Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2015 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’) is being carried out in five main areas, in which most of the measures for the development of IT up to 2020 are being undertaken:
- electronic record keeping;
- optimization of record keeping processes;
- development of decision support systems;
- development of hardware and software infrastructure;
- inter-departmental electronic interaction.
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 2013-2015 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 (10-2015), and distributed by specially designed, generic groups of names of G/S (LEXINTU-2015);
- automation of this process is based on adaptive automatic accumulation of matched terms and subsequent automatic matching thereof when they recur in lists of other trademarks claimed for registration;
- ‘matching’ of terms (i.e. standardization of claimed terms, in effect) may be applied to one of the terms by LEXINTU, or to the title of a generic group. Standardization of this nature enables the examination to compare automatically the lists of signs being analysed with lists of identical and similar signs, used by the examination for reference in making decisions, and to reduce labor costs for the analysis of lists of G/S significantly.
New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks
In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2015:
- Operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Register for Trademarks (hereinafter referred to as EGR TZ), and the List of Well-Known Trademarks in the Russian Federation (EGR OTZ).
- A system for official Internet publication of information on IP subject matter from the EGR was trialed.
- In 2015, the electronic document flow system for trademarks and service marks, TM-ADMIN, operated reliably. The transition to using the .PDF format occurred. Client workstation support for Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8.0 was provided. Software was developed enabling the user to eliminate use of the licensed product, InputAccel, used in the transfer of paper documents filed with FIPS, into electronic format.
- In 2015, applications to register trademarks continued to be received electronically using the electronic filing service. Users of the service are given the opportunity to file structured documents- amendments to applications- of lists of G/S, descriptions, and claimed trademark designations.
In 2015, EGR TZ and EGR OTZ records continued to be completed.
As of the end of 2015, the registers contained:
- EGR TZ: 423,625 registrations;
- EGR OTZ: 161 registrations.
Work is expected to continue in 2015 involving specialist departments based on LEXINTU-2016, using the terms of IGCS (10‑2016).
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.
At present, applicants and representatives thereof may interact with FIPS electronically using services provided on the FIPS website (www.fips.ru) and on the State Services Portal. (www.gosuslugi.ru).
The FIPS website enables electronic filing of trademark applications and electronic correspondence in relation thereto, as well as electronic correspondence through the ‘Personal Office’ service for trademark applications filed previously in hard copy. Approximately 11,868 trademark applications were filed electronically in 2015 (c.27 per cent of the total number of trademark applications). In addition, in the Personal Office section on the FIPS website, approximately 2,000 prosecution cases were opened for electronic correspondence.
In 2015, measures were taken to encourage applicants to use electronic filing through the development of service functionality, posting new versions on the FIPS website of user documentation for setting up jobs and exploiting the functionality of the electronic services, connecting Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) to the electronic filing services, and holding thematic meetings and seminars.
Inter-agency electronic interaction.
As of January 1, 2016, descriptions of State services offered by Rospatent can be found on the Unified State and Municipal Services (Functions) Portal (hereinafter, ‘PGU’). All services offer the required forms for applications, and information on how to access services, as well as offering the opportunity to file applications electronically for all of Rospatent’s State services.
As a result of changes in the List of State services (functions) and updating of legal acts regulating the provision of Rospatent’s State services, work was carried out in 2015 to make the relevant amendments to the Federal Register of State and Municipal Services (hereinafter, ‘FRGU’).
Interaction with the federal executive authorities is provided using the inter-agency electronic interaction system (hereinafter, ‘SMEV’). Version 2.4.4 of the SMEV web-service was developed and registered in a production environment in compliance with methodological guidelines for the development of eleсtronic services and use of electronic signature technology in the course of inter-agency electronic interaction.
In February 2015, the web-service was transferred to a new software and hardware platform using virtualization technology, enabling the operational capacity of the web-service to be increased, and the requirements of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation on ensuring accessibility thereof.
In 2015, work was carried out to modernize the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal in respect of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication System (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’) in order to comply with the Guidelines on the use of ESIA version 2.5.
Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and 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 2015 rose in comparison to 2014. The overall increase in application numbers was 0.47 per cent, due to a rise in applications received from all categories of applicant, both Russian and foreign.
Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 1.76 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2015 in comparison to 2014 occurred due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 4.79%), while the number of foreign applicants declined somewhat (by 0.85%).
