Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2017 submitted by Rospatent

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Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

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

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

Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) has been carried out in the following areas in 2017:

- development of services to improve the convenience and quality of work for examiners and other services of the Institute;

- increase of the infrastructure reliability and security of the local computer network and Internet services;

- replenishment of the databases of Rospatent search systems, usability increase of search  tools for examiners of Rospatent, as well as for the whole community of inventors, experts in the patent field and interested persons;

- ensuring the applicability and continuity of public services.

In 2017 the works continued on improvement of the quality of electronic documents and data generated in the "Data Preparation Center" (DPC) system in the course of documents conversion from paper to electronic form for further use in the workflow systems.

A paperless system of record-keeping for the registration of trademarks has been implemented (including for the examination of applications to extend the validity of a registration). As a result of the implementation, the department for registering means of individualization is now able to conduct office work and enter records electronically on legally significant actions performed into the State Registers.

One of the trends is reduction in the cost of labor used in examining comparisons of lists of goods and services (hereinafter referred to as G/S):

- testing of procedures in 2013-2017 for automated  comparison of claimed  terms of G/S with ‘extended ICGS’, a lexical and semantic identifier of names of G/S taking into account all terms included  in  ICGS (11-2017), and distributed by specially designed, generic groups of names of G/S (LEXINTU-2017);

- automation of this process is based on adaptive automatic accumulation of matched terms compared with the examiner once and subsequent automatic matching thereof when they recur in lists of other trademarks claimed for registration;

- terms may be ‘matched’ to one of the LEXINTU terms, or to the heading of a generic group. This procedure will enable examiners to compare automatically the names of goods and services (G/S) of the mark being analysed to lists of names of G/S of identical and similar marks, thereby significantly reducing labour costs when analyzing lists of G/S;

 - in 2016, a prototype was designed, and in 2017, a version of an information system with a populated knowledge base of names of goods (KB) from ICGS (11-2018);

- by the end of 2017, a trial version of the user interface was made available for generating, populating, and modifying the KB by the expert user, who will be able to manage and monitor matching of specific names of G/S specified by applicants in trademark applications. If there is a connection between the projected system and a database of trademark numbers and associated G/S, the designed framework, which describes the semantic links between the names of G/S, will make it possible to perform automated searches in G/S lists of applications and registrations not only for exact matches with the name sought, but also to find all names of similar G/S under given parameters.  

On the site of Rospatent, the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans":

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/about/plans.

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

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 2017:

- Operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Register for Trademarks (hereinafter referred to as EGR TZ), and the List of Well-Known Trademarks in the Russian Federation (EGR OTZ).

- The system for official Internet publication of information on intellectual property subject matter from the EGR is operational. Automatic downloading of information from State Registers in open data formats is provided in accordance with the disclosure requirements schedule of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of the most important data sets of social significance for 2017-2018. The information is available in the ‘Public Data’ section of the Rospatent website.

- In 2017, the electronic document flow system for trademarks and service marks, TM-ADMIN, operated reliably.

- In 2017, applications to register trademarks continued to be received electronically using the electronic filing service.

- A new version of the electronic trademark application filing service has been made available to users, which makes users’ work available in IE 11 and Google Chrome browsers. In order to ensure subsequent assessment notifications are correctly completed, changes have been made on the application data entry form to the rules on completing the payer’s identification details.

- A number of new features have been added to the service, which have increased its attractiveness to users:

• Tools for determining and displaying information on the current status of applications have been modified,
• Work with documents read by the user has been optimized in the Personal Office- a short document title corresponding to the name of the document from the Open Register on the FIPS website is stated on the list of application documents sent by the examiner.
• The option to submit in a structured format an application to amend a correspondence address in a trademark application, or an application to amend an applicant’s name or location (residence) in a trademark application prevents potential errors by the applicant when completing these documents.

• Users of the ‘Personal Office’ correspondence service for previously filed applications were given the option to send legally significant correspondence signed by an enhanced, qualified electronic signature issued by an accredited certifying centre, thereby obviating the need to provide hard-copy originals of these documents, and thus expediting the examination process.  

In 2017, EGR TZ and EGR OTZ records continued to be completed.

As of the end of 2017, the registers contained:

- EGR TZ: 545,714 registrations;

- EGR OTZ: 191 registrations.

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

Electronic interaction with applicants on FIPS website.

