Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2017 submitted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine
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
The main document that determined the directions for the development of trademark information activities in 2017 was the Plan of activities of the State Enterprise "Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute" (Ukrpatent) for 2017 which contained strategic directions "Patent information support in the sphere of intellectual property and provision of wide public with access to the information related to intellectual property rights acquisition" and "Implementation of modern information technology" which, in particular, include:
- comprehensive development of the main directions of information support in the sphere of intellectual property;
- introduction of new versions/editions of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification) translated into Ukrainian, creation of information and reference systems that are in free access to the public via Ukrpatent web-site;
- implementation of series of actions aimed at ensuring the continued acquisition of patent information resources of Ukraine with the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" on CD-ROM;
- participation in the activities on unification and harmonization of the patent documentation of Ukraine with taking into account the world experience and in accordance with the international standards of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current legislation of Ukraine.
In particular, the Plan of Ukrpatent for 2017 envisaged a series of actions aiming at:
- development of the technological automated system for processing of applications for marks for goods and services;
- automation of the document workflow and provision of a comprehensive electronic information processing;
- development and implementation of public information recourses including information on marks for goods and services;
- development of the IT infrastructure.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In 2017 within the framework of the project for upgrading the "Marks for Goods and Services" Automated System (hereinafter – TMAS) a set of tasks which ensured the enhancement of the system functionality was implemented.
In accordance with the planned tasks, works continued in 2017 aimed at creating a system of electronic interaction of the examination body with the respective parties in the processes of acquisition and keeping in force of intellectual property rights (further – SEI EBS).
This projects provides for the changeover to the electronic exchange of documents between the examination body and respective parties (applicants, owners of titles of protection) and ensures alternative channels of electronic filing of applications for marks for goods and services are used (e-mail, web-site, ftp-server).
As of the end of 2017, the works on creating the mentioned system were fully completed. The system is installed on hardware and put into pilot testing.
Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
The main areas of trademark information activities include support of examination of marks for goods and services applications, in particular, forming of search databases for internal use at the examination body, performance of searches, publication of information about registered marks in the official bulletin and creating interactive databases and information and reference systems for providing information services for a wide range of users via the Internet. Publication of information on marks is also provided on optical media.
Examination of applications for marks for goods and services is carried out by means of the TMAS which has full functionality for text processing and management of trademark applications documentation at all stages from application filing to completing examination and keeping the State Register of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services.
The information arrays included to the publication of the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" are formed with the use of an automated workstation at the Editorial Department.
The following resources were introduced for information support of the examination procedure:
- the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, the 2017 version of the eleventh edition (NCL (11-2017)) translated into Ukrainian;
- the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, seventh edition (VCL (7)) translated into Ukrainian.
To provide access for a wide range of users to the mentioned classifications the following information and reference systems (IRS) were available on the Ukrpatent’s website):
- IRS "International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification). Eleventh edition, version 2017";
- IRS "International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification). Seventh edition".
In 2017 the planned changeover to the HIPPO server (10.11.11.35, operating system MS Windows Server 2012R2) was implemented, which increased the output and security of the server of trademark databases, enhanced the compatibility with Ukrpatent’s other SQL servers and enabled a direct data actualization on the server of Internet databases.
In 2017, to support the record management process and improve the conditions of labor organization on the examination body specialists’ workplaces, measures were taken to update the computer and telecommunication equipment and software; steps were taken to upgrade security hardware and software. Licenses for Microsoft SQL Server Standard Core 2016 2 License CoreLic software were purchased. RHINO server for storing Internet databases equipped with Microsoft SQL Server Standard 2016 DBMS was put into operation in place of Inbase server with Microsoft SQL Server Standard 2005 DBMA.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
Applications filed (national route):
in 2016 – 29,600, in 2017 – 30,183, i.e. 2 % increase with respect to the previous year.
Registered Certificates (national route):
in 2016 – 13,618, in 2017 – 15,248, i.e. 12 % increase with respect to the previous year.
From January 1 to December 31, 2017 within the test period of the electronic filing system for IPRs Ukrpatent received 6,000 applications for marks for goods and services (77.2 % increase with respect to the previous year).
In 2017, in comparison with the previous year, the following areas experienced rapid changes: "Transporting and logistics" (increase in the number of applications by 15.7 %); "Constructing and infrastructure" (10 %); "Agricultural products and services" (7.7 %); "Household equipment" (7.1 %).
Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Annual Reports, statistical information:
http://www.uipv.org/en/about.html
News of the Office on the issues related to trademarks:
http://www.me.gov.ua/ (Intellectual Property section)
Information on the trademark legislation:
http://www.me.gov.ua/ (Intellectual Property section)
http://uipv.org/en/legistation.html
In 2017, an integrated patent information resource under the Open Data project for searching in the data sets of the State registers of IPRs and the State Register of Intellectual Property Representatives (Patent Attorneys) was implemented.
This resource is accessible at http://opendata.uipv.org.
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
Information on various procedures and sources of information on trademarks for users, in particular, information on trademark legislation, services and activities of the Office related to trademark information, statistical information, etc. is available on the web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (http://www.me.gov.ua/) and on the Ukrpatent web-site (http://uipv.org/en/index.html).
Data on information services, including paid ones, provided by Ukrpatent, in particular, by its Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion, is published on the web-sites of Ukrpatent and the Department (http://iii.ua).
Information for applicants on filing applications for marks for goods and services is presented on the web-sites of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukrpatent (http://www.me.gov.ua/) and Ukrpatent (http://uipv.org/en/index.html).
Information and the tools for filing electronic applications are posted in a separate section of the "Electronic Filing" web-site (http://base.ukrpatent.org/efiling/). The system of electronic filing of applications for trademarks contains software and reference materials and manuals on the use of the system, guidelines for drawing up applications and filing both primary and secondary application materials 24/7.
A software product the "Applicant Off-line Module" was developed and put into operation for drafting application materials on paper. It can be downloaded from the Ukrpatent web-site at http://base.ukrpatent.org/off-line/.
Access to online publications, which contain data on trademarks, is provided through the web-sites of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (http://www.me.gov.ua/) and Ukrpatent (http://uipv.org/en/bases.html).
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
All application materials for marks for goods and services (both primary and secondary), irrespective of the way they are filed to Ukrpatent (through the electronic filing system, on paper carriers, by email, fax or other telecommunication networks), automatically or after scanning the paper carriers are entered and stored in the electronic document archive of documents and used by technological systems within the pendency of applications.
In 2017 trademark applications made up the majority of the total number of electronic applications received by Ukrpatent.
Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
In the framework of the TMAS and the International Registration of Marks AS a program system for verifying classification indexes is in place. This system includes manuals on classification systems and special software for performing functions of verifying classification indexes and reclassification.
As of January 1, 2017, the 2017 version of the 11th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (the Nice Classification (11-2017)) in the Ukrainian translation, was implemented.
The 7th edition of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (the Vienna Classification) in Ukrainian translation, implemented on January 1, 2012, was used in 2017.
To ensure accuracy of search results during the examination of applications for marks for goods and services, a revision of search requisite elements (indexes of the Vienna Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks) regarding their compliance with a new edition of VCL (7) in the TMAS technological databases and the International Registration of Marks AS was carried out.
In the second half of 2017 a set of works was performed necessary for ensuring the implementation in the state system of legal intellectual property protection as of January 1, 2018, of NCL (11-2018) and VCL (8) translated into Ukrainian, in particular, respective IRS were created.
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
In 2017 the following electronic classification systems were used:
- NCL (11-2017) and VCL (7) translated into Ukrainian within the TMAS – for trademark applications examination;
- IRS "International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification). Eleventh edition, version 2017" and IRS "Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification). Seventh edition" – by a wide range of users, primarily applicants (available for free on the Ukrpatent web-site).
When WIPO publishes a new version/edition of the NCL, a new version of the current edition translated into Ukrainian is formed by administrative tools for technological automated systems.
Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
The TMAS tools provide for processing of sound marks.
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)
Information of the Office concerning trademarks is provided in the following publications (official editions, information products on optical carriers, free electronic DBs and IRSs:
- the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" – a printed periodical edition;
- the electronic edition of the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" (on CD-ROM equipped with a search system) – the analogue of the printed edition;
- the National CD-ROM "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine";
- the accumulative optical disc (DVD) "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine" (on a paid basis);
- DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Industrial Property";
- DB "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine";
- DB "Information about Well-Known Marks in Ukraine";
- Automated DB of intellectual property of UEFA and its commercial partners;
- Interactive DB "Applications for Marks for Goods and Services Accepted for Examination;
- IRS "Information about Proceeding State of Applications for Marks for Goods and Services";
- IRS "International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification)" (http://nice.ukrpatent.org/) – through this link the current and all previous versions of the tenth edition of the Nice Classification are available;
- IRS "Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification). (http://base.uipv.org/vienna/) – through this link the current and all previous versions of the Vienna Classification are available).
