Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2015 submitted by Croatia

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

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

The main policies and plans of the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office given in the Annual Work Plan for 2015 were focused on: the cooperation activities with the Office for Harmonization on the Internal Mark of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as: OHIM; from March 2016 OHIM was renamed as European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO))  and the EU national offices with regard the Convergence Programs and Common Tools aiming to facilitate the harmonisation of the industrial design practices and to improve the common tools for the benefit of the end users with the inclusion of the Office's design data to the DesignView search tool (common search tool with the information  on the registered design from the OHIM, national offices of EU member states and other participating offices);  the revision of the Guidelines on the basic requirements of industrial design protection in Croatia; the update of the Office's web site content with the explanations of the Convergence Programs and Common Tools implemented by the Office through the European Trade Mark and Design Network (ETMDN); the raising awareness of the importance of the industrial design protection through the on-line courses, lectures, seminars and courses to the academic community and the SME's.

Migration of data and functionality from the existing system to a new, open-source platform with the significant improvements made related to the work in the Internet environment which will improve a number of services of the Office.

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

The Office has continued with the implementation of the major project started in 2014 of migrating data and functionality from the existing system to a new, open-source platform which will improve a number of services of the Office.

The project DesignView resulted in May 2015 with the inclusion of the information on registered industrial design in Croatia to the common database of the registered design from the OHIM, national offices of EU member states and other participating offices. Besides the main aim of joining the industrial design common search tool the project encompassed the improvements of the Office's industrial design registry and search tool content through the collaboration of the in-house IT and industrial design specialists.

The Office continued to participate in convergence programs launched in 2014 related to the practice of national offices and OHIM in the graphical depiction of designs, which, along the program of convergence of classification of goods (the Locarno classification) has the objective to harmonize the procedural principles and the examination of formal requirements of industrial design applications, so as to ensure a greater degree of predictability and harmonization of the industrial design registration process for the applicants on the entire territory of the EU including the territory of Croatia. The revision of the Guidelines on the basic requirements of industrial design protection in Croatia started in 2015 with the aim to help end users in the registration process of the industrial design in particular how to fil in properly application form, the correct graphic representation of design, the correct use of disclaimers. Detailed information on the raising awareness activities of the Office are contained in Chapter V of this report.

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

The Office joined the platform of the EU national offices and OHIM called the Maintenance of Cooperation Fund Tools aiming to improve the quality of a significant number of the implemented common databases namely: DesignView – an industrial design search tool, Quality Standards – a quarterly statistics on  the average duration of the proceedings phases related to the registration and maintenance of industrial design rights, Forecasting – generating trade mark and design filing forecasts for the Office.

Through the joined platform the changes and improvements proposed are examined and voted for the implementation. The mentioned common tools represent the important support to the end-users and the Office in an industrial design registration process and in the follow up of the results of the Office activities related to the industrial design protection.

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

Number of industrial design applications (inc. multiple applications)

 Number of designs contained in industrial design applications

 Industrial designs in force (according to number of industrial design applications)

Industrial designs in force (according to number of industrial designs contained in industrial design applications)

In the year 2015, the number of industrial designs applications filed by national route with the SIPO decreased by 8.4 % compared to the previous year, whereas the number of designs contained in industrial designs applications decreased by 18.1 % compared to the previous year.
In 2015 the majority of designs in the national applications were filed in class 09 and class 19 of the Locarno classification.

In 2015 the number of application filed by international route (Hague Agreement) decreased by 7.7 % compared to the previous year, whereas the number of designs contained in internationally filed application decreased by 11, 8 % compared to the previous year.

The number of international applications (designations HR) and the number of international registrations (designations HR) continues to fall as a consequence of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.

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

Annual report:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/o-zavodu/godisnje-izvjesce/arhiva-g-i/  (HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/about-sipo/annual-report/archive/  (EN)

Statistics:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/o-zavodu/statistika-ind-vlasnistva/  (HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/about-sipo/ip-statistics/  (EN)

Official gazette:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/glasnik-hgiv (HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette (EN)

News:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/novosti/  (HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/news/  (EN)

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 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

Filing on paper (instructions, Guidelines on the basic requirements of industrial design protection in Croatia with the practical examples):

http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/uputa_dizajn.pdf

http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/Industrijski_dizajn_vodic.pdf

E-filing :

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/e-prijava/

WIPO's Leaflet: “Looking Good: An Introduction to Industrial Designs for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises“.
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/Dobar_izgled.pdf

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/glasnik-hgiv (HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette (EN)

Industrial Designs search:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/industrijski-dizajn/

(HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/industrial-designs

(EN)

Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

The 10th edition of the Locarno Classification has been used since January 1, 2014. That edition is translated in its entirety to the Croatian language and published in April 2015 on the URLs: http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/klasifikacije/locarno/

The office's  communication to the  Committee of Experts of the Locarno Union (hereinafter “the Committee”) for amendments and additions to the 10^th edition of the Locarno classification  was for the most of its proposals adopted in the 12^th session of the Committee held in October 2015.

