectual property, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) VPTB works actively to supplement thematic dictionaries on the latest subjects. In 2015, approximately 3,500 dictionary entries were prepared that are used when working in the VPTB display room.

VPTB performs translation from foreign languages and prepares summaries of foreign legal and patent literature.  In 2015, the titles of articles, books and prepared summaries of 3,527 publications of interest to specialists in legal protection of intellectual property were translated into Russian.  The amount of legislation from foreign countries translated in 2015 was approximately 874 pages (Austria, Vietnam, Germany, Israel, Republic of Korea, USA, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland).

The results of this work are entered into an electronic catalog of legal and patent literature, ‘Legal Protection of Intellectual Property: National and Foreign Publications. The electronic version of the catalog, containing details of publications dating from 1992 to the present day, is available on the FIPS website in the VPTB Division section, and is accessible to remote users online. This catalog comprised 94,700 documents as of January 1, 2016.

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Table 5 contains data on the main types of Office publications in the field of patent information, carriers and also the frequency of publications.

Тable 5

During 2015, the Inventions and Utility Models 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 2313-7436.

Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:

• Regulations on the official publications of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, in the Patent Information Products section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/publication_act_new;

• Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/;

• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.

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

The Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, is published three times per month.

The forms of notifications on inventions and utility models published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Inventions and Utility Models, are presented in Table 6:

Table 6

 The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site providing access to online publications:

• Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/iz_pm;

• In the Information Resources section, International Classifications subsection:
  http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/international_classification/;
• Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:

Register of Inventions of the Russian Federation

Register of Utility Models of the Russian Federation

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Invention Patent

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Utility Model Patent.

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

Examiners primarily gain access to patent information through the in-house search system, PatSearch. The search arrays of the PatSearch system include patent documents from Russia and the USSR going back to 1924, of the CIS countries, foreign countries in the PCT minimum documentation, as well as a DWPI array. If the information contained in the PatSearch system is insufficient, examiners may consult patent-office databases that are freely available on the Internet (mainly Espacenet, PATENTSCOPE, EAPATIS, and the databases of USPTO and the patent office of Japan). In order to view correspondence relating to applications in the patent offices of Japan and Korea, examiners can access the AIPN and K-PION databases, respectively.  Furthermore, in 2015, one FIPS workstation was connected to the EPO search system, EpoqueNet.

Where necessary, examiners perform searches in commercial databases.  These are mainly databases provided through the STN International platform.  These databases are generally consulted during searches on chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. In 2015, more than 800 searches of this type were carried out.

Examiners have access to the VINITI commercial abstracts database. It contains arrays of Russian abstracts of sources of domestic and foreign scientific and technical literature (periodicals and serial publications, books, dissertations, conference materials, theses, patents, legal documents, and deposited scientific work), of which Russian sources comprise 30%.

In addition, examiners may perform information searches in any source freely available on the Internet.

Electronic resources of non-patent literature, including those acquired on a commercial basis, are available to Office experts via the inter-library subscription service, and electronic document delivery systems.

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

VPTB users have access to Rospatent’s automated information-search system, PatSearch, and the Eurasian Patent Office’s EAPATIS search systems, the European Patent Office’s Global Patent Index, etc. 

In 2015, patent information subscribers were presented with the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette, based on official Rospatent information, with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents on electronic CD/DVD carrier with search system. They are distributed with a frequency of 36 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette with full descriptions of inventions for RF patents published in previous years (2012-2014) were offered on CD/DVD.

In addition, in the interests of users, the following information products were distributed:

• Annual retrospective sets of invention descriptions for USSR authors certificates and RF patents, from 1924 to 2012, on DVD (a total of 112 disks);
• An information-search system for invention descriptions for RF patents in Russian and English, from 1994 to 2015, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
• Title pages of utility model descriptions for RF documents providing protection, from 1994 to 2015, on DVD - quarterly and cumulative;
• Descriptions of utility models for RF documents providing protection from 1994 to 2014 on DVD- quarterly and cumulative (14 disks);
• Patent invention descriptions on paper – 34,865 units;
• Title pages of utility model descriptions on paper - 9,014 units;
• Rospatent Annual Report for 2012 on CD (on paper for international exchange).

In addition, the International Patent Classification, edition 2015.01 (IPC-2015.01), alphabetical subject indexes on CD, and the Rospatent Annual Report on CD (on paper for international exchange) were published.

Most products on CD and DVD were distributed with MIMOSA software, allowing all forms of patent searches to be carried out.

On the basis of official information relating to inventions and utility models, thematic databases are produced for users on CD on special request.

In 2015, access to the electronic version of the Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette was provided on the FIPS website, while the registers of Russian inventions and utility models continued to be updated, and details of the legal status thereof were provided.

Also on the Internet, users are granted free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation invention and utility model patents.  Information on the prosecution of applications is available for applications received after January 1, 2007.

In 2015, the FIPS website provided access to:

1)      the information-search system (IPS) for domestic patent documentation;

2)      the Open Registers information resource, an information reference source which can be used by any person to search for information concerning a patent granted, or the stage of prosecution for applications filed at Rospatent. Reference information is structured by patent number, or application registration number by:    

-  registers of Russian patent documents relating to inventions and utility models;

-  registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007-2015 for the grant of invention and utility model patents;

3)    the Rospatent Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes.