Information on trademarks is published in Book 2 of the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" in the following sections: "Information on the Issue of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services", "Information on Well-Known Marks in Ukraine", "Information on Marks Registered under the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and/or the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, Protected in Ukraine", in the indexes to each of the sections listed and the section of Notices. Color images of marks for goods and services (if any) are published in the relevant section.
Publications of the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" include:
- for section "Information on the Issue of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services" – bibliographic data, list of goods and services, black-and-white images of marks;
- for section "Information on Well-Known Marks in Ukraine" – information on marks declared to be well-known in Ukraine in the scope defined by the Office, list of goods and services, black-and-white images of marks;
- for section "Information on Marks Registered under the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and/or the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, Protected in Ukraine" – information on marks in the scope defined by the Office, list of goods and services, black-and-white images of marks.
The Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" was issued twice a month – 24 issues of the bulletin were issued during 2017. The Annual Index of the Official Bulletin for the previous 2016 year was also published.
The National CD-ROM "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine" was issued with the same frequency and includes the following information: bibliographic data, images of marks, list of goods and services grouped by the NLC classes.
Publications in electronic information resources include:
- DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" – information on the issue of certificates of Ukraine for marks for goods and services and information on well-known marks in Ukraine. Moreover, information concerning legal status of certificates (as an extra operational element) is provided in the section "Information on the issue of certificates of Ukraine for marks for goods and services";
- DB "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine" – bibliographic data, list of goods and services, images of marks;
- DB "Information on Well-Known Marks in Ukraine" – information on marks in the scope defined by the Office, list of goods and services, images of marks;
- Interactive DB "Applications for Marks for Goods and Services Accepted for Examination" – information on all applications for marks and services at the stage of qualifying examination (substantive examination).
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
In the Notices section of the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" (printed and electronic edition) with the periodicity of its release announcements in respect of registered marks for goods and services (to the extent provided by the respective applicable Law of Ukraine) are published including data on changes in the information entered into the State Register of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services, information on issue of the certificate duplicates, information on modifications due to the correction of errors and other information relating to the registration of certificates of Ukraine for marks for goods and services.
The section also contains publication of changes in information about international registration of marks protected in Ukraine.
The said information is available at http://www.me.gov.ua/ and http://uipv.org/.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
Information products available to examiners for trademark applications examination (search collection) are approved by the corresponding order and, inter alia, include:
- AS "Marks for Goods and Services", database for marks recognized as well-known in Ukraine as well as the Industrial Designs AS;
- DB "Legislation of Ukraine";
- DB "ROMARIN;
- DB "6ter Express";
- DB "WIPO Gazette of International Marks";
- corresponding state and national classifiers of Ukraine;
- current versions/editions of the Nice and Vienna Classifications;
- information and reference sources mainly in electronic form.
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
For information support of the wide range of public free access to the information concerning trademarks is provided through the web-site of Ukrpatent – see the List of DBs and IRSs above.
Information on registered marks for goods and services is available in the form of open data at the web-page: http://opendata.uipv.org.
The Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" on CD-ROM was distributed for free in the framework of updating patent collections of certain organizations of Ukraine by national patent documentation according to the Registries of free-of-charge distribution approved by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
External users could also purchase the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" on CD-ROM equipped with a search system and the National CD-ROM "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine", the retrospective accumulative optical disc (DVD) "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine".
Annual Reports of the Office (in Ukrainian and English), quarterly review "Industrial Property in Figures. Performance indicatos of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and the State Enterprise ‘Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute’" (further – "Industrial Property in Figures") are freely accessible on the web-site of Ukrpatent.
See also part 1 of Section 5 Promotion activities aimed to support users in access and efficient use of trademark information for information on services available to external users.