Other activities

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III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Official Gazette :
http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette

Industrial Designs search:

http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/industrijski-dizajn/

(HR)

http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/industrial-designs/

(EN)

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

Since 2006 Official Gazette of the SIPO is published monthly, and starting with the issue No. 05/2009 of May 2009 the Office discontinued publishing the Gazette in printed version and publishes it since only as an electronic publication. From October 2013 the frequency of Gazette’s publication has increased to every two weeks publication. The Gazette is fully available free of charge in the PDF-format at the official Office's web site http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/, including the archive of the earlier editions (issued from 1994 onwards). The gazette is also published on CD-ROM as an individual publication on the request of a user (against the payment). Official Gazette contains following information on industrial design: Publication of Changes Entered in the Industrial Design Register, Publication of Industrial Design, Industrial Design Indexes by Numbers, Classification Symbols and Owners, Publication of Changes Entered into the Industrial Design Register, Publication of Corrections of Data to Published, Industrial Design Registrations, Publication of the Granted Industrial Designs Extensions Publication of Industrial Design Expirations, Publication of Information on International Registrations of Industrial Designs with effect in the Republic of Croatia. The information regarding published industrial design registrations is also available in the Office database containing public data from the Industrial designs register, accessible through the Office website, free of charge. A range of search options is available, including: Date of Application, Proprietor, Image, Locarno Class.

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

Industrial Designs Register available to examiners and formality officers is used for filing all bibliographic data concerning the particular design application. The Register is interlinked with the electronic depository of the design documents. The coverage of the national industrial design documents in electronic form is complete since year 2000 and partially since 1991 when the Office was established. The document collection is maintained by an in-house developed document management system.
International industrial designs data in XML format are weekly downloaded from the WIPO’s ftp site. After processing data are available through the related software tool. Those data are used for substantive examination of the international industrial designs designated for Croatia.

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

General information on the industrial design and industrial design registration procedures is provided free of charge. It can be obtained face-to-face at the Office’s Information Centre (acronym INCENTIV, http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/incentiv/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/information-centre/), by phone, via fax, e-mail or posted letter, and is also available at the Office’s web site (http://www.dziv.hr/hr/intelektualno-vlasnistvo/industrijski-dizajn/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/intellectual-property-protection/industrial-designs/the-registration-process0/).

Industrial design's databases professional search services and registry extracts are available upon user’s request and payment. Standard design search services, based on the appearance and description, include the following search criteria: applicant/owner, class, subclass, or name of the product according to the Locarno Classification, and bibliographic data. Tailor-made search services are also available upon request.

On-line, free-of-charge, self-search services (e-services) of national register are available to users at http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/industrijski-dizajn/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/industrial-designs/, and http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/medjunarodni-dizajn/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/international-designs-hr/, as well as links to the e-search-services of other institutions at http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/usluge-pretrazivanja/bp-iv-bez-naknade/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/non-commercial-ip-db.

Public computers in the INCENTIV premises are available to users free-of-charge for on-line database searches and web browsing.

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

Detailed legal status information is available in the Industrial Designs Register, accessible only to the Office staff, while the basic information on the legal status is available to the public on the Office's web site:

http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/industrial-designs/

Other sources

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

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

A wide set of software tools has been developed in-house to support business procedures of the Office, providing a range of tools for efficient processing of the applications and other documents.

Office's software system is in the process of migration to a new (open-source platform).

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

- 20Mbit/s leased line used for Internet connection,

- CISCO Network Equipment (LAN based on Fast Ethernet - 1000/100/10 Mbit/s).

SERVERS:

All servers are virtualized under VMware (except mail server)

- VMware vSphere 5.5 Essentials Plus Kit for 3 hosts, 192 GB RAM

- Physical Servers:

- Dell PowerEdge R610 64GRAM; 12 x CPU Intel Xeon E5645

- Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Xeon E5645

- Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Xeon E5645

Virtualized servers are on the following operating systems:

- Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise

- Win SERVER 2003 St. Ed.