Rospatent Internet resources are compiled in the following databases:

-  a full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on 663,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2015 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a retrospective database of Russian patent documents in facsimile form (contains information on 1,433,000 patent documents for inventions from 1924 to 1993 inclusive);

-  an abstracts database for Russian inventions (contains information on 663,000 patents for inventions from 1994 to 2015 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a database of published applications for inventions (contains information on 476,000 applications for inventions from 1994 to 2015 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  an abstracts database for Russian inventions in English (contains information on 603,000 invention patents from 1994 to 2015 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a full-text database of Russian utility models (contains information on 158,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2015 inclusive, updated quarterly);

-  an abstracts database for Russian utility models (contains information on 158,000 Russian utility model certificates and patents from 1996 to 2015 inclusive, updated three times per month);

-  a future-oriented inventions database (contains information on 1,530 patents for inventions that are recognized by FIPS as promising, updated once per quarter);

-  a database of invention applications filed from 2007 to 2015 (contains information on the prosecution of 381,000 applications, updated daily);

-  a database of utility model applications filed from 2007 to 2015 (contains information on the prosecution of 115,000 applications, updated daily).

Users’ work with the information-search system

Office examiners are given the possibility to work with all inventions and utility models databases. 

Access for external users to full-text inventions and utility models databases is granted on a contractual basis.

In 2015, as part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, access was granted:

in relation to full-text inventions and utility models databases, to:

• ­   152 organizations, as part of the Rospatent Program of Cooperation with regions of the Russian Federation
• ­   36 organizations participating in the implementation of the State project to develop nanotechnologies
• ­   126 Technology and Innovation Support Centers
• ­   2 organizations of Rostekhnologiya

in relation to all FIPS databases, to:

• ­   101 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
• ­   223 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• ­   11 organizations of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service
• ­   16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
• ­   95 organizations of the taxation service
• ­   44 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
• ­   4 users of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations

External users are provided free of charge with the following databases:

in relation to inventions:

• ­  abstracts databases in Russian and English,
• ­  a database of published invention applications,
• ­  a future-oriented inventions database,
• ­  a full-text database containing information on RF invention patents No.2503161, published in the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette;
• ­  the IPC database

in relation to utility models:

• ­  a database containing information on RF utility model patents No.136275, published in the Inventions and Utility Models Gazette;
• ­  an abstracts database;
• ­  the IPC database.

In 2015, internal and external users made more than 5,833,000 requests to the IPC, of which:

• ­   Approximately 122,000 by internal database users;
• ­   more than 5,711,000 by external database users

Users’ Work with Registers of Russian Patent Documents

Users of registers are provided with free access to all patent documents of Rospatent’s Internet resources.

In 2015, internal and external users of registers made 40% of the overall number of requests (more than 40,628,000 requests).

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

Users are provided with free access to Rospatent’s Inventions and Utility Designs Gazettes.

Access is provided to all Gazettes published since January, 2014.

In 2015, users accessed Rospatent Gazettes on more than 4,023,000 occasions.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information on information products and services provided by the Office:

• Rospatent Patent and Information Resources section:

http://www.rupto.ru/about/resources?inf_res;

• Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;

How to Access Publications and Databases subsection :

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;

• How to carry out a search – in the Information Resources section, Information-Search System sub-section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system;

Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;

Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazette, in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/iz_pm;

• Patent databases- Databases subsection in the Information-Search System section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_2/;

Information on how to access and use resources – in the Information-Search System section,
Services:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;

Support:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_4/;

Instructions for Using an Information-Search System sub-sections:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_1a/.

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

All patent documents in Russian databases contain information on current legal status that is updated three times a month.

The Automated Database (ADB) subsystems to determine legal status use the given official publications containing information on new registrations of protection titles and changes.  Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are displayed on the Rospatent site in the Information Resources section.  For inventions and utility models patent status may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated”.

Information on the legal status of inventions and utility models is published in Inventions and Utility Models Official Gazettes (on CD/DVD), in the paper Gazette and on the Rospatent site:

- information on the grant of RF patents for inventions and utility models;

- information on amendments to the published information on applications for inventions and to entries in the State Registers of Inventions and Utility Models (Notifications section of the Gazette).

Information is provided in the Information Resources 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://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

Other sources

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

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

In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2015 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.

In 2015, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location. The number of FIPS employees working remotely increased from 132 in 2014, to 178 in 2015.

In 2015, in order to improve the accessibility of State services provided by Rospatent, a hardware and software system was installed and configured which enables remote examination of claims and objections in the Chamber for Patent Disputes for inhabitants of the regions. Participation in the hearing is provided through a browser, and no additional software installation is required for external participants. Implementation of the system received a favourable response among patent attorneys.

In 2015, Rospatent examiners used the Information-Search System, PatSearch, for invention and utility model examinations. The PatSearch system is a professional search system for patent office examiners to perform searches when examining inventions and utility models. As a result, a wide range of functions and services has been introduced into the system.

Below is a list of the main functions of the system:

- Search in selected arrays

- Index browsing when preparing a request

- Sample analysis (statistics on search results)

- Document viewer (with highlighting of search terms)

- Two-window document viewing

- Print documents

- Export documents

- Consideration of IPC reform and subsequent reclassification

- Search based on the IPC and SPS, as well as the Thomson Reuters (Derwent) classification.

- Multilingual machine translation (including translation of a selection of the document or the whole document, and separate translation of query)

- Analysis of search results (including cluster analysis and construction of semantic networks)

- Espacenet search

- E-Library search

- Amino acid and nucleotide sequence search in the European data bank, EMBL.

In 2015, additional tools were developed in the PatSearch system to search by number range in text boxes.  This includes the PatSearch system providing a number range search in the form of an error message.

The PatSearch system also supports searches of non-patent literature in external sources, including searches of genetic sequences on the European Bioinformatics Institute website. In addition to PatSearch, all examiners enjoy free access to all foreign patent office search databases, and to several databases of non-patent literature.

Extensive use has been made of the opportunity to document search histories, including an indication of search arrays, search query transcripts, and the number of documents located and viewed, as well as a list of documents included in the examiner’s final selection.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Equipment used:

Fujitsu M10-4S server

(RAM – 64GB, processors – 20, external memory – 24 TB)

HP DL380 server – 42 units

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)

HP DL580 server – 18 units

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)

HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations – 1,105 units.