In the year under review, in order to increase the number of applications submitted electronically, the following measures were taken:

- the reliability of electronic filing systems was enhanced, and the ease of use thereof;

- the opportunity to use software services for electronic filing was provided;

 - use of electronic filing of applications was promoted;

- practical classes were held on completing application documents for registering trademarks electronically;

- monthly thematic meetings on using electronic filing systems were held;

- consultative support for users of electronic filing systems;

- support of the ‘Answers to frequently asked questions’ section on the FIPS website, on working with electronic filing systems;

- posting of training videos and programmes on the FIPS website. A video on ‘Preparing an application for a verbal trademark registration’ has been posted in the ‘Electronic Interaction with Applicants’ section;

- the updated ‘Autoconfigurator’ software is available on the FIPS website to download for configuring the workstation of the user of the electronic application filing system to use the new version, which makes users’ work available in IE 11 and Google Chrome browsers;

- organizing electronic filing of applications via TISCs.

At present, up-to-date information on all 26 State services offered by Rospatent are posted in the Federal Register of State and Municipal Services (Functions), and on the Unified Portal of State Services (hereinafter, ‘EPGU’). For 25 State services, it is possible to submit a request (applications, etc.) electronically via EPGU for the provision of a State service.

In 2017, 56,332 applications were submitted electronically for all types of public services through the services on the FIPS and EPGU1  websites, of which 27,180 were for State registration of trademarks and service marks, i.e. 48,25% of the total number of trademark applications, excluding applications filed under the procedure for international registration of trademarks in accordance with the Madrid Agreement.

In 2018, it is planned to continue work on developing electronic filing systems and promoting the use of electronic filing and electronic interaction among applicants and patent attorneys. This will broaden the range of users of electronic filing systems, and maintain the growth in the number of applications filed. Efforts will mainly be aimed at developing a means of inter-system interaction with large patent attorneys and other organizations, as well as expanding the range of users of electronic application filing systems by increasing the number of browsers supported by the systems, and provision of the possibility of filing applications for NRMT / NMPCT.

Inter-agency electronic interaction.

Much attention was paid to the participation of Rospatent in programs initiated by the government of the Russian Federation:

- Unified State and Municipal Services Portal (EPGU);

- Inter-Agency Electronic Interaction System (SMEV), including the transition to electronic interaction with the Treasury;

- Creation of basic State information resources (BGIR);

- Participation in the establishment of a unified e-government infrastructure by connecting Rospatent’s automated systems to the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA).

As part of the implementation of the Consolidated Plan for the transition to electronic provision of public services  information on all Rospatent services has been updated in the Federal Register of Public Services (FRGU)  and descriptions of 25 public services have been made available on EPGU. Interaction with the federal executive authorities is provided using the inter-agency electronic interaction system.

‘The web-service for transferring information on registered intellectual property subject matter when interacting electronically with executive authorities’ has been registered in the productive environment of SMEV 3.0 28.07.2017. In particular, the use of SMEV 3.0 services made it possible to increase the functionality of interaction services on the FIPS website by automating verification of the applicant’s electronic signature.

In 2017, work was carried out to modernize the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal.

In 2017, users of the ‘Personal Office’ correspondence service for previously filed applications were given the option to send legally significant correspondence signed by an enhanced, qualified electronic signature issued by an accredited certifying centre, thereby obviating the need to provide hard-copy originals of these documents, and thus expediting the examination process.   

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

From Table 1, below, it is clear that the overall number of trademark registration applications filed in the Russian Federation in 2017 increased in comparison to 2016.

The growth is 13.51%, due to the increase in the number of applications from both Russian (12.23%) and foreign applicants (by 15.80%). There is also an increase in the number of applications under the international procedure (by 21.63%).

Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 1.52 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2017 in comparison to 2016 occurred due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 7.49%), foreign applicants recession was seen (by 5.04%).

Table 1

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

The following pages of the Office’s website contain:

• Legal information in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section - Regulation section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/brands_and_points/norm_doc_tz

• Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:

http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;

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

• Guide to the resources and Internet resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS:

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/putevoditel-po-fondam-otdeleniya-vptb-fips-i-internet-resursam.php;

• Information notices in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/brands_and_points/soob_tz.

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

In 2017, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 11 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 236 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Obninsk, Samara, Saratov, Ryazan, Tver, Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Yaroslavl, who were representatives of various enterprises and organizations and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 80 people participated in the meeting via video-conference, organized on the basis of 8 TISCs. In the computer room of the VTPTB FIPS department, practical training were held to work with the electronic filing service for registration of a trademark.