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

- SUSE Linux Enterprise 10

- Debian GNU/Linux 6

Mail Server:

- MS Exchange 2010 Server Enterprise,

- Physical Server: Fujitsu RX300 S5

- OS Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise

Workstations:

- Desktop - PC Pentium IV with WIN XP PROF or WIN 7

- Notebooks - OS - MS WIN 7 or WIN 8

Storage

- NAS:

- NetApp DATA ONTAP Release 8.0.2P4

- IBM N3400, 12x600GB SAS, 24x 1TB SATA disks

Backup software

- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 Server Win Per Server Bndl

- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 Option Ndmp Win Per Server

Backup tape device

- Dell PowerVault TL2000

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The bibliographic data are stored in industrial designs database and designs images are stored in a network file directory. They are interlinked by different software tools. Data coverage is a complete set of industrial designs data since year 2000 and partial data since 1991 (when the office was established).

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

The Office does not carry out examination of the novelty and individual character of industrial design as a part of the granting procedure so no search file is built in the processing of application. Published industrial designs data (grants) can be searched at the Office's web site through the web-server application (MS Windows 2003 server and mySQL database).

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

From September 2014 SIPO’s used an open source database postgreSQL (before that an ingres database was used). An Electronic Industrial Design’s Register is used for filing all bibliographic data concerning the particular industrial design. All industrial design changes (change of ownership, change of name, address, licence, etc.) are recorded and are maintained by Industrial design Register user interface.

Since year 2000 SIPO has developed its own document management system in electronic form that is meeting office needs (all incoming and outgoing documents have been scanned in Adobe Acrobat).

International industrial design data in XML format are weekly loaded from the WIPO’s ftp site. After processing data are available through the application “HAGUE”. Those data are used for examination and publication purposes.

MS Word is used for automatic generation of output documents. MS Excel is used for (automatic) generation of specific reports, which are used, for annual SIPO’s report, WIPO statistics and for other purposes (improving industrial design processes).

Published industrial design data (applications/grants) can be searched at the SIPO’s internet site http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/industrial-designs/ through the SIPO's web-server application (MS Windows 2003 server and mySQL database).

The Office does not carry out examination on the novelty and individual character of industrial design as a part of the granting procedure so no search file is built in the processing of application. Published industrial designs data (grants) can be searched at the Office's web site through the web-server application (MS Windows 2003 server and mySQL database).

Other matters

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

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

The Office's Library (http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica & http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/) operates within the Office's Information Centre (acronym INCENTIV, http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/incentiv/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/information-centre/). Library public services include access to the collections and the reading room, available to public during the working hours of INCENTIV. Library collections are available at the Library premises and on-line at the Office's web page (http://knjiznica.dziv.hr/). User inquiries and reservation requests can also be made via e-mail (knjiznica@dziv.hr). The collections contain numerous books and periodicals, primarily in the field of IP or related fields, and are catalogued in the regularly maintained database.

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

Industrial design leaflets and publications:

• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/pristojbe/zahtjev_oslob_plac_up.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/pristojbe/Letak_uplatnica_1.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/pristojbe/Letak_uplatnica_2.pdf
    
• http://it-app.dziv.hr/Uplatnice/
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/pristojbe/industrijski_dizajn.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/pristojbe/prist_trosk_pregled_DIZAJN.htm
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/uputa_dizajn.pdf?v=2
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/Industrijski_dizajn_vodic.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/brosura_dizajn.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/Dobar_izgled.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/Letak_DIZAJN_web.pdf
    
• http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/zastita/Lokarnska_10.pdf
    
• http://dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/D-1_ispunjeni.pdf
    
• http://dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/industrijski/D-2_ispunjeni.pdf

The Office's Library: 
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica/ & http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/

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

Permanent cooperation in education of undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers has been established with the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Tourism of the University of Pula, Faculty of Architecture (Design study) of the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology of the University of Zagreb.