Switching equipment:

Cisco 6503, Cisco 4507

Software:

Solaris, Windows XP, Windows 7,

Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.

Carriers used:

Ultrium magnetic tapes.

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

In 2015, the main search tool was Rospatent’s in-house search system, PatSearch, which is available at each examiner’s workstation.  The search array of PatSearch includes patent documentation from Russia, the USSR, and CIS countries, and countries included in PCT minimum documentation, as well as an array from DWPI. A total of 70 million original patent documents have been uploaded onto PatSearch. Full descriptions of patent documents not yet loaded onto the system may be viewed via integrated online referral to EPO arrays.

The PatSearch system supports searches of non-patent literature in external sources: searches of genetic sequences on the European Bioinformatics Institute website, and searches of scientific and technical literature on the website of the Electronic Scientific Library of the Russian Foundation of Basic Research, eLIBRARY.RU.

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

The main source of information for the principal functions of Rospatent is the State Patent Collection (GPF).

The main source for establishing the State Patent Collection (GPF), including its electronic PatSearch system content, is the international exchange of patent documentation. At present, international exchange continues to exist and evolve in a new format using new information technology based on PatSearch requirements and ensures the GPF is updated free of charge.  

Foreign patent documentation obtained using FTP may be loaded onto the PatSearch system from the websites or specialist Internet resources of foreign patent offices or organizations.

In 2015, information was uploaded onto the PatSearch system from all arrays of patent documentation from PCT minimum countries, as well as an update of the DWPI array.  Arrays of patent documentation have been uploaded onto the system from the USSR and Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), PCT, the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Australia, ARIPO, OAPI, and the Republic of Korea, and English-language abstracts and patent documents from Japan and other countries. 

System search arrays

• DWPI array
• Descriptions of USSR inventions from 1924 to 1993
• Descriptions of RF inventions from 1994 to date
• Claims of RF utility models from 1994 (No. 1) to date
• Claims of Russian invention applications
• Unpublished Russian invention applications
• Abstracts of patent documents from the world’s leading countries in English (DWPI)
• Descriptions of inventions from PCT minimum countries, including:
• PCT applications
• EPO
• United States of America
• Japan
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• France
• Austria
• Australia
• Switzerland
• Republic of Korea
• China
• ARIPO
• OAPI

Descriptions of inventions from CIS countries with abstracts in Russian (CISPATENT)

A total of more than 113 million patent documents.

VPTB users also enjoy access to the GPI EPO system, and electronic non-patent literature resources: Kluwer IP Law, Elsevier, etc.

The GPF is one of the most accessible and highest-quality patent collections in the world.  The patent documentation of GPF is provided on all carrier types – optical disks, local networks, paper, and micro-carriers.

A significant part of the GPF is available on optical disks (58,800 optical disks as at January 1, 2016) and the collection is formed, mainly, from traditional international exchange of patent documentation with foreign patent offices. The patent collection on optical disks contains patent documentation from Russia, the PCT minimum countries, CIS, the international organizations, WIPO, EPO, and EAPO, as well as Denmark, Spain, Serbia, Slovenia, and Finland, etc.; patent documentation is made available to all categories of users in the VPTB display class.

The collection of optical disks is stored in metal cupboards.  Information on disk locations (cupboard number, shelf number, etc.), their usage history, possible exchanges and so on are available in a special technology database.  Work with this collection is free of charge for all categories of users in the VPTB display class.

Information downloaded from the FTP servers is temporarily stored on the local network before being subsequently uploaded onto PatSearch.

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

The Automated Databank (ABD), designed to prosecute applications and protection titles for inventions and utility models, has subsystems that manage the work of examiners and support staff, as well as capturing statistical information on various aspects of the activities of Rospatent subdivisions. The subsystems for statistics allow the creation of over 300 different forms of reports on the activities of the Office’s subdivisions.

The electronic prosecution system for the examination of inventions (AS EA), which is integrated with ABD, supports the following functional capabilities:

• upload and download electronic documents to Applications e-Work;
• plan examiners’ work, draft master plans and portfolios of examiners’ applications;
• capture statistics;
• provide access to Applications e-Work and application components and bibliographical information,
• prepare outgoing correspondence and sign decisions on issuance of patents by electronic signature,
• verify and revise the electronic package of application elements intended for publication,
• application search function,
• developed user administration system.

Other matters

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

Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries

The main functions of the All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB) is the establishment of the State Patent Collection (GPF), including patent documentation on all industrial property subject matter, scientific and technical and legal and patent literature on all carrier types, and also providing them to all categories of users. In so doing, VPTB fulfills the functions of a public library and the library of the Office at the same time. The main source for the GPF is international exchange, which ensures updating of patent documentation and Official Gazettes of foreign offices, while national and foreign scientific and technical, and legal and patent, literature is updated through subscription and obtaining books and periodicals.

As at December 31, 2015, the GPF comprised 123,646,600 documents overall. 

In order to assist VPTB readers, both general and specialized reading rooms are provided:

- computer room (for optical disks and remote databases);

- paper and micro-form patent documentation;

- information and bibliography services.

VPTB provides free access to patent collections that are targeted at all categories of RF users, as well as those in neighboring and other foreign countries without any restrictions. Visits and services are free of charge for all categories of library users.

The VPTB patent collection is managed according to type of industrial property and information carrier.

The Library premises are equipped with an alarm system and an automatic fire-fighting system.

A total of 86,100 persons consulted GPF in 2015.

In 2015, users (including examiners) were issued with over 31.4 million copies of patent documents: over 29.4 million copies on optical disks and from remote databases; over 1.9 million copies on paper, and 3,500 copies on micro-carrier.

The patent information services of VPTB are provided to remote users on request, including performing patent information searches and factual references, and providing certified copies of documents of title. In 2015, most user requests involved searches for title documents of specific natural persons and legal entities. Overall, during the course of the year, over 3,000 patent information services were provided at the request of remote users. 