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

State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and the issuance of certificates for trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/gosudarstvennaya-registraciya-tovarnogo-znaka-znaka-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnogo-znaka-i-vydacha-svidetelstv-na-tovarnyy-znak-znak-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnyy-znak-ih-dublikatov;

Recognition of a trademark, or a designation used as trademark, as a well-known trademark in the Russian Federation:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/priznanie-tovarnogo-znaka-ili-ispolzuemogo-v-kachestve-tovarnogo-znaka-oboznacheniya;

• Access to documents of applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of such documents:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-gosudarstvennuyu-registraciyu-tovarnogo-znaka-znaka-obsluzhivaniya-kollektivnogo-znaka-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov;

• section "Forms of documents":

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documentforms;

• Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed  Examples section heading:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/formy-dokumentov/

•  Electronic Filing Applications section/ Filing Applications for Trademark and Service Mark Registration section heading:

  http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-tovarnyy-znak/;

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

• Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/ru/activities/dues;
• Fee calculator: http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/kalkulyator-poshlin/index.php;

Frequently Asked Questions section:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/faq/chto-takoe-tovarnyy-znak-i-znak-obsluzhivaniya.

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for registering trademarks and service marks, and electronic correspondence: http://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.

Thematic meetings on electronic filing of trademark applications and maintaining electronic correspondence in the course of office work are held on a monthly basis.

Free, one-on-one training for users of electronic trademark application filing systems is held in the computer room of the library (VPTB).

Questions concerning paper and/or electronic filing of trademark applications with FIPS were reviewed at 13 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 2017 in eight regions of the Russian Federation. Details of these events can be found in Part 5(d).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

In 2017, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2017 (updated daily).

Throw the TM-ADMIN system for electronic document flow for trademarks and service marks examiners have an access to documents on the electronic processing of applications, including primary application materials, documents related to application correspondence, and structured data.

Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

In 2017, the Trademark and Registration Division continued to participate in activities to improve the International Classification of Goods and Services for the registration of marks (Nice Classification, hereinafter ‘ICGS’), with the aim of establishing conditions for the use of the new WIPO standards in the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and improved international classifications for industrial property: 

- preparation of proposals concerning amendments to the 11thedition of the 2017 version of ICGS, to the 27th session of the Committee of Experts on the Nice Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

- preparation of the official translation into Russian of terms used in the 11th edition of the 2018 version of ICGS, ‘ICGS(11-2018)’, and publication of a version of ICGS(11-2018) in three languages (French, English and Russian) on the Rospatent website;

- translation into Russian and formatting of terms used in ICGS(11-2018) for the WIPO International Bureau support service, ‘Goods and Services Manager’/MGS Madrid Goods & Services Manager, and for the multi-lingual service of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) TM class, and transfer of formatted materials to the WIPO International Bureau and EUIPO;

- the terms of ICGS (11-2018) and LEXINTU-2018 have been prepared in Russian in a special format for downloading into a software package for electronic filing with Rospatent of trademark registration applications by applicants, as well as into a software package for electronic record-keeping when examining trademark registration applications at Rospatent.

 (ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined conditions of classification applied

Since 2011, a procedure of automatic electronic classification of the figurative elements of the input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications submitted from the WIPO International Office, under the sixth edition of the International Classification of Figurative Elements (Vienna Classification) of Trademarks, has been used. This was made possible in 2006 when the SILOIZ system of linguistic description and search for similarities in figurative elements was introduced, itself a sub-system of the automated system, Trademarks in force in the Russian Federation (АS TZ RF).

Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)

The Trademarks and Registration Division participates in the regulatory and method-related settlement of issues in the consideration of applications for registration of non-traditional trademarks, and the publication of corresponding information. Moreover, information received through Rospatent’s involvement in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications is widely used.

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2017, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

Since January 10, 2017, a system of continuous publication of information on trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin in official Gazettes immediately after entries have been made in the appropriate State Register has been implemented.

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

• Regulations on the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/prikaz-rospatenta-ot-08-11-2016-176-ob-utverzhdenii-polozheniya-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-tovarnye-z.php;

• Official Publications section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/;
• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/.

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

Since December 2017 in the official bulletin in the "Notices" section the following types of notifications on national and international trademark registrations are published.