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Information concerning the legal status of the registered certificates of Ukraine for marks for goods and services to the extent prescribed by the applicable law of Ukraine is published in the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" in the section "Notices" both on paper and in electronic form (the CD-ROM "Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" and the DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin ‘Industrial Property’").
In addition, such information is provided in the IRS "Information on Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services Deemed to be Invalid or Expired" and (as an extra operational component) in the relevant sections of the DB "Electronic Version of the Cumulative Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" and the DB "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine".
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
Support for processing of applications for marks for goods and services as well as maintaining the State Register of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services is performed by the means of TMAS.
The TMAS software is built on the Client-Server technology. The structure of the TMAS database allows for storing all bibliographic data and provides extensive search facilities.
The TMAS is integrated with other internal computerized systems, in particular, with the Central Electronic Documents Archive, the general Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), etc.
New functions and modules were developed and existing ones modernized in TMAS and EDMS and to ensure application of electronic digital signature on electronic documents, their storage and sending to an applicant. The necessary changes were made in the respective databases.
Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
The general network infrastructure consists of the security system on the Check Point 5600NGTP device, which contains the VPN and Firewall modules for secure Internet connection and the internal router (designed on the Unix server) to support the internal network, as well as Barracuda Spam & Virus FireWall for mail server protection. The availability of two firewalls enhances the overall security.
The Cisco and Hewlett Packard (HP) equipment is used as network switches.
The internal network is divided into fifteen virtual networks (Vlan).
The network uses the following hardware:
- HP (DL380Gen8, DL380G7, DL380G5, DL360 Gen8, DL360 G5, DL320 Gen8) servers;
- HP (3Par StoreServ 7200, MSA2040, P2000, MSA2324fc, MSA1000), Infortrend (EonStor S12F-R1420, EonStor S16F-R1430) information storages;
- equipment for the SAN network (HP SN3000B, HP SAN Switch 8/24, Qlogic SANbox 5600);
- equipment for the HP LAN(ProCurve Switch 2910al-24G, ProCurve Switch 2510-48, 2530-48 Switch).
Operating systems and software:
- Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2008, CentOS 7 operating systems are applied on servers;
- server virtualization is built on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012R2 та VMware ESXi;
- MS SQL 2016, MS SQL 2014, MS SQL 2008R2, MS SQL 2005 are used as database management systems.
Domain structure of the Active Directory (AD) is designed to allow for centralized management of all the information resources, including users, computers, files, peripherals, access to the services, network resources, web-sites, databases, etc.
Multiple domain controllers are used to organize the fault-tolerant domain structure.
The WSUS server provides updating of the servers and client computers operating systems.
The anti-virus server "Eset Endpoint Antivirus" provides centralized control of all anti-virus programs on the user computers, anti-virus databases updates, report generation on database updates and existing threats.
The Microsoft software product – System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) – which provides continuous data protection for reliable recovery of Windows servers is used for data backup. The plan of upgrading all servers and services after a failure was adjusted.
Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Data from a number of sources (internal and external) are used while carrying out examination of applications for marks for goods and services.
- International Trademark Registrations Database. Updated in batch mode, loaded from the WIPO web-site (ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/madrid/romarin/ and ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/madrid/notif/ua/), stored in the international registrations database.
- Emblems and Flags (6ter) Database. Updated in batch mode, loaded from the WIPO web-site (ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/6ter/), stored in the TMAS database.
- International Industrial Design Registrations Database. Information on international registration of industrial designs in batches is once a day loaded from the WIPO web-site (ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/hague/).
- TMAS Database
- IDAS Database
- Database for Well-Known Marks in Ukraine
- Database for Qualified Designations of Origin of Products
- Central Electronic Documents Archive Database which provides for storage of documents and their attributes in electronic form.
The in-house databases are updated in the course of processing applications and within maintenance of the respective State Register.
Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
Information concerning international registrations of trademarks is downloaded in batches once a day from the WIPO web-site (ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/madrid/romarin/ and ftp://ftpird.wipo.int/wipo/madrid/notif/ua/) and stored in the database of international registrations of marks.
The TMAS database is replenished and updated in the course of examination, managing the workflow on agreements on rights transfer and license issue and maintaining the State Register of Certificates of Ukraine for Marks for Goods and Services.
Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Administrative support is provided by built-in control tools of DBMS SQL Server 2005.