The Russian patent office does not have a regional network of patent libraries, although in 2015, as part of the project to create Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC), it cooperated with Russian libraries in providing patent documentation.

As part of international exchange of patent information, it cooperates with a number of foreign patent libraries, including the Library of the Patent Office of Austria, the Central Patent Library of the Office of Bulgaria, the State Patent Technology Library of the Republic of Tajikistan, and other libraries.

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

The VPTB offers a unique collection of legal and patent, and dictionary and reference literature (PPL collection), which is an important constituent part of the GPF is available. The PPL collection on paper and electronic information carriers includes publications on a wide range of theoretical and practical issues of intellectual property protection in the Russian Federation and abroad, including issues relating to the creation, legal protection, and commercialization of the results of intellectual activity, jurisprudence, protection of intellectual property on the Internet, activity of international organizations, and international cooperation in the field of intellectual property, etc.

The PPL collection contains various types of information source: legislative acts, international and intergovernmental agreements, treaties, regulations, as well as instructions, orders, rules and other documents; comments and reviews; guidelines and study aids; standards in the field of patent and scientific and technical information; annual reports of patent offices; symposium and conference materials; collections of court decisions; collections of statistics; bibliographical publications, industry, terminology and language dictionaries, reference books and encyclopedias.

At present, the PPL collection comprises approximately 89,700 publications, with the oldest publications dating from 1810. 

Aside from the above-mentioned information sources, all categories of users are provided with access to Kluwer IP Law database (publisher, Kluwer Law and Business), containing information on various aspects of legal protection of intellectual property subject matter in different countries throughout the world, and Edward Elgar and MyiLibrary electronic books.

The Office examiners are also provided with access to non-patent literature through interlibrary lending and electronic document delivery systems. In order to meet examiners’ requirements, the collections of nine specialized Moscow libraries are used, as well as foreign electronic resources (Elsevier, among others). 

An electronic catalog, Legal Protection of Intellectual Property: Domestic and Foreign Publications, has been created based on an analysis of publications entering into the PPL collection, bibliographies, publications posted on the Internet, and other sources. The catalog is a comprehensive information resource of patent and legal information and is a search-reference tool for the PPL collection. The catalog is a comprehensive information resource of patent and legal iunformnation and is a search-reference tool for the PPL collection. The catalog contains bibliographical descriptions in the original language, and Russian translations of titles and/or abstracts, and as of January 1, 2016, there were approximately 149,700 bibliographic records. The catalog also contains 4,400 links to full-text documents posted on patent owners’ websites.

The VPTB Division posts various information products and materials on the FIPS website. These are prepared on the basis of the State Patent Collection, and obtained as a result of identifying and studying global patent-information resources. During 2015, the VPTB Division section was updated and supplemented with materials.  The following are updated quarterly: Guide to the VPTB Collection and Internet Resources, Internet Navigator for Patent Information Resources, Recommendations on the List of Essential Methodology, Legal and Patent Literature and Documentation for the Provision of Documents for the Patent Subdivisions and Services of the State Science and Education Sector and Organizations of the National Nanotechnology Network, and translations into Russian of the EPO publication, Patent Information News. Bibliography lists are made available on a monthly basis to help regional experts with current issues regarding protection of intellectual property subject matter and jurisprudence, and issues in the commercialization of the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization. In 2015, the Glossary of Intellectual Property terms was updated in the For Beginners section of the FIPS website.    

Overall, in 2015, more than 134,700 users consulted the information available in the VPTB Division section of the FIPS website.

Reference information on the stages of prosecution in patenting subject matter of patent law is published on the Rospatent website in the Subject Matter of Patent Law section:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/objects.

Information on the systems for granting legal protection abroad is available in the Foreign Patenting section: http://www.rupto.ru/ohrana_zarubezh, as well as in the International Cooperation section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter.

In order to ensure the uniform practical application of the provisions of Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulating the grant of legal protection to the subject matter of patent legislation and means of individualization, a range of guidelines have been posted on the FIPS website in the Inventions and Utility Models section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inventions_utility_models/rec_inv.

To assist the patent subdivisions and the State services of the science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network, a range of method-related materials are available on the website:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/nano_pat;

Recommendations on the list of essential methodology, legal and patent literature and documentation for the provision of documents for the patent subdivisions and services of the State science and education sector and organizations of the national nanotechnology network, are published in the Rospatent and the Regions section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/regions/recomend;

In the Information Resources section, in the Open Registers, information is provided on registering intellectual property subject matter with an indication of its legal status or state of prosecution:  

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/

Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.

Presentation of patent information analysis capabilities using Office information products:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/present.

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://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.

Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)

The PROMT translation system is used at Rospatent in order to provide foreign patent information in Russian. To date, the PROMT system has been operating at Rospatent with two objectives. Firstly, it is embedded into the in-house search system, PatSearch, where it may be used to translate search terms when conducting searches in foreign arrays, or to translate foreign documents found. In addition, PROMT has been installed on an in-house server for use when translating the sources of scientific and technical literature found on the Internet, Word documents, and emails, for example.

In 2015, PROMT was updated twice with the latest improved versions, facilitating higher-quality translation of thematic texts.  

The latest version of PROMT in its hybrid structure has translation profiles, which this year have been aligned with the number and names of IPC classes for convenience when translating texts on various topics. Each profile was populated with relevant, thematic, specialized and customized dictionaries. The customized dictionaries were created or replenished in different subjects, processed, and integrated into PROMT.

Work has continued on updating the English-Russian customized PROMT dictionaries along narrow, specialized themes, which were integrated into the appropriate translation profiles. Work with customized dictionaries which will capture a broader range of topics will continue, thereby improving the translation quality of foreign patent documentation.