The forms of notifications on trademarks published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, are listed below (national registration):

• extension of the term of validity of a trademark registration;
• change in the denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of a rights owner and/or place of business or residence;
• change of correspondence address;
• reduction of the list of goods and/or services for which a trademark is registered, for the information of the rights owner;
• change to the individual elements of a trademark, which do not alter its essential features;
• State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for all goods and/or services;
• State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for part of the goods and/or services;
• Separate registration of a trademark
• Amendments to a list of persons entitled to use a collective mark
• Recognition of a trademark as well-known in the Russian Federation
• Replacement of national registration with international registration
• Replacement of national registration with international registration for individual classes
• Conversion of a trademark to a collective mark
• Conversion of a collective mark to a trademark
• Termination of legal protection of a trademark due to the expiry of the validity of the exclusive right in the trademark
• Recognition of the grant of legal protection to a trademark as wholly invalid
• Recognition of the grant of legal protection to a trademark as partially invalid
• Early termination of legal protection of a trademark in full
• Early termination of legal protection of a trademark in part
• Extension of the term of validity of the exclusive right in a trademark
• Issue of a duplicate trademark certificate
• State registration of the transfer of the exclusive right in a trademark without an agreement
• State registration of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of the exclusive right in a trademark
• State registration of an agreement on grant of right of use of a trademark
• State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right in a trademark
• State registration of amendments in respect of an agreement on grant of right of use of a trademark
• State registration of amendments relating to an agreement
• State registration of amendments in respect of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right in a trademark
• State registration of termination of an agreement on right of use of a trademark
• State registration of termination of an agreement
• State registration of termination of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right in a trademark
• Correction of obvious and technical errors in the records of the State Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Russian Federation and/or in Gazette publications
• Other amendments relating to registered trademarks.

In 2017, publication of notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration continued.

Forms of notification on international registrations:

• State registration of an agreement on grant of right of use of a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• State registration of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right in a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• State registration of amendments in respect of an agreement on grant of right of use of a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• State registration of amendments relating to an agreement
• State registration of amendments in respect of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right in a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• State registration of termination of an agreement on grant of right of use of a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• State registration of termination of an agreement
• State registration of termination of an agreement on the pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right in a trademark protected in the territory of the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration
• Correction of obvious and technical errors in Gazette publications relating to notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• Other changes relating to registered trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration.

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

• Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=bulletin&type=UsrTM;

• In the Information Resources section, International Classification for Goods and Services subsection:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=classification&type=UsrTM

Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/otkrytye-reestry/.

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

Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Russian Federation

Register of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation

Register of Trademarks Well Known in the Russian Federation

Register of International Trademarks

Register of Russian Federation Trademark and Service Mark Registration Applications

Register of Applications for the Registration of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation

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

In 2017, access was provided to the texts of international and domestic classifications via the Internet:

- International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS, 11th edition, version 11-2017) in three languages, including Russian, as well as the seventh, eighth and ninth editions of ICGS.

- International Classification of Figurative Elements of Trademarks (Vienna Classification), seventh edition, in Russian.

- Lexical and semantic identifier of goods and services (LEXINTU - 2017), 9 edition, in Russian with changed and corrected names of subsumption groups.

- Lexicographical information gazette of goods and services (LEXINFORM) for 2017, in Russian (two annual issues).

When examining the claimed designation as part of the process of forming an expert opinion, examiners use the TZ RF automated system sub-system, enabling them to analyze and select search results by similarity of verbal and figurative elements of marks, and prepare reports on the results. The search results are generated automatically thanks to intelligent indexing, and search instructions prepared by a group of search-engine specialists using the QSS sub-system of the RF TZ automated system which was introduced in 1989 to search for similar verbal elements of marks, and using the SILOIZ sub-system of the RF TZ automated system which was introduced in 2006 to search for similarities in the figurative elements of marks.

In addition, to examine trademarks an opportunity is provided to analyse information on the figurative elements of marks, both under the codes of the Vienna Classification, searching for data under the classifier’s headings, and also by the results of a search for similarity in figurative elements of marks in the sub-system of linguistic description and search for similarity in mark images, SILOIZ, search result volumes of which are orders of magnitude smaller.

In the course of work relating to the processing of applications and examination of designations claimed for registration as a trademark, examiners use the following databases and auxiliary tools available from external sources:

-ROMARIN (WIPO)

-Manager of Goods and Services/MGS (WIPO)

-Madrid Real-Time Status/MRS (WIPO)

-Madrid Portal for National Offices/MOP (WIPO)

-TMVIEW, TMCLASS (EUIPO)

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

In 2017, subscribers were provided with the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette based on official Rospatent information on CD/DVD, with a search system. Frequency of 24 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette published in previous years (2014-2016) were offered on CD/DVD.

In addition, users were offered sets of information on trademarks for 1991 to 2015 on DVD (13 disks), as well as an array of retrospective information on trademarks for 1991 to 2016 by FTP.

All products on optical disks were distributed along with MIMOSA information-search system software, which provides searching of bibliographic data, ICGS indexes, the verbal elements of marks, and also combinations thereof.

