CWS.ATR.PI.2012.SK

Annual Technical Report 2012 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Slovakia (CWS/ATR/PI/2012/SK)

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.

The term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year

Patents

There were 203 patent applications filed with the IPO SR in 2012; it is decrease by 20.7 per cent in comparison with 2011. PCT applications form 6.9 per cent (14 applications) of all applications.
The number of applications filed by domestic applicants (168) decreased by 24.7 per cent and applications filed by foreign applicants (35) increased by 6.1 per cent. Poland (11), the Czech Republic (9,) Germany (6) and the U.S.A. (4) had the largest share in the total number of patent applications filed by foreign applicants (35).

161 patents were granted in 2012; it is decrease by 42.9 per cent in comparison with 2011.

From January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 there were 28 supplementary protection certificate applications filed. All of them were filed by foreign applicants; the most of them were from the U.S.A. - 7, and from Germany - 4; 16 supplementary protection certificates were granted in 2012.

European Patents

In 2012, 3 European patent applications were filed with the IPO SR.

2.376 translations of European patent specifications were published in 2012; it is 4.5 per cent more than in the previous year.


There were 13,390 valid patents entered in the Patent Register of the IPO SR by December 31, 2012; 3,170 of them were national patents granted; 10,220 were European patents with designation for SR.


Utility Models

There were 392 utility model applications filed with the Office in 2012. This number decreased by 8.0 per cent in comparison with the previous year. The number of applications filed by Slovak applicants decreased by 14.9 per cent (298). The share of Slovak applicants in total number of 392 applications is 76.0 per cent.

Decrease by 5.0 per cent occurred in the number of registered utility models (358).

By December 31, 2012, there were 1,689 utility models valid in the Slovak Republic.


For comparison, there is the statistics on filed patent applications, granted patents, utility model applications, registered utility models and translations of European patent specifications in 2005 - 2012:

Patentandutilitymodelstatistics_2012

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year

Patents

Applications in the field of Transporting, Conveying and Storing (9.9 per cent) and Electricity (8.42 per cent) Engines and Pumps (7.43 per cent) had the largest share.

Utility Models

The most registered utility models were from the field of Building (15.08 per cent), Transporting, Conveying and Storing (10.61 per cent), Personal or Domestic Articles (8.66 per cent).

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to patents

URL to Annual Technical Reports on Patents:
http://www.upv.sk/?vyrocne-technicke-spravy

URL to Annual Reports of the IPO SR:
http://www.upv.sk/?annual-reports

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)

Main Types of Publications of the Office:

Patent Documents (codes of documents according to the WIPO ST.16):

-Published patent applications (A3)
-Patent specifications (B6)
-Supplementary protection certificates (without code)
-Translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (T1)
-Corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (T2)
-Translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (T3)
-Corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (T4)
-Translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (T5)
-Published utility model applications (U1)
-Registered utility models without change (Y1)
-Registered utility models with change (Y2)
-Corrections of patent documents (A8, A9, B8, B9, U8, U9, Y8, Y9, T8, T9)

Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR“

Patents and utility model information forms part of the Official Gazette - “Vestník ÚPV SR”, covering all industrial property rights in one publication. IPO SR publishes official version of the Official Gazette in electronic form on CD ROM in PDF format. In 2012 the Gazette had a circulation of 130 copies, of which 33 were distributed monthly by subscription. Other copies were sent free of charge to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO SR, to information and consulting sites INNOINFO, within the frame of industrial property information exchange to foreign offices and as statutory copies according to the act as well. In 2011 the Office ceased the publication of online version of the Gazette in the Internet. It was replaced by its electronic version in PDF format, which is available via Internet address http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky.

The following numbers of documents were published in the Official Gazette in 2012:

196 published patent applications
190 granted patents
294 published utility model applications
365 registered utility models
27 applications for granting SPC's
12 granted SPC's
3 translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK
2376 translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK
20 corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK

Distribution

The Office distributed Slovak patent specifications in a paper form to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO SR to build territorial funds of national patent documentation and to the IPO of the Czech Republic within the frame of international exchange. The Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR” was distributed within the frame of mutual exchange to 30 countries including organisations EPO and WIPO last year.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

The Gazette contains announcements on granted patents and patent applications, including translations of European patents and patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK, announcements on applications for supplementary protection certificates and granted supplementary protection certificates and announcements on utility model applications and registered utility models, arranged in following main chapters:

PATENTS
-list of published patent applications (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data and abstracts of published patent applications with an image, where available (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of granted patents (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of granted patents (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-suspended patent application procedures
-patents lapsed by reason of abandonment
-lapsed (expired) patents
-patents lapsed by reason of failure to pay renewal fee
-refused patent applications
-revocations of patents
-partial revocations of patents
-assignments and transfers of rights to patents and patent applications
-changes of rights of disposal to patents and patent applications (lien)
-changes of rights of disposal to patents and patent applications (termination of lien)
-license offers to patent applications and patents
-withdrawals of licence offers to patent applications and patents
-license contracts registered or granted to patents
-the termination of force of license contracts to patents