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

Given the importance of knowing the basics of intellectual property and in order to train new specialists in the skills for successful work in science, economics and industry, the VPTB Division holds a range of different events in cooperation with universities, research centers, Technology and Innovation Support Centers, etc., including:

• Organizing and holding seminars and practical classes based on GPF for students from a number of Moscow higher education institutions. In 2015, 30 excursions and practical classes on working with patent documentation were held, which were attended by 392 persons. For the first time, an excursion was held for students of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship, and four excursions for students of the Polytechnic College No.8 in Moscow.
• In order to promote knowledge of intellectual property, thematic meetings with management and senior Rospatent and FIPS specialists have been organized for representatives of small- and medium-sized businesses, students and lecturers of institutes of higher education,and other professionals interested in intellectual property matters.

In 2013, eight thematic meetings were held, two of which were attended for the first time as speakers by employees of the Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property (RGAIS). Overall, the thematic meetings were attended by 1,205 persons, including 274 via video-conference (21 sessions) from nine TISC: Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library (Barnaul), Belgorod National Research University, Belgorod State Universal Scientific Library, Voronezh State Academy of Forestry, State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Don State Technical University (Rostov-on-Don), St.Petersburg Peter the Great Polytechnic University, N.G.Chernyshevsky Saratov State Technical University, and Autonomous Institution High Technology Technopark (Khanty-Mansiysk).

• Assists with the updating, on a non-remunerated basis, of patent collections of patent documentation on optical disks in the regional organizations of the Russian Federation most actively involved in innovation processes.  In 2015, 44 disks with foreign invention descriptions, along with 12 disks of foreign patent periodicals, were sent to the regions of Russia.

In 2015, as part of the Program for Regional Information Support, Rospatent provided 23 new accesses to FIPS’ full-text databases of descriptions of national inventions and utility models to business entities in the Russian regions free of charge, including an additional opportunity for Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) to conduct industrial design searches.

The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 302 organizations in nine federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2015. Access was provided to: 48 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 35 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 18 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nanoindustry Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 133 TISC and 19 other organizations.

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

At FIPS, professional development for employees is organized under the Common Training System (ESO), according to the principle of continuous training from the time of hiring.  Both internal and external training methods are used.  Guaranteeing conditions for the continuous professional development of employees is provided for under the FIPS Charter.

Organization of FIPS employee training using in-house training methods

In 2015, in accordance with the Combined Plans for In-House Training of Employees, as approved by the Director of FIPS, the following were held: 

- 12 centralized sessions, for the managers of the structural subdivisions, their deputies, and senior FIPS employees, covering issues relevant to the practice of activities, and targeted at various categories of employee);

- 457 sessions directly in the FIPS subdivisions in accordance with the quarterly in-house training plans focused on studying newly released regulatory documents, issues in the performance of examinations, as well as analyzing the results of internal and external examination quality control in specific subdivisions.

• Training of examiners continued in the use of various search systems, including search techniques in the Rospatent search system, PatSearch.
• In accordance with the Agreement of September 25, 2013 between the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) and the European Patent Office regarding Joint Patent Classification (SPK), Rospatent has adopted SPK as its in-house classification system along with the International Patent Classification (IPC). In order to implement this Agreement by way of exchange of experience, EPO specialists trained FIPS examiners in classification methods and performing searches under SPK, which was attended by 318 examiners. 
  

Professional Development of Newly-Recruited FIPS Examiners

Professional development of newly recruited examiners of inventions and utility models is carried out on a regular basis, and relevant certificates are awarded.  

In 2015, based on the results of an open tender, a civil contract was concluded with RGAIS, in accordance with which training was organized and conducted of the 13th stream of newly-recruited FIPS examiners, consisting of 22 people. The training was carried out in accordance with the thematic curriculum, and was 214 academic hours in duration.

FIPS employee training at RGAIS

Under FIPS higher professional education programs:

- Two FIPS employees gained a first degree in intellectual property management and Law respectively;

- 18 FIPS employees are continuing their studies on the masters’ program (in Law).

- Two FIPS employees are continuing their studies as post-graduates.

Training for staff examiners in how to use different search systems

In order to ensure the required quality of examination searches, both newly recruited and experienced examiners have undergone training in how to use the various search tools optimally. The aim of the examiner training was independent use during the examination process of available electronic databases and automated systems. Consultations on correct use of various automated systems, databases and software also took place.

The main area of focus was the in-house search system, PatSearch, the main one used by examiners in the workplace. Furthermore, training in the use of foreign databases containing information that is not in PatSearch. This training primarily concerned the updated databases of Asian countries (Japan, Republic of Korea, and China).

Twice in 2015, training was undertaken on new versions of the PROMT translation system, which was fundamentally differentiated by the translation algorithm and the capabilities relative to the previous versions.

On several occasions, the functionality of the electronic application prosecution system was improved and supplemented due to the introduction of the new features of the Electronic Archive system, in which examiners underwent training.

Traditionally, newly-recruited examiners underwent mandatory training in the use of  automated systems and databases that have been selected for examination searches. Training took place on specially developed programs, taking into account updated functionality of systems and databases for each of the themes. The theoretical part, which contains a large number of examples highlighting the features of the examination search, has been supplemented with a practical part in order to reinforce the usage habits of the different operators and enable the nuances of request formulation to be mastered for each of the individual subjects. Groups were formed with the optimal number of students working on similar topics, in order to assimilate the material better. Refresher training was conducted individually and in groups for less confident users.