Also, users were offered: on paper the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Registration of Marks (10th Edition) and Additions and Amendments to the International Classification of Goods and Services, which entered into force on January 1, 2016, and on the website International Classification of Goods and Services for registration of Marks (11-edition).

Furthermore, users were offered free online access to information publications facilitating trademark classification and searching:

The International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, 7- edition;

The Lexical and Semantic Identifier of Goods and Services (eighth edition) reference publication, which supplements “The Lexicographical Information Gazette of Goods and Services periodical”.

An analog of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette was published on the FIPS Internet site, and registers were maintained of Russian trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin, trademarks well known in Russia, applications for Russian trademarks and service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia and an indication of their legal status. 

Aside from that, users are provided with free access to information on applications to register Russian Federation trademarks and service marks received after January 1, 2005.

Thematic databases based on official trademark information are prepared for users on special request.

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a verbal designation, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for trademark similarities in the automated verbal search system RF TZ. 

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a designation of a figurative element, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for similarities in trademarks using the SILOIZ system of linguistic descriptions of figurative elements.

In accordance with existing regulations for a number of organizations, such work was carried out free of charge.

In 2017, the Rospatent website provided online access to:

- registers of Russian trademarks;

- registers of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2017, supplemented by information on the prosecution of applications filed between 2008 and 2017;

- registers of international trademarks with the indication Russia;

- the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazettes published in the last month.

Users’ work with the information-search system

Examiners are able to work with all databases: trademarks, service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia.

Third party users’ access to the full-text databases of trademarks provided on a contractual basis.

As part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, in 2017 free access was granted to:

● for trademark databases:

- 9 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 3 users of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, Rosalkogolregulirovanie

● for all FIPS databases:

- 105 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs

- 235 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

- 98 organizations of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service

- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense

- 95 organizations of the taxation service

- 60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights

- 2 users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies, RosOboronPostavka

- 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 4 users of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations

- 12 users of the Federal Agency of Roscomnadzor.

Third party users are free to enjoy the following trademark databases:

- A database containing information on trademarks and service marks of the Russian Federation, No.501068, published in the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazettes

- The ICGS database.

In 2017, internal and external users made more than 3,016,000 requests through the information-search system, related to trademark databases, of which:

- about 91.000 users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

- more than 2.925.000 - by other database users.

In 2015, users of trademark registers made approximately 56% of the overall number of requests (more than 40,628,000 requests).

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

Users are given free access to all documents contained in the "Open Registries".

In 2017, users made more than 81.630.000 page views of "Open Registries", of which:

- more than 332.000 - users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

-more than 81.298.000 - other users of registries.

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

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

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

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/;

How to Access Publications and Databases subsection:

 http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/poryadok-priobreteniya-izdaniy-i-baz-dannykh.php;

- Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=bulletin&type=UsrTM

how to carry out a search – in the Information Resources section,

Information-Search System:

"Open Registries": http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/otkrytye-reestry/;

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

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/bazy-dannykh.php 

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

Instructions for Using an Information-Search System:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/instr_search_2018.pdf;

Support:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/podderzhka-polzovateley-informatsionno-poiskovoy-sistemy.php.

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

On the FIPS website, users can access information about the legal status of trademarks that is updated daily.

Moreover, in the Оpen registers of trademark registration applications, information on the stage of prosecution of applications is provided, which is updated daily. Data on statuses are generated on the basis of RF TZ automated prosecution system data.

Information on the legal status of trademarks is published in Rospatent’s Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, posted on the FIPS websites, and also in the FIPS Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, on CD/DVD:

- information on the State registration of trademarks;

- information on amendments to the entries of the State Register of Russian Federation Trademarks (Notifications section of the Gazette).

Information is provided in the 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://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/otkrytye-reestry/.

Other sources

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

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

In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2017 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.

In 2017, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location.

In 2017, the hardware platform of the FIPS Certification Centre continued modernization. Work was also carried out on the specialized software of the Certification Centre, which, from December 1, 2016, enabled the transition to the issue of certificates without binding to IP addresses, which increased the fault tolerance of technological processes using electronic signatures.

A duplicating channel for Rospatent’s Internet access was connected, which facilitate an improvement in the speed of access and reliability of systems connected to the Internet.

In 2017 a connection was made through a secure channel of the segment of the computer network of the FIPS branch in Novosibirsk.