Table 1
| 2014 | 2015 | % 2015/2014 |
Total number of trademark and service mark applications filed, including: | 61,188 | 61,477 | 100.47 |
- by Russian applicants | 34,174 | 34,304 | 100.38 |
- by foreign applicants | 27,014 | 27,173 | 100.59 |
of which under international registration procedures | 16,712 | 17,715 | 106.00 |
Total number of trademarks and service marks registered, including: | 42,298 | 43,042 | 101.76 |
- in the name of Russian applicants | 19,601 | 20,539 | 104.79 |
- in the name of foreign applicants | 22,697 | 22,503 | 99.15 |
of which under international registration procedures | 14,563 | 14,073 | 96.64 |
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- Regulation section: http://www.rupto.ru/docs/tz_nmpt;
- Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:
http://www.rupto.ru/about/reports;
- Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/links;
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;
- Guide to the resources and Internet resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/putevoditel;
- 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 2015, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held two thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 76 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Tula, and Yaroslavl’, who were representatives of various companies and organizations, and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 41 people participated in the meeting via video-conference.
The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:
- Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to the State registration of trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and grant of certificates in respect of trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and duplicates thereof:
- Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks:
- Requirements relating to documents included in the application for State registration of a trademark, service mark or collective mark, and accompanying documents and forms:
- Procedure for converting an application for State registration of a collective mark into an application for State registration of a trademark or service mark, and vice-versa:
- Procedure for converting a collective mark into a trademark or service mark, and vice-versa:
- Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to access to documents for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of said documents (hereinafter, ‘Regulations, State function, trademark’, respectively), governing relations in respect of the provision of State functions by the Federal Intellectual Property Service (Rospatent):
- Procedure for accessing documents relating to applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies thereof:
- Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to State registration of appellations of origin, and grant of exclusive rights therein, as well as grant of exclusive rights in previously registered appellations of origin, and issuance of certificates in respect of exclusive rights in appellations of origin, and duplicates thereof:
- Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of appellations of origin:
- Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples section heading:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya#4;
- Electronic Interaction with Applicants section/ Filing Applications for Trademark and Service Mark Registration section heading:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/tm_ap_new;
- Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues/patduty/pat_poshl;
- Fee calculator: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/poshl_s/k_p;
- Frequently Asked Questions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/right_vopr.
Questions concerning paper and/or electronic filing of trademark applications with FIPS were reviewed at 11 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 2015 in eight regions of the Russian Federation. Details of these events can be found in Part 5(d).
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.
Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
In 2015, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2015 (containing information on 458,000 applications, and updated daily).
As part of the TM-ADMIN system for electronic document flow for trademarks and service marks, examiners are provided with 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 2015, 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:
- participation in the 25th session of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union (April 27 to May 1, 2015 at WIPO, Geneva); preparing proposals, formulating the position of the Russian delegation at the 26th session of Committee of Experts on the Nice Classification of Goods and Services for registering trademarks;
- translation of terms used in ICGS (10-2016) into Russian, and publication of a version of ICGS (10-2016) in three languages (French, English and Russian) on the Rospatent website;
- translation of terms for the WIPO auxiliary tool, Goods and Services Manager/ MGS Madrid Goods&Services Manager, into Russian, and transfer of the Russian translations to the WIPO International Office;
- work on the automatic classification of the entire 2015 input stream of 30,100 images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications, submitted from the WIPO International Office under the sixth edition of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification).
(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 (30,100 marks in 2015) 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).
By 2014, the text of the International Classification of Figurative Elements of Marks had been translated into Russian (seventh edition of the Vienna Classification). In 2015, a description was completed of the terms of the seventh edition of the Vienna Classification in the language of the description of the marks of the automated search sub-system, SILOIZ.
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
Publication Title | Form of Publication | Frequency of Publication |
Official publications of Rospatent on trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin and certificates for the right to use an appellation of origin | ||
Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette on electronic carrier with search system (primary publication), including the following sections: Trademarks and Service Marks |
Bibliographic data; images (where available); list of goods and/or services (where available) for applications received after October 1, 2014. |
Twice per month |
| Bibliographical data; appellation of origin; indication of goods, for individualization of which appellation of origin has been registered and/or exclusive rights therein have been granted (except information containing a description of the product’s special properties) (where available); indication of place of origin (production) of good (borders of geographical subject) (where available) for applications received after October 1, 2014. | |
Trademarks and service marks | Bibliographical data, images, list of goods and/or services. | |
Appellations of origin
| Bibliographic data, appellation of origin, indication of goods, and also indication of place of origin (production) of a good (borders of the geographical subject). Information concerning certificates for the right to use an appellation of origin is also published. | |
Trademarks Well-Known in the Russian Federation | Published with a selection of exhibits approved by the normative documents of Rospatent. | |
Notifications
| Information on the changes made to the Electronic State Registers of Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin and the List of Trademarks Well-Known in the Russian Federation is published. Information is supplied by the corresponding subdivisions of the Institute and Rospatent in the established form. | |
Since January, 2015, 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.