In 2015, Rospatent took part in organizing and staging three international invention exhibitions:

• April 2-5, 2015- 18th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015 (Moscow);
• October 1-3- 11th International Exhibition of Inventions and New Technologies, New Time (Sebastopol);
• November 19-21- 64^th World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and New Technologies, Brussels- Innova/Eureka 2015 (Brussels, Belgium)

In 2015, Rospatent participated in organizing and holding 48 conferences, seminars and round-tables in 26 regions of the Russian Federation:

• February 11- session on intellectual property organized by the Skolkovo Fund as part of the Russian Startap Tour (Tomsk);
• April 3- Rospatent practical research conference on ‘Protection of Intellectual Property Subject Matter’ in accordance with Amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation’, at the 18th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015 (Sokol’niki Exhibition and Congress Center, Moscow); 
• April 16- round table on Managing Intellectual Property: Legal and Economic Aspects (Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Moscow);
• April 16- seminar on Chapter IV of the Civil Code of the RF: IP News (A.M. Gorky State Budgetary Institution of Culture, Tver’ Order Badge of Honor Regional Universal Scientific Library, Tver’);
• April 20- round table on ‘Patent Law’ as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
• April 20-21- training seminar for RF Technology and Innovation Support Centers organized in conjunction with WIPO as part of Intellectual Property Days, 2015 on Basic Resources of Internet Patent Search (FIPS, Moscow)
• April 21- round table on ‘Agreement on Patent Cooperation’ as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
• April 22- round table on ‘Trademarks, Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications’ as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
• April 22- practical research conference, ‘Intellectual Property– Innovation Potential of Russia’, organized by Rospatent as part of the Eighth International Forum, ‘Intellectual Property in the 21^st Century’, held at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Rospatent, Moscow);
• April 23- training seminar for RF Technology and Innovation Support Centers organized in conjunction with WIPO as part of Intellectual Property Days, 2015 on ‘Service Inventions’ (Rospatent, Moscow)
• April 23- round table on ‘Current Copyright Issues’  as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
• April 24- round table on ‘Electronic Interaction of Applicants with FIPS’ as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
• April 28- round table on ‘Commercial Secrets. Alternative Methods of Protecting Intellectual Property: Know-How (Production Secrets) – Industrial and Commercial Secrets’ (ASERGRUPP Ltd., Moscow);
• April 28-29- 13^th Volga Practical Research Conference on ‘Current Intellectual Property Protection Issues’ (State Budgetary Institution of Further Professional Education, Nizhegorodsky Scientific and Information Center, Nizhny Novgorod);
• April 29- seminar on ‘Legal Protection of Software for Computers, Databases and Educational Resources of Higher Education Institutions’ (Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Tuva State University, Kyzyl);
• May 20- regional practical research conference for specialists in the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation on ‘Current Issues of Legal Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity’ (Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, N.G.Chernyshevsky Saratov State Technical University, Saratov);
• May 26-27- National Seminar on the International Patent System (PCT Seminar), organized in conjunction with WIPO (Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk);
• June 2-3- annual All-Russian startap- conference of entrepreneurs and innovators (Skolkovo Startap Village Innovation Center, Moscow);
• June 16- National Seminar on the International Patent System (PCT Seminar), organized in conjunction with WIPO (Tyumen’ Regional Social Organization, All-Russian Society of Inventors and Innovators);
• June 18- National Seminar on the International Patent System (PCT Seminar), organized in conjunction with WIPO (Autonomous Institution, High-Technology Technopark, Khanty-Mansiysk);
• June 24-26- practical research conference, ‘Petersburg Collegial Reading- 2015’, on the theme: ‘Intellectual Property: Theory and Practice’ (Regional Public Organization, ‘St.Petersburg Patent Bar’, St.Petersburg);
• June 30-  regional practical research conference for specialists in the Crimean Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of  Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education, V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol’); 
• September 2-3- organized by the information and analytical magazine, ‘University Book’ as part of the 28^th Moscow International Book Exhibition and Fair, a conference on ‘Legislative Initiatives and Legal Regulation of Russian Publishing and Book Distribution (VDNKh, Moscow);
• September 8- seminar organized by the Higher School of Economics in conjunction with the companies, LexisNexis and Yandex, on ‘Management of Patent Risk: Insights and Solutions’ (Higher School of Economics, Moscow);
• September 9-10- Fourth Congress of Technology and Innovation Support Centers of the Russian Federation, organized by Budgetary Institution National Library of the Chuvash Republic of the Ministry of Culture of Chuvashia, and the Chuvash Republican Public Organization VOIR, in conjunction with WIPO (Cheboksary);
• September 14-18- organized as part of the 14^th International Practical Research Conference, ‘Electronic Age of Culture’, the annual practical research conference of the Russian Association of Digital Libraries (NP ‘ELBI’, Nizhny Novgorod);
• September 17- meeting between management and specialists of Rospatent and FIPS, and patent attorneys of the Russian Federation (Rospatent, Moscow);
• September 23-24- Nineteenth Rospatent Practical Research Conference, Dedicated to the 60^th Anniversary of Rospatent, on ‘Intellectual Property: History and Current Trends’ (Rospatent, Moscow);
• September 23-25- training seminar organized by the Eurasian Economic Commission in conjunction with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Ocean- workshop on the implementation of analysis- research into government procedures and business processes in relation to foreign economic activity (Eurasian Economic Commission, Moscow);
• September 30- regional practical research conference for specialists in the Siberian Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of  Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Omsk State Technical University, Omsk);
• October 6-7- republican seminar on ‘Intellectual Property- a Tool for Economic Development of the Region’ (State Budgetary Institution of the Komi Republic, National Library of the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar);
• October 7-9- Skolkovo Patent School (Skolkovo Innovation Center, Moscow region);
• October 15- jubilee international practical research conference, the 10th Annual Scientific Readings in Memory of Professor S.N.Bratus’, on‘Law and Business: Current Challenges’ (Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow);
• October 16- webinar organized by LexisNexis on work with the Patent Strategies tool for analysing patent landscapes (Moscow);
• October 20-21- national seminar organized 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’ (Federal State Independent Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, First President of Russia, B.N. Yeltsin, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg);
• October 27- practical research conference on ‘Problems of Legal Protection and Effective Use of Intellectual Property’ (Kaluga Scientific and Technical Information Center, branch of Federal State Budgetary Institution, Russian Energy Agency, Russian Ministry of Energy, Kaluga);
• October 27-28- training seminar for Technology and Innovation Support Centers of the Russian Federation, organized in conjunction with WIPO with the participation of Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk);
• October 30-31- 11^th international practical research conference, ‘Intellectual Property: from Reliable Protection to Effective Management’ (Yekaterinburg);
• November 11-13- Fifth Eurasian Economic Forum, ‘Orenburg-2015’ (Orenburg);
• November 12- international seminar on ‘International Technology Transfer: Russian and German Experience. Selecting Patenting Strategy. Protection of Industrial Property Rights’ (M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow);
• November 17-19- 19^th International Conference and Exhibition, ‘Information Technology, Computer Systems and Publications for Libraries’ (‘LIBKOM-2015’) (Suzdal’);
• November 17-18- national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on intellectual property for small and medium-sized enterprises (Southern Urals Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chelyabinsk);
• December 9-10- training seminar on ‘Strategy and Tactics of Intellectual Property Protection for Industrial Enterprises’  (Regional State Budgetary Institution, ‘Altai Center for Cluster Development’, Barnaul);
• December 10- meeting of the scientific section on ‘Intellectual Property and Innovation’, M.Gorky House of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.Petersburg);
• December 10-11- Third International Conference on ‘Foreign Economic Activity as a Factor in Effective Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Russian Federation’ (Vologda);
• December 15-16- national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on intellectual property for small and medium-sized enterprises (Republic of Tatarstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kazan’).