Madrid automated system has provided paperless prosecution and electronic State services for international applications and registrations, as well as support for the entire cycle of work for registration: classification of incoming correspondence on international applications and registrations, storing the current status of international applications and registrations, bookkeeping, and integration with other systems.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Fujitsu M10-4S server

(RAM – 64GB, processors – 16, external memory – 14 TB)

HP DL380 server – 26 units

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

Сервер HP DL580 – 8 units

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

HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 500 units.

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

The Rospatent in-house trademark databases are as follows:

- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 596,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2017 inclusive, updated daily);

- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 191 trademarks recognized by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property as well-known, updated daily)- for trademark database subscribers;

- a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2017 (contains information on 582,000 applications, updated daily);

- the ICGS database.

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

For searches of verbal and figurative elements of trademarks, an automated search subsystem of the Automated System, Russian Federation Trademarks, is used (RF TZ). Special search images are intelligently prepared, and automatically indexed by algorithms. In order to examine a claimed designation, intelligently-prepared, special search instructions are generated to search for similar verbal and figurative elements of marks, packaged by date of completion of the formal examination. The search instructions are run on the server, and the examiners are provided with the search results for analysis and selection in a special interface of reference documents.

Work is carried out daily on the upkeep of the search arrays in the search subsystems of the TZ RF automated system to search for similar verbal (QSS subsystem) and figurative elements (SILOIZ subsystem) of trademarks for the purposes of examining the claimed designation.

At the end of 2017, the total number of indexed trademarks comprised 1,311,984 marks with verbal and figurative search elements used to search for similarities between marks. The search array contains all the marks received by Rospatent from 1924 to the present day, including ‘Madrid’ registrations. Searches of the complete array of marks are carried out. Marks are grouped by category in the list of search results.

            The search file is updated on a daily basis as incoming applications and constituent elements of marks are processed. Verbal and figurative search elements to be searched are stored on separate servers.

            The documents of other Offices are not included in the search arrays.

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

At the Office, the following document prosecution systems are used for information on trademarks:

• RF TZ automated system for prosecuting applications for trademarks and appellations of origin.
• The Amendments to Trademark Registrations automated system for the prosecution of requests received following registration of a trademark (e.g. extension, change of owner or termination of validity).
• The Madrid Paperless Prosecutions of International Registrations automated system.
• TM-ADMIN, the electronic document flow system for registering and handling documents, including scanning, recognition and data entry procedures, document consideration processes, and preparing and sending outgoing correspondence.
• The electronic trademark application filing service, KPS RTZ, is intended for the filing of trademark applications and for electronic correspondence with applicants from the applicant’s personal area, and to provide the processes for exchanging electronic documents between applicants and the Office. It functions using a means of cryptography and electronic signatures, and is integrated into the hardware and software environment of the automated system for paperless prosecution of trademark applications, TM-ADMIN.
• The ‘My Area’ service on the FIPS website is intended for electronic correspondence relating to paper applications, and for a number of documents submitted electronically which require original documents to be submitted with hard-copy signatures.
• Electronic exchange of data with WIPO on the international registration of trademarks is carried out using MECA technology and WIPO Standard ST.66. Decisions on preliminary and final refusal are sent to WIPO electronically.
• The Electronic State Register of RF Trademarks and Service Marks, and the electronic list of trademarks well known in the Russian Federation (EGR). Each entry in EGR is signed with the electronic signature of the in-putter, which allows the signatory to be identified and his/her authority to be verified at the time of signing.

Other matters

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

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

The trademarks collection is intended for examiners and other categories of users. Trademark information is provided on a fee-free basis to third-party users at VPTB.

The trademark collection is available at VPTB both on paper and electronically, and includes:

- Rospatent Official Gazettes;

- pаtent gazettes from foreign countries and international organizations, both special gazettes and ordinary gazettes on industrial property with sections dedicated to trademarks;

- databases containing information on trademarks of Russia, foreign countries and international organizations.

In 2017, over 6,500 trademark gazettes from all countries were published on paper, and over 25,900 electronically.

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

The VPTB patent law collection includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection and use of trademarks and service marks in Russia and overseas. The collection is available electronically and in hard-copy, and also includes publications found on the official Rospatent and FIPS websites, and contains different types of information sources: national and international law, commentaries and reviews, guidelines, training aids, standards, patent office reports, conference and seminar materials, compilations of court decisions and collections of statistics, etc.

In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of trademarks and appellations of origin.

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/publications

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

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/

For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the What is Intellectual Property? heading in the For Beginners section:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/dlya-novichkov/chto-takoe-intellektualnaya-sobstvennost-.php.

In the Daily Publications section of the FIPS website, information is posted on a daily basis on current registrations of trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin, well-known trademarks, as well as notifications regarding amendments to the State Register of Trademarks prior to publication thereof in the Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin:

 http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=search&type=UsrTM&number=0.