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://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_rospatent/pob;
- Official Publications section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/;
- Daily Publication of Information on Registered Trademarks and Appellations of Origin section: http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/days_tm.htm;
- Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.
Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
The Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, is published twice per month.
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;
- registration of a licensing agreement;
- changes (additions) to a licensing agreement;
- termination (premature) of a licensing agreement;
- registration of a sub-licensing agreement;
- changes (additions) to a sub-licensing agreement;
- termination (premature) of a sub-licensing agreement;
- registration of a commercial concession agreement;
- changes (additions) to a commercial concession agreement;
- termination (premature) of a commercial concession agreement;
- registration of a commercial sub-concession agreement;
- termination (premature) of a commercial sub-concession agreement;
- changes (additions) to a commercial sub-concession agreement;
- replacement of a national registration with an international registration;
- replacement of a national registration with an international registration for individual classes;
- recognition as completely invalid of the grant of legal protection for a trademark;
- recognition as partially invalid of the grant of legal protection for a trademark;
- premature termination of legal protection of a trademark, partially;
- premature termination of legal protection of a trademark, fully;
- cancellation of a decision to terminate legal protection of a trademark;
- recognition as invalid of a registration number;
- issue of a duplicate trademark certificate;
- division of an individual trademark registration;
- change to the list of persons having the right to use a collective mark;
- State registration of the transfer of the exclusive right in a trademark without agreement;
- State registration of a pledge (subsequent pledge) agreement;
- State registration of changes entered into a registered agreement;
- State registration of termination of a registered agreement;
- other changes relating to a trademark registration;
- correction of obvious and technical errors in Gazette publications.
In 2015, publication continued of notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration.
Forms of notification on international registrations:
- State registration of an agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
- State registration of amendments to a registered agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
- State registration of termination of a registered agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
- State registration of a pledge agreement (subsequent pledge) of the exclusive right in a trademark protected in 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/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/tz_zo_nmpt;
- In the Information Resources section, International Classification for Goods and Services subsection:
Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.
From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:
Register of 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 2015, access was provided to the texts of international and domestic classifications via the Internet:
- International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS, tenth edition, version 10-2015) 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), sixth edition, in Russian.
- Lexicographical information gazette of goods and services (LEXINFORM) for 2015, in Russian (two annual issues).
In 2015, new 2015 editions of these publications were prepared for issue as from January 1, 2015.
In 2015, work was done on the preparation of the amended 10th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services ICGS (10-2016), coming into force as of January 1, 2016 in three languages: Russian, English and French. The translated materials and the edited form in which they are presented take into account the linguistic peculiarities of terms in Russian. Specifically, for certain goods and services (English and/or French names), where necessary, possible versions for interpretation of the terms are included, reflecting the cognitive essence of the goods and services in Russian.
In 2015, as part of the preparation of amendments to the 10th edition of ICGS (10-2016), editing and additional translation of terms was carried out by LEXINTU. Work was likewise carried out to amend and correct generic groupings for the LEXINTU versions (languages: Russian, French, English and Spanish), designed for automated analysis in future of goods/ services submitted in applications to register trademarks and international registrations. LEXINTU is designed to work on the preparation of lists of goods and services for trademarks/service marks. The structure of LEXINTU assumes generic subordination of names of goods/services within a class in order to form groups of similar goods/services. This makes it possible to provide sets of goods/services within the class in a structured manner.
Editions of LEXINFORM include new names of goods and services, and also names that are not included in the ICGS, but are recommended by WIPO for familiarization. The information block, LEXINFORM, is in tabular form by ICGS class, indicating the generic group of the good or service. In 2015, LEXINFORM bulletins 12 and 13 were published.
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 (OHIM)
Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
In 2015, subscribers were provided with the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette based on official Rospatent information on CD/DVD, with a frequency of 24 issues 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 (2012-2014) were offered on CD/DVD.