A total of over 2,000 people from various regions of the Russian Federation attended the conferences, seminars and round tables that took place in 2015.

Other activities

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information

In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts trademark documentation on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to the documentation to the offices of 47 foreign countries and four international organizations.

In order to keep the State patent collection up to date, the VPTB Division of FIPS at present engages in international exchange of patent documentation with 57 countries and six international organizations.

In 2015, VPTB of FIPS received:

- 2,757,346 copies of full descriptions of foreign patent documents electronically (of which 1,604,434 documents were received on optical disk, and 1,152,912 were downloaded from foreign patent office websites or Internet resources) from 20 countries and four organizations; 33 annual sets of invention descriptions on optical disks.

- 1,677 copies of Gazettes containing information on inventions were received in all formats from 45 countries and one international organization: 64 paper copies; 291 copies on optical disks; and 1,322 copies were downloaded from the websites or Internet resources of foreign patent offices.

Three sets (27 copies) of the combined regional output of CIS countries on CD-ROM CISPATENT were forwarded to six foreign patent offices and EPO. Nine countries participating in the Direct Libraries project were sent four sets (36 copies).

Under the framework of international exchange with foreign patent offices in 2015, aside from patent documentation, legal and patent publications were also sent to individual patent offices in accordance with existing agreements (21 copies in total: 17 on paper and 4 on disk).

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed at the instigation of WIPO between VPTB and the information and education services of the WIPO information division, as a WIPO Depository Library, VPTB has since 2009 received one copy, in English and Russian, of every new WIPO publication free of charge.

In 2015, Rospatent, acting as a Receiving Office, transferred 898 registered copies of international applications and 637 certified copies of priority applications to WIPO electronically by means of PCT-EDI, without sending paper copies. 

In 2015, 2,296 international search reports and written notes prepared by Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority, were transferred to WIPO electronically by means of PCT-EDI.

Acting as International Preliminary Examining Authority, Rospatent has begun transferring opinions of the international preliminary examination to WIPO electronically by means of ePCT.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information

Active participation continued in the work to establish and refine both new and existing WIPO standards in the field of patent information under the relevant Task Forces of the Committee on WIPO Standards.

At the Task Force meeting which took place at WIPO (Geneva, Switzerland) from June 8-12, 2015, which was attended by a FIPS specialist, progress was achieved in resolving the following matters:

• While discussing proposals for the development of a new WIPO standard for exchanging data on the legal status of patents, it was agreed that the new standard should apply to both utility models and supplementary protection certificates. Participants agreed that the new standard must provide the option to use a high-level event and status model, along with a detailed model, i.e. use a structure similar to the IPC (group-subgroup, where a group is an element of the high-level model, and a subgroup is an element of the detailed model).
• Annexes 5 and 6 to the updated version of WIPO standard ST.96 were developed. Discussion continued of the Common, Patent, Trademark, Design components. It was noted in particular that in order to use Standard ST.96 for interaction on PCT applications, many PCT-specific elements still needed to be added. FIPS took over development of the schemes for the report on search and appellations of origin.
• During discussion of the review of standard ST.14, Recommendation for the Inclusion of References Cited in Patent Documents, agreement had been reached on two issues: 1. Use of special symbols to highlight links to the URL and DOI, which will not lead to errors when posting this information in XML. 2. Preparation of examples of inclusion of publication formats in accordance with the new paragraph, 15(ii).    

Active involvement continued in the work of the WIPO Committee of Experts on IPC and ICID, primarily- on draft reviews thereof. Updated Russian versions of these classifications are being prepared following completion of the reviews. The alphabetical indexes for the current versions of IPC are regularly republished.

In 2015, Rospatent continued its active involvement in work to improve the PCT system in the framework of the relevant working bodies of the PCT Union (Meeting of the International Authorities, PCT Working Group, and PCT Working Subgroup). The main focus at this stage was to develop a set of measures to ensure the highest quality of international search and preliminary examination, improvement of the system of additional searches, providing mutual access to the results of the preceding search and examination, make the international search report more informative, review the PCT minimum documentation, increase the level of electronic document flow between offices and WIPO, more complete and effective use of the results of the International Authorities’ work in the transition of international applications to the national phase, and ultimately, eliminate duplication in offices’ work.