In the Regulatory Documents section, the following guidelines can be found on various examination and prosecution issues:

• Guidance regarding the requirements for the presentation of images of three-dimensional designations in applications for State registration of trademarks:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/other/inf_ob_tz;

• Guidance regarding the possibility of using the ‘Goods and services manager’ service to compile a list of goods and services in relation to applications for State registration of trademarks:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/news/16-01-2017-informacionnoe-soobshchenie-po-voprosu-vozmozhnosti-ispolzovaniya-servisa-menedzher-tovarov-i-uslug-dlya-sostavleniya-perechnya-tovarov-i-uslug-v-otnoshenii-zayavok-na-gosudarstvennuyu-registraciyu-tovarnogo-znaka;

• Guidelines on determining the similarity of goods and services when examining applications for the State registration of trademarks and service marks:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documents/metodicheskie-rekomendacii-po-opredeleniyu-odnorodnosti-tovarov-i-uslug-pri-ekspertize-zayavok-na-gosudarstvennuyu-registraciyu-tovarnyh-znakov-i-znakov-obsluzhivaniya-utverzhdeny-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-31-12-2009-198/download;

• Recommendations on individual matters concerning examination of designations representing labels and polygraphic packaging:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documents/rekomendacii-po-otdelnym-voprosam-ekspertizy-oboznacheniy-predstavlyayushchih-soboy-etiketki-i-poligraficheskie-upakovki-utverzhdeny-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-30-11-2009-170/download;

• Guidelines on verification of claimed designations for identity and similarity: 

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documents/metodicheskie-rekomendacii-po-proverke-zayavlennyh-oboznacheniy-na-tozhdestvo-i-shodstvo-utverzhdeny-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-31-12-2009-197/download

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

In 2017, hereinafter, VPTB of FIPS held 2 thematic meetings of heads and officers of FIPS and Rospatent with representatives of business community on introduction to law enforcement practice, new approaches to pendency of trade mark applications and applications for geographical indications, as well as on official publications (including publications on trademarks) available on the FIPS website. Furthermore VPTB held 11 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications.  These 13 meetings were attended by 109 participants, who took part via videoconferencing, organized by entities, which have the juice of TISCs: Altai Regional Universal Sciantific Library n.a. V.Y. Shishkov (Barnaul), Astrakhan State Medical Academy of Roszdrav of the Russian Federation, Belgorod national research university, Bryansk Chamber of Commerce and Industry, State Public Scientific and Technological Library of Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Saratov state university, Nothern (Arctic) Federal University n.a. M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk), Research institute “Specvuzautomatica” (Rostov-on-Don), Tomsk polytechnic university, the Ural Fedral University n/a/ the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg).

The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 338 organizations in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2017. Access was provided to: 2 support organizations; 8 science cities; 38 State scientific centers (SSC), 41 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 17 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nanotechnology Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 174 TISC and 58 other organizations.

Questions relating to the filing of trademark applications at FIPS on paper and/or electronic filing of applications were considered at 17 conferences, seminars and roundtables organized and held by Rospatent in 2017 in nine regions of the Russian Federation. Information on these events may be found in Part 5(d).

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

Organization of training and professional development of FIPS employees is carried out within the framework of the Unified Training System (UTS) on the principle of continuity, starting from the moment of employment. The provision of conditions for continuous professional development of employees is stipulated by the FIPS Charter.

The primary objective in 2017 was to continue the work on organizing classes for various categories of FIPS employees in connection with the issuance of new regulatory and legal acts regulating the rules and procedure for the provision of public services.

This was achieved through training employees according to the plans of professional training directly in FIPS subdivisions and centralized classes.

Organization of training of FIPS employees using internal forms

In accordance with the summary plans for internal training of employees approved by the director of FIPS, 19 centralized classes and 467 classes directly in FIPS subdivisions were conducted in 2017. The main focus of the training in 2017 was to study new provisions of regulatory acts concerning the provision of public services, changes to the Regulations on Patent and Other Fees.

The systematic training of examiner staff on the use of computer databases selected for conducting information searches in the process of examination and, automated systems used in the work, continued.

Intensive work began on the recruitment of trainee examiners, with the option to train as an examiner on a one-year course, with subsequent work placement as an intellectual-property examiner, as well as recruitment of part-time examiners. 

Advanced training for novice FIPS examiners

The advanced training of novice specialists in the field of examination of inventions and utility models is carried out on a regular basis, with obtaining of an appropriate certificate.