In addition, users were offered sets of information on trademarks for 2005 to 2014 on one DVD for each year, as well as an array of retrospective information on trademarks for 1991 to 2004 on one DVD.
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.
Hard-copy and online users were also offered the International Classification of Goods and Services, tenth edition, 2015 version (ICGS 10-2015) for registration of marks, as well as Additions and Amendments to the International Classification of Goods and Services which came into force as of January 1, 2015.
Furthermore, users were offered free online access to information publications facilitating trademark classification and searching:
The International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, seventh edition;
The Lexical and Semantic Identifier of Goods and Services (seventh 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 2015, the Rospatent website provided online access to:
- registers of Russian trademarks;
- registers of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2015, supplemented by information on the prosecution of applications filed between 2008 and 2015;
- registers of international trademarks with the indication Russia;
- the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazettes published in the last month.
Rospatent registers of Russian patent documents contain the following databases:
- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 514,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2015 inclusive, updated daily);
- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 158 marks from 2001 to 2015, updated daily);
- a database of trademark applications (contains information on 458,000 applications from 2005 to 2015, updated daily);
On the FIPS website, users are provided with access to the information-search system (IPS).
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 2015 free access was granted to:
trademark databases:
- 9 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
- 3 users of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, Rosalkogolregulirovanie
all FIPS databases:
- 101 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
- 223 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 11 organizations of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service
- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
- 95 organizations of the taxation service
- 44 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights
- 2 users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies, RosOboronPostavka
- 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
- 4 users of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations
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 2015, internal and external users made more than 5,833,000 requests through the information-search system, of which approximately 9% related to trademark databases.
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 provided with free access to Rospatent’s Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazettes.
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://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;
How to Access Publications and Databases subsection: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;
- how to carry out a search – in the Information Resources section, Information-Search System:
Databases:
Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;
- Тrademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/ofic_pub/ofic_bul/tz_zo_nmpt;
- Information on how to access and use resources – in the Information-Search System section, Services:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;
Support:
Instructions for Using an Information-Search System:
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 open 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 and Rospatent 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://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.
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 2015 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.
In 2015, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location. The number of FIPS employees working remotely increased from 132 in 2014, to 178 in 2015.
In 2015, in order to improve the accessibility of State services provided by Rospatent, a hardware and software system was installed and configured which enables remote examination of claims and objections in the Chamber for Patent Disputes for inhabitants of the regions. Participation in the hearing is provided through a browser, and no additional software installation is required for external participants. Implementation of the system received a favourable response among patent attorneys.
Introduction of the 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 – 24 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 - 510 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 514,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2015 inclusive, updated daily);
- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 158 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 2015 (contains information on 458,000 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 2015, the total number of indexed trademarks comprised 1,169,437 marks with verbal and figurative search elements used to search for similarities between marks.
The search file is divided into groups, the size of which by number of processed trademarks as at the end of 2015 is in parentheses:
- with verbal elements (1,066,576 marks);
- with figurative elements (565,047 marks);
- with Vienna Classification codes (559,943 marks).
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.
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 2015, over 3,100 trademark gazettes from all countries were published on paper, and over 24,000 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.
Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at:
http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.
For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the What is Intellectual Property? heading in the For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.
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://www.fips.ru/el_bl/days_tm.htm.
In the Regulatory Documents section, the following guidelines can be found on various examination and prosecution issues:
- Recommendations on the application of provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation relating to a patent owner's consent to registration of a similar trademark: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_gk4.pdf;
- Guidelines on determining the similarity of goods and services when examining applications for the State registration of trademarks and service marks: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/met_rec_tm.pdf;
- Recommendations on individual matters concerning examination of designations representing labels and polygraphic packaging: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_poligraf.pdf;
- Guidelines on verification of claimed designations for identity and similarity: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/metod_rec_tojd.pdf.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
In 2015, FIPS’ VPTB Department held two thematic meetings on training to work with an electronic trademark filing system, in which 41 people participated via video-conference, organized by business entities enjoying the status of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC): the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), and the Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University.
In 2015, as part of the Program for Regional Information Support, Rospatent provided 23 new accesses to FIPS’ full-text databases (hereinafter, DB) to business entities in the Russian regions free of charge.
The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 302 organizations in nine federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2015. Access was provided to: 48 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 35 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 18 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nano-industry Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 133 TISC and 19 other organizations.
Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
At FIPS, professional development for employees is organized under the Common Training System (ESO), according to the principle of continuous training from the time of hiring. Both internal and external training methods are used. Guaranteeing conditions for the continuous professional development of employees is provided for under the FIPS Charter.
Organization of FIPS employee training using in-house training methods
In 2015, in accordance with the Combined Plans for In-House Training of Employees, as approved by the Director of FIPS, the following were held:
- 12 centralized sessions, for the managers of the structural subdivisions, their deputies, and senior FIPS employees, covering issues relevant to the practice of activities, and targeted at various categories of employee);
- 457 sessions directly in the FIPS subdivisions in accordance with the quarterly in-house training plans focused on studying newly released regulatory documents, issues in the performance of examinations, as well as analyzing the results of internal and external examination quality control in specific subdivisions.
During the fourth quarter of 2015, the main focus of the sessions was the study of new provisions of legal acts in the area of trademarks, entering into force at the end of the year.
FIPS employee training at RGAIS
Under FIPS higher professional education programs:
- Two FIPS employees gained a first degree in intellectual property management and Law respectively;
- 18 FIPS employees are continuing their studies on the masters’ program (in Law).
- Two FIPS employees are continuing their studies as post-graduates.
In 2015, 11 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in eight regions of the Russian Federation addressed issues relating to trademark protection in Russia, and international registration of marks:
- March 25 – regional practical research conference for specialists of the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Tambov State Technical University, Tambov);
- March 25-26 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (State Institution of Culture, F.I. Tyutchev Bryansk Regional Universal Scientific Library, Bryansk);
- April 22 – round table on ‘Trademarks, Appellations of Origin, and Geographical Indications’ as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
- April 22 – practical research conference, ‘Intellectual Property– Innovation Potential of Russia’, organized by Rospatent as part of the Eighth International Forum, ‘Intellectual Property in the 21st Century’, held at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Rospatent, Moscow);
- April 24 – round table on ‘Electronic Interaction of Applicants with FIPS’, as part of the events organized at the St.Petersburg city festival, ‘Intellectual Property Days, 2015’ (St. Petersburg);
- June 30 – regional practical research conference for specialists in the Crimean Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education, V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol’);
- September 23-24 – 19th Rospatent practical research conference, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Rospatent, ‘Intellectual Property: History and Current Trends’ (Rospatent, Moscow);
- September 30 – regional practical research conference for specialists in the Siberian Federal District of the Russian Federation, ‘Current Issues in Legal Protection and Use of the Results of Intellectual Activity and Means of Individualization’ (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Omsk State Technical University, Omsk);
- October 20-21 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (Federal State Independent Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, First President of Russia, B.N. Yeltsin, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg);
- October 27-28 – training seminar for Technology and Innovation Support Centers of the Russian Federation, organized in conjunction with WIPO with the participation of Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University (Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk);
- December 10 – scientific section meeting, ‘Intellectual Property and Innovation’, at the M. Gorky House of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg).
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 2015, the VPTB Division received trademark information from 44 countries and one international organization.
In 2015, 1,901 copies of Gazettes featuring trademarks were received from the United States of America, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany and other countries on all kinds of carriers: 24 copies on paper carrier; 226 copies on optical disks; 1,651 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:
- 33rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, March 16-20, 2015);
- 13th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, November 2-6, 2015);
- regional seminars organized by WIPO in conjunction with FIPS 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’, held in cities in the Russian Federation (March 25-26, 2015 in Bryansk, and October 20-21, 2015 in Yekaterinburg);
- participation in the Seminar on Trademarks, dedicated to the exchange of ideas and intellectual property practices from September 7-9, 2015 at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM, Alicante, Spain);
- participation of a Trademark Division representative from March 1, 2015, to March 1, 2015, in the WIPO program for exchanging specialists under the Madrid System (secondment to WIPO headquarters in Geneva for one year).
In 2015, 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 three FIPS and two WIPO employees delivered addresses:
• March 25-26 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (State Institution of Culture, F.I. Tyutchev Bryansk Regional Universal Scientific Library, Bryansk);
• October 20-21 – national seminar organized in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ (Federal State Independent Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, First President of Russia, B.N. Yeltsin, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg).
From April 2-5, 2015, at the 18th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2015, which was organized with Rospatent’s support, and attended by representatives of more than 315 organizations and more than 700 inventors, and participants from 17 countries and 44 regions of the Russian Federation, the competition program was included in the traditional International Exhibition competition for trademarks and appellations of origin, ‘Trademark- LEADER’.
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