The bilateral agreement with the Chinese patent office on the PPH and PCT-PPH programs has been extended. During 2015, the number of participants in the pilot program of the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPT) increased. By the end of 2015, 20 patent offices other than Rospatent were participating in the GPPH program. In 2015, as part of the agreements on exchange of experience in intellectual property protection, the exchange of experts program has continued with the Japanese patent office. In total, as of December 31, 2015, some 916 applications to participate had been filed at Rospatent since inception of the PPH program. The number of applications considered for the various types of PPH program increases each year. During 2015, virtually the same number of applications to participate in PPH were filed at Rospatent as for the whole of the preceding period of the program.

In 2015, the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between Rospatent and WIPO for the creation of TISCs in the Russian Federation continued to be implemented. 

Cooperation agreements have been concluded, including the main provisions on the organization of a basic TISC (level one TISC), with five organizations: Federal State Independent Educational Institution of Higher Education, St.Petersburg Peter the Great Polytechnic University, State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Crimea Order of Red Banner of Labor, Nikitsky Botanic Garden- National Scientific Center, Federal State Independent Educational Institution of Higher Education, V.I.Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Crimea, Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture of the Crimea, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, N.P.Ogaryov Mordovia State University.

Additionally, 15 level-2 TISCs have been created on the basis of tripartite agreements:

• In Belgorod region, at: State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Belgorod State Institute of Arts and Culture, Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization Higher Professional Education Belgorod, University of Cooperation, Economics and Law, Closed JSC Research and Development Plant, VladMiVa;
• In the Republic of Tatarstan at: Public Organization, Society of Inventors and Innovators of the Republic of Tatarstan Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, A.N.Tupolev Kazan’ National Research and Technical University- KAI, BizBrend Ltd., JSC Kazan’ Helicopter Plant, Intellect and Law Ltd.
• In Penza region, at Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Penza State University;
• In the Republic of Mordovia at Rostr Ltd.
• In the Republic of Bashkortostan at Eridan-Servis Ltd.
• In the Republic of Chuvashia at: Independent Institution of Chuvashia, Institute of Advanced Medical Studies, Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization of Higher Education, Academy of Technology and Management;
• In Kirov region, at Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, Kirov Scientific Research Institute of Haemotology and Blood Transfusion of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency;
• In Krasnodar region at Krasnodar Scientific and Technical Information Center- branch of  Federal State Budgetary Institution, Russian Energy Agency, Russian Ministry of Energy.

As at the end of 2015, TISC had been established at 135 economic entities from 64 regions in nine federal districts of the Russian Federation. A full list of economic entities providing TISC services has been posted on the Internet on the official FIPS website (www.fips.ru) in the Cooperation with Regions of Russia, Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) section.

An important aspect of the TISC project is conducting free training seminars and workshops for training center staff. In 2015, Rospatent held two training seminars:

- April 23- training seminar for RF Technology and Innovation Support Centers organized in conjunction with WIPO as part of Intellectual Property Days, 2015 on ‘Service Inventions’ (Rospatent, Moscow)

- October 27-28- training seminar for Technology and Innovation Support Centers of the Russian Federation, organized in conjunction with WIPO with the participation of Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk).

- On September 24-25, 2015, the Fourth TISC Congress took place in Cheboksary. Congress organizers: WIPO, Rospatent, Budgetary Institution National Library of the Chuvash Republic of the Ministry of Culture of Chuvashia, and the Chuvash Republican Public Organization, VOIR.

In accordance with Annexes 1 and 2 to the Agreement on TISC, during 2015, the VPTB Division sent TISC sets of Russian patent documentation on DVD-ROM optical disks (1,154 discs in total). Information products and materials prepared by the VPTB Division were regularly updated, and posted on the FIPS website in the Information Resources for TISC section. Bibliographic indexes were prepared for attendees of the Fourth TISC Congress (September 9-10, 2015), on issues of legal protection of intellectual property, and conducting patent searches.

- From April 2-5, 2015, at the Sokol’niki Exhibition and Congress Center, Moscow, the 18th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015, took place, with the support of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, WIPO, Rospatent, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and Union Society of Inventors and Innovators. The Archimedes 2015 Exhibition was attended by representatives of more than 315 organizations and more than 700 inventors, and participants from 17 countries and 44 regions of the Russian Federation, representing 680 inventions and innovation projects. 

- On April 3, 2015, as part of the 18th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015, Rospatent’s practical research conference took place on ‘Protection of Intellectual Property Subject Matter in accordance with Amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation’. The conference was attended by representatives of WIPO, as well as administrative and management structures, the public organization, Union Society of Inventors and Innovators, scientists, industrial and other organizations from a number of regions of the Russian Federation. Overall, 118 persons from two countries attended the conference: three participants from the Republic of Serbia, and 115 from 19 regions of the Russian Federation (Moscow, St.Petersburg, , Krasnodar, Tver’, Kaliningrad, Belgorod, Volgograd, Vologda, Kaluga, Togliatti, Dnepropetrovsk, Murmansk, Magnitogorsk, Novocherkassk, Moscow region, Republic of Dagestan, Republic of Mari El, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Krasnoyarsk region).   

During the conference, 16 papers were presented, and a round table was held on the subject of the conference. Employees of Rospatent, FIPS and Federal State Budgetary Institution, FAPRID, addressed the conference.  

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed on November 21, 2012 between the Eurasian Patent Office and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property on granting public libraries and leading higher education institutions access to the Eurasian patent information system, EAPATIS, appropriate proposals were prepared during 2015, and EAPO granted 14 organizations- most of which had the status of a TISC- access to the EAPATIS system.

Assistance to developing countries

In accordance with the Agreements between Rospatent and the International Bureau of WIPO, Rospatent, acting as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, prepares search reports with preliminary examination reports on applications filed with the International Bureau of WIPO by developing countries.  In 2015, 11 search reports together with examination reports were prepared on such applications.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.

2. Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.

3. Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.