Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2018 submitted by Intellectual Property Office of Serbia
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I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEMARK INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
In calendar year 2018, Intellectual Property Office of Republic of Serbia received 2190 national applications. Compared to 2017 (2082), number of national applications fillings increased. 2240 national applications were registered, 39 more than in 2017, and 247 were refused, 3 more than in 2017.
At the same time the number of trademark applications filed under the Madrid System increased for 50 applications. RS Office was designated in 4835 international applications in 2018 and in 2017 total number of international trademark applications was 4785. On the other hand, the International trademark department issued 4832 Grant of protection statements in 2018, against 3463 in 2017.
Trademark applications:
Year Madrid System National Total
2009 5422 2084 6263
2010 4927 2161 7088
2011 4968 1987 6955
2012 4986 1898 6884
2013 5014 2203 7307
2014 4239 2034 6273
2015 4617 2153 6770
2016 3780 2219 5999
2017 4785 2082 6867
2018 4835 2190 7025
Registered Trademarks:
Year Madrid System National Total
2009 5885 3371 9256
2010 5258 1872 7130
2011 4823 1405 6228
2012 5257 1795 7052
2013 3743 1466 5209
2014 4157 1709 5866
2015 4041 1386 5427
2016 4364 1826 6190
2017 3630 2201 5831
2018 5027 2240 7267
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/about-us/annual-report.106.html
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
All relevant data considering the trademark protection in Republic of Serbia are on the web site www.zis.gov.rs . That includes 1) frequently asked questions about trademarks, 2) TM legislation, 3) guidelines and forms, 4) fees; 5) statistics; 6) reports.
National trademark database is on our web site as well.
Third parties can make trademark research in our Office through the intranet and 93 customers conducted the trademark search independently.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Application dossiers are available by the official website of the IP Office. Electronic trademark register contains bibliographic data on applications and registered trade marks and representations of trade marks, as well as the data on changes relating to applications and registered marks (assignments, licenses, pledges).
For the changes in the Register after 1 January 2008, data are available electronically. For the changes, which are initiated before 1 January 2008, data are available in the written TM registers at the premises of the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia in Belgrade.
Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
The Nice Classification is used for the similarity examination search, for commercial search and for statistics. The translation of the list of goods and services is available on the official web site with version from May 2016: http://www.zis.gov.rs/upload/documents/pdf_sr/pdf_zigovi/Nic_klas_na_sajtu_zavoda10-2016NovoMaj2016.pdf
In the course of 2018, 1238 figurative elements of trademark applications were classified according to the Vienna Classification of the Figurative Elements of Trademarks in the Electronic Register of Trademarks, as the regular task in the Trademark Department.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), from May 1st, 2013 activated the application of “Madrid Goods and Services Manager” (MGS) which represents the database with the purpose to assist the applicants of trademark applications and their representatives to create in an easier and more correct manner the list of goods and services necessary for the filing of the international trademark applications through the Madrid System.
In 2018, in the Trademark Department, the job of translation from English into Serbian was conducted for the amendments of the 11th edition of the Nice Classification and titles of the Classes (short version of the Classification) were translated with the explanations for the 2019 with the aim to annually update the Serbian version of the International Database Goods and Services Manager on the site of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Apart from that, the active list of observed mistakes is continually updated with regard to translations and proposals for the improvement of particular translations, in particular the Nice Classification and the database of the MGS translation.
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
IPO of the Republic of Serbia allows registration of trademark for the three-dimensional, color and sound (musical) signs.
III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
The main type of the publication in the field of trademark information is an official gazette: Intellectual Property Gazette. The following information and bibliographical data concerning registered domestic and international trademarks are published in the Intellectual Property Gazette: registration number, registration date, expected expiration date of registration, application number, date of filing of the application, date concerning exhibitions, data relating to priority under the Paris Convention, list of goods and services according the Nice Classification, disclaimer, reproduction of the mark, information concerning the colors claimed, indication relating to the nature or kind of mark, name and address of the holder of the registration, name and address of the representative. Trademarks are published in grayscale and color technique.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
The Intellectual Property Office of Serbia, on the basis of Trademark Law, publishes its official gazette, Intellectual Property Gazette , on the official web site. The Intellectual Property Gazette is published every month. The Intellectual Property Gazette , in the part referring to trademarks, is prepared by means of computer, using the IPAS system. From the beginning of the 2010., Gazettes can be found on our official web site:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/information-services/intellectual-property-gazette.462.html
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
Electronic trademark register contains bibliographic data on applications and registered trade marks and representations of trade marks, as well as the data on changes relating to applications and registered marks (assignments, licenses, pledges). Examiners use also IPAS, internal database which contains more information available through workflow.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Electronic register, and also Alphabetical list of goods and services of the Nice Classification are available to the external users via the official website of the IPO, free of charge.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Legal status information is available through the Electronic Register of Trademarks, and also in paper register version for the applications submitted before January 1st 2014.
Other sources
Trademark search is also offered by the Office as a commercial service and in 2018, 669 trademark searches as FTO searches for Serbia were delivered to customers.
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
E-filing system for IP rights is fully functional and is improved on the back-office side with common dispatch module. The general information available on
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html ;
the production E-filing website on URL
System of the e-filing of documents enables to file the applications of trademarks, patents, petty patents and industrial design electronically. The receiving of documents and filings for the applications in the procedure and for the registered intellectual property rights are supported as well. Software became operational in May 2016, with the continual work on its improvement.
Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
With the regard to the development of IPAS, there was a change in the configuration diagrams per request, and the positioning of patterns. New versions of programs belonging to the WIPO were installed and tested (eDMS, WIPOSCAN, IPAS+, WIPOPublish, Designer). A diagram was created also for the indications of geographical origin and it was implemented into IPAS. WIPO eDMS was introduced in the production background of patents, so that now the applications and filings referring to trademarks, patents, petty patents, designs and indications of geographical origin are scanned and introduced in WIPO eDMS.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
Intranet network of Windows OS working stations, Windows (2003 R2 STD, 2010 R2 STD) based servers (Fujitsu servers, RAID controlled disks, three tiered architecture with Oracle as database server and JAVA application server).
Internet access is achieved through direct optical connection to the provider at 20Mbit/sec, 2xCisco ASA 5510 in active/standby firewall configuration.
IPAS server - Fujitsu Siemens Primergy TX200 server, 4GB RAM memory, 5x146GB hard disks in RAID 5 configuration, 2 NICs. MS Windows 2003 R2 Server Standard Edition, application software is IPAS (proprietary), database is Oracle.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Internal database of trademarks is searched through IPAS.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
MySQL database that is regularly updated, periodically, by transferring/converting appropriate dataset from internal Oracle database. Available for external use via hyperlink on IPO web site Trademark E-register.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
IPAS is used as administrative system for Trademarks and Patents
Other matters
General informations related to trademarks are posted to IPO web site by employees of Trademark Department by means of CMS software.
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
At Office's library at ground floor, all interested parties could free of charge access the trademark databases which are internally available for external users through IPAS Public at 5 PC stations. Also all interested parties are offered free of charge consultations on trademark filling and procedures in person, by phone or by e-mails. In 2018, 1391 consultations to customers were delivered in regard to trademark application procedure and other issues related to trademarks.
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Various publications related to trademarks such as studies, brochures, newsletters and leaflets are available in paper form or in electronic form on the IPO website: http://www.zis.gov.rs/publications.446.html
Education and Information Center (EIC) of the IPO publishes EIC Newsletter with information about important subjects in the field of intellectual property. The EIC Newsletter is intended for all organizations and individuals involved in intellectual property or seeking knowledge in this field. The EIC Newsletter offers informative and educative thematic articles and other important information in the field of intellectual property. The Newsletter is available via official website of the EIC: http://www.zis.gov.rs/sources-of-information/newsletter.302.html
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
The Education and information Centre (EIC) of the IPO provides support in the form of a service of disseminating information and education realized through consultations and conducting training, seminars and workshops aiming identification, protection, management and exploitation of the results of research taking into account that intellectual property is created in research institutions. In a broader context this helps to promote innovation - transformation of ideas into products, processes and technologies benefiting society as a whole.
Stimulating universities and other public research institutions to be more active in protecting and exploiting, the EIC held many seminars for professors, researches and students.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
IPO Serbia has a public library where all persons can get the personal consultancy for trademark filings and procedures. Through Education and Information center and the seminars, information on trademark system and the proceedings are delivered to the public. Each month on third Thursday, Open Door event is organized in IPO for customer’s consultations beside the opportunity for consultations every day on regular basis.
Wide scope of education and information services is adjusted to the various target groups including: business companies and institutions that offer support to business, organizations involved in R&D, institutions of high education, institutions for the enforcement of the intellectual property rights and others. The education is performed in the form of lectures, seminars, conferences, consultations on protection, use and management of intellectual property rights. In 2018, 41 seminars were delivered to different stakeholders groups with 1272 participants. 17 seminars were delivered to universities, 11 for SMEs, 6 for general public, 5 for R&D institutes and 2 seminars for enforcement institutions. Small and medium enterprises are specially offered the service designed in particular for them, Intellectual Property Pre-diagnosis and “1to1” consultations and altogether 47 of such services were delivered. The Office was present at the 5 trade fairs as well as at two fairs dedicated to for lower level of education (primary and secondary schools), “Science is not a boogieman” and “Researcher’s night”, offering consultations during and information on different IP issues.
E-filing user guide, electronic certificates description and installation manuals, recommendations how to prepare the proper documentation and graphic data format for application – all is accessible through link:
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1163.html
E-filing system for IP rights was prepared and started in April 2016.
http://www.zis.gov.rs/registri/e-podnosenje.1113.html
Other activities
Quality management system according to the standard ISO 9001:2008 which includes patent grant, petty patent grant and trademark grant processes has been introduced in IPO on November 1, 2011, and continues to provide constant level of quality of services provided by the Office.
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
The trademark database of Serbia is regularly updated in TM View database.
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
The officials of the IPO attended Liaison Meetings on Trademarks in EUIPO in 2018.
Assistance to developing countries
In September 2018 delegation from Uzbekistan IP office visited the Office of Serbia in order to exchange best practice in use of IPAS as administrative system used for IP rights.
Other activities
The Office in 2018 visited delegations from SIPO (China), IP Office of Montenegro, IP Office of South Africa in order to exchange practice in work with IPAS, national IP strategy as well as exchange of practice in raising awareness activities.