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
In order to satisfy public needs for patent information in Ukraine, the Public Patent Documentation Collection (PPDC) functions within the structure of the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent. The PPDC is the most comprehensive patent library in Ukraine available to the public (Intellectual Property Office library).
International exchange with foreign patent offices has long been the main source of foreign industrial property documentation of the PPDC, including information on trademarks. Such international cooperation allowed accumulating a considerable amount of current and retrospective foreign patent documentation, in particular, Official Bulletins of 65 countries and organizations, primarily on optical carriers. The PPDC also contains methodological, information and reference and periodical editions.
During 2017 the PPDC was updated with current national and foreign documentation in the sphere of industrial property mainly on optical disks, in particular, with official bulletins. As of 31.12.2017, the PPDC collection of official bulletins exceeded 21,1 thousand, and the collection of optical discs constitutes in total over 33,5 thousand items.
The PPDC provided for possibility to get information on trademarks published in the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" (Book 2) as well as official bulletins of foreign intellectual property Offices.
Free access to the PPDC materials was provided for visitors in the reading room. The customers` work with foreign documentation funds available at the PPDC on optical media is carried out together with consultants of the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent.
In 2017 the PPDC was attended by 254 users, 10% of which were legal entities and 90% – individuals.
Information concerning the contents of the PPDC and its quarterly updates was published in the Information Files section on the web-site of Ukrpatent (http://uipv.org/) and its Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent (http://iii.ua/).
Proper storage of the PPDC documents meeting specified requirements and guaranteeing their safety was ensured during 2017.
The PPDC is located on the premises of the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent in three specially adapted and equipped areas (two depositaries with the total area of 81 sq. m. and a reading room of 40 sq. m.). The PPDC is equipped with 10 up-to-date computers with appropriate licensed software, as well as scanners, printers and xerographic copying machines.
To enable users to make online access to the electronic information resources, such as the Digital Patent Library, the Internet access based on Wi-Fi technology was provided in addition to the traditional Internet access for user convenience.
The Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent provided, including on the PPDC basis (intellectual property office library), all necessary consultations as well as services both paid and on free of charge basis. Consultations were provided on a free-of-charge basis concerning better ways to carry out information search, documentation search on CD-ROMs and in distant databases via the Internet, etc.
The Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent also provided commercial services, including carrying out different types of search of information and documentation.
In 2017, the following commercial services related to trademarks were provided:
- 227 consultations on regularity of preparing application materials, among them 154 for registration of a mark for goods and services. The most common issue is a preliminary decision on compliance of a claimed mark with terms of granting legal protection based on results of information searches in databases of registered marks for similarity and identity;
- 288 consultations in the form of guidelines on preparing application materials for registration of a mark for goods and services;
- 7,174 searches for similarity and identity of marks;
- 1,281 title (firm) searches as for all IPRs, including trademarks, upon requests of arbitration managers and liquidators of enterprises in default and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;
- 12 monitorings as for owners and clients;
- 16 sets of materials for filing trademark applications for international registration;
- 5 sets of materials on transfer of exclusive proprietary rights to trademarks;
- 2 comparative analyses of trademarks and designations were carried out.
Consultations on granting legal protection, exercise, infringement identification and protection of all IPRs is considered to be the most popular service. The most common issues are those related to the procedure of obtaining legal protection to IPRs, including trademarks. Around 21,000 of such consultations were provided by telephone for the whole year. Individual reception of 1,252 applicants took place.
Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
Information on trademarks is published in the Annual Reports (available on the Ukrpatent web-site) and Annual Technical Reports of the Office on trademark information activities prepared by Ukrpatent for WIPO. Statistics on trademarks is also published in quarterly issues of the review "Industrial Property in Figures" accessible for free on the Ukrpatent web-site.
Methodological recommendations on certain matters relating to trademark applications examination are available on the Ukrpatent web-site.
Periodicals, e.g. scientific and practical magazine "Intellectual Property in Ukraine", which is distributed as paper and electronic edition over the territory of Ukraine (by subscription), publish articles (including by the specialists of the state legal intellectual property protection) on various matters and in particular relating to legal protection of trademarks. Printed edition of the magazine is available for free at the PPDC of the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
Over the reporting year, with the purpose of updating patent collections of certain organizations of Ukraine (bodies of the national system of scientific and technical information, in particular the state and national libraries and universities, departments of which are entrusted with the appropriate patent information functions, including business innovative centres of universities) the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" on CD-ROM was sent free of charge to the specified ones and some other organizations of Ukraine in accordance with the Registries of free-of-charge distribution approved by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
Significant attention was paid to the skills upgrading of experts of the state system of intellectual property legal protection.