Resulting from obtaining by FIPS of a license to conduct educational activities, the advanced training of novice examiners was carried out on the base of FIPS in accordance with the approved program in the volume of 232 academic hours. 27 experts have been trained.

FIPS Educational Activity

The activities on implementation of additional professional programs are carried out on the basis of the license of the series 77JI01 No. 0008944 (reg. No. 0381 10) issued on December 19, 2016 by the Department of Education of Moscow.

In 2017 the Research and Educational Center was created in FIPS, which activity is aimed at the APE system development, promotion of educational programs at the world educational platforms.

In April 2017, in order to identify the training needs in the regions, all TISCs were questioned. The results of the questionnaire were used in the development of advanced training programs.

During the year, methodical documents on organization and execution of professional development of specialists within the scope of the educational license (12 titles) were developed and published on the FIPS website.

70 specialists of the defense industry complex and government customers underwent training courses on professional retraining and advanced training on the issues of management of rights to the results of intellectual activity

In 2017 within the composition of STC a new section “Development of educational activity” initiated its work. Special attention of the work of the section is given to the development, examination and adoption of APE programs.

11 advanced training programs and 2 retraining programs were developed and approved at STC sections. (see Table 6.4 of Appendix 6 to the Report).

In connection with the opening of the Novosibirsk branch of FIPS in March 2017, specially for the specialists of this department, from April 10 to May 18, 2017 a training was provided in the volume of 132 academic hours under a program "Examination of applications for utility models" (internal training). 12 persons completed the training.

FIPS actively cooperates with "Sirius" educational center, Rosatom, the regions of the Russian Federation in conducting training seminars and master classes.

The information on educational activities conducted by FIPS in 2017 is given in Table 6.5 of Appendix 6 to the Report.

In 2017, Rospatent participated in the organization and holding of 3 international exhibition and one international salon of inventions and innovations.

In 2017, Rospatent's specialists also took part in 4 exhibitions in 3 regions of the Russian Federation.

In 2017, Rospatent participated in organizing and holding 102 conferences, seminars and round-tables in 29 regions of the Russian Federation.

A total of over 3,000 people from various regions of the Russian Federation attended the conferences, seminars and round tables that took place in 2017.

In 2017, 17 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 9 regions of the Russian Federation addressed issues relating to trademark protection in Russia, and international registration of marks.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information about training, seminars and conferences:

- the "Training" section

http://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php;

 - the "Training seminars" section for TISCs of the RF:

http://www1.fips.ru/TISCs/teach_sem;

 - a plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community dedicated to acquaintance with the new by-laws for 2017:

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

 - conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2017:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/confers/arkhiv_conf.

Other activities

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts electronic Gazettes, including trademark information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 45 foreign countries and three international organizations.

In 2017, the VPTB Division received trademark information from 41 countries and one international organization.

In 2017, 2,048 copies of Gazettes featuring trademarks were received from the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries on all kinds of carriers: 24 copies on paper carrier; 88 copies on optical disks; 1,936 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.

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

As part of its participation in international and regional activities and projects relating to trademark information, representatives of the trademark division took part in the following events:

- 27 session of the WIPO Nice Union - Committee of Experts (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, March 1-5, 2017);

- 15th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, June 19-22, 2017);

In 2017, Rospatent organized and held two national seminars in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ in two regions of the Russian Federation, at which 3 FIPS employees delivered addresses:

• March 28 - 29 in Tambov on the basis of the Tambov State Technical University;

• October 24 - 25 in Kaliningrad on the basis of the Kaliningrad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

March 16- 19, 2017, at the 20th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2017, which was organized with Rospatent’s support, and attended by representatives of more than 300 organizations and participants from 22 countries and 52 regions of the Russian Federation, the competition program was included in the traditional International Exhibition competition for trademarks and appellations of origin, ‘Trademark- LEADER’.

VPTB of FIPS holds thematic meetings with heads and lead specialists of FIPS and Rospatent for applicants, right holders, patent attorneys, specialists in the field of intellectual property, representatives of business community and other stakeholders. In 2017, VPTB held 14 thematic meetings related to information on trademarks.

11 of them were centered around training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications and others touched upon following issues: “Official publications of Rospatent. New opportunities”; “Law enforcement practice, new approaches to pendency of trade mark applications and applications for geographical indications”; “Revision to Statute on Fees”.

Assistance to developing countries

Rospatent has no special programs to help developing countries. Assistance is provided in response to individual requests from the Offices of developing countries.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/international-cooperation;

Subsection "Madrid System of International Registration of Marks":

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/madrid_system.