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

Seminars, Workshops and Lectures on Intellectual Property for Academic Community in 2015

• Seminar      for students of the Faculty of Law in Rijeka – Zagreb, 16 January 2015
• Lecture      at the postgraduate specialist study “Human Resources and the Society of      Knowledge” and the subject of the “Economics of Science” at the Faculty of      Economics and Tourism of the University of Pula - Pula, 13 February 2015
• Participation      in the FaksUp 2015 conference at the College for Information Technologies      with a lecture on intellectual property intended for education of      secondary schoolers and students – Zagreb, 19 February 2016
• Seminar      for students and staff of the VERN University of Applied Sciences -      Zagreb, 10 April 2015
• Lecture      “Trademark and Industrial Design Registration Procedures”, Faculty of      Architecture, School of Design – Zagreb, 22 May 2015
• Seminar      for students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka – Zagreb,      26 November 2015
• Seminar      for researchers under the scholarship of the NEWFELPRO project (Workshop      on intellectual property (IP) for NEWFELPRO researchers) - Zagreb, 11      December 2015
• Seminar      for students of the Faculty of Economics and Tourism in Pula- Zagreb, 15      December 2015

Lectures for Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises in 2015

• Lectures      on fundamentals of intellectual property and its use in business intended      for representatives of small and medium enterprises within the educational      programme of the Development Agency Zagreb - Zagreb, 8 May 2015; 13      November 2015
• Lectures      on the application of intellectual property in business and assessing the      potential of intellectual property       (IPP) in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce,      intended for its employees and representatives of SMEs in the County      Chamber Rijeka - Rijeka, 9 June 2015
• Seminar      “Protection and Application of Intellectual Property in Business of Small      and Medium Enterprises” – Šibenik, 30 September – 1 October 2015
• Seminar      "Boosting the development of SMEs and Innovations in Production      Processes“ within the European Small and Medium Enterprises Week in IDA/      Istrian Development Agency Pula- Pula,17 November 2015
• Seminar      on intellectual property for representatives of small and medium      enterprises in the County Chamber Čakovec - Čakovec, 1 December 2015
• Seminar      on intellectual property for representatives of small and medium      enterprises in the County Chamber Karlovac - Karlovac, 4 December 2015

Seminars and workshops for the representatives of state institutions and judicial bodies in 2015

• Workshop for judges "Intellectual property      Rights – Basic Module", in cooperation with the Judicial Academy -      Zagreb, 1 October 2015

Public Seminars and Distance Learning Courses organized in 2015:

• Lectures for citizens on the occasion of the celebration      of the World Intellectual Property Day “Intellectual Property Days” -      Zagreb, 22 – 24 April 2015
• General Course on Intellectual Property      (DL-101HR) – 9 March – 22 April 2015; 12 October – 25 November 2015

Public Events in which the Office Participated in 2015

• Public events within the action      Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy – Velika Gorica, 14 June.2015; Zadar, 21      June 2015
• Celebration of the Europe Day -      Zagreb, 9 May 2015
• European Researchers’ Night -      Zagreb, 25 September 2015
• 13th International Innovation      Exhibition ARCA 2015 - Zagreb, 15 -18 October 2015
• 19th International Fair SASO -      Split, 21 – 24 October 2015
• Exhibition INOVA – Budi uzor      2015 - Karlovac, 5 - 7 November 2015
• Croatian Book Month 2015 -      Zagreb, 11 November 2015

Professional and Promotional Events in which the Office Participated

• Horizon      2020 – information day of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie action: Research and      Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) - Zagreb, 6 March 2015
• Summit      of Creative Cultural Industries - Zagreb, 21 – 22 May 2015
• Celebration      of the European Small and Medium Enterprises Week – Pula, 17 November 2015
• International      Copyright Creativity Conference (MAKK) and 19^th Copyright      Consultation - Zagreb, 26 – 27 November 2015
• 6^th      Intellectual Property Rights Conference “Intelektiv” - Zagreb, 9 December      2015

Other activities

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VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

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

In 2015 the Office finalised the activities to exchange the design information in machine-readable form with the OHIM which resulted with the supply of data to the common public database DesignView that includes design data from the OHIM, national offices of EU member states and other participating offices.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

The Office participates in Liaison meetings with other national industrial designs offices of the European Union member states and the OHIM and extends this cooperation to the Convergence.

The Office participated  during 2015 in convergence programs initiated in 2014 related to the practice of national offices and the OHIM in the graphical depiction of designs, which, along the program of convergence of classification of goods (the Locarno classification) has the objective to harmonize the procedural principles and the examination of formal requirements of industrial design applications.

The Office contributed to the improvement of the Locarno classification system through the proposals of amendments and additions to the 10th edition of the Locarno classification resulted in the adoption for the most of its proposals in the 12th session of the Committee of Experts of the Locarno Union in October 2015.

Assistance to developing countries

Study visits organized in SIPO

Study visits organized in other countries          

Other activities

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VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

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