During the past year, as the part of experience sharing, training and skills upgrading, officials of the state IP rights protection system participated in numerous events arranged by international organizations, governments and foreign IP offices, studied at the higher educational institution – the Intellectual Property Institute of the National University "Odessa Law Academy" in Kyiv, examiners improved their English language skills.
Also in 2017, on the premises of the Kyiv University of Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (KUL of NASU) the WIPO seminar "Intellectual Property Policies in Universities and Research Institutions" was organized by WIPO jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and KUL of NASU.
Local events in IP sphere in 2017 were held with active participation of Ukrpatent’s specialists. In May, in the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS) a masterclass "Practical Aspects of IPR Protection, Particular of Creation and Protection of License Agreements" was held.
Specialists of Ukrpatent also gave lectures (in particular on the topics related to trademarks) at the Summer School "Intellectual Property: Basic Course", which was organized by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Ukrpatent, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Department of Intellectual Property), Scientific and Research Institute of Intellectual Property of the National Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine and held in Kyiv on July 17-23, 2017.
The information concerning intellectual property representatives (patent attorneys) providing services in the intellectual property rights protection sphere can be found in the "State Register of Intellectual Property Representatives (Patent Attorneys)" available in the Intellectual Property section (heading "State Registers and Official Bulletins", subheading "Data of State Registers") of the "Activity" chapter of the web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (http://www.me.gov.ua/).
Other activities
Detailed information on other activities of the state system of intellectual property legal protection in 2017 is published on the Ukrpatent web-site, in particular, in quarterly issues of the review "Industrial Property in Figures".
In 2017 the Department of Patent Information Services, Consultations and Innovation Activity Promotion of Ukrpatent ensured the functioning of the Industrial Property Internet Exchange aimed at promoting domestic IPRs, including trademarks, on the market, encouraging the development of inventive and innovative activities, increasing the level of public awareness on the intellectual property importance and informing a wide range of stakeholders.
The Industrial Property Internet Exchange is accessible at http://exchange.iii.ua/uk.
VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION
International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
The functions of patent documentation international exchange are performed by Ukrpatent, recognized in 2003 by the law as the Centre of International Exchange of Publications according to the Convention on International Exchange of Publications, adopted on December 3, 1958 by the UN General Conference on the matters of education, science and culture.
In 2017, in the framework of international exchange Ukrpatent :
- received official bulletins with information regarding trademarks from 4 foreign Offices;
- sent the Official Bulletin "Industrial Property" on CD-ROM to 9 exchange partners;
- provided access via the FTP server to the official bulletin "Industrial Property" for the Japan Patent Office and Rospatent;
During 2017 Rospatent via the FTP-server had also access to data which are published in the National CD-ROM "Marks for Goods and Services Registered in Ukraine".
Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
In 2017 in the framework of international cooperation the Ministry of Economic of Ukraine and Trade and Ukrpatent representatives took part in sessions and meetings of the WIPO Committees and Working Groups, among which were the 37th and 38th sessions of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications; 27th session of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union.
Support was provided to the Ukrainian language version of the Madrid Goods and Services Manager (MGS) online tool which functions on the WIPO official web-site (https://webaccess.wipo.int/mgs/), in particular, representation of new interface elements implemented by WIPO in Ukrainian in the framework of the MGS development. The Ukrainian version of MGS provides access to the Alphabetical List of goods/services and Class Headings of the Nice Classification translated into Ukrainian.
Assistance to developing countries
Other activities
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
One of the priority objectives of the examination body is to ensure the effective functioning of the Quality Management System (QMS) of the examination procedure for industrial property rights applications introduced in 2012 at Ukrpatent (International Certificate No. 321012076 of October 17, 2012).
The new Certificate № 321012076/1 concerning QMS, received by Ukrpatent under the established procedure, is valid from November 19, 2015 to September 14, 2018.
In September 2017, an independent certification organization carried out the supervisory audit of the QMS compliance with the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Based on the results of the audit the QMS corresponds with the ISO 9001:2008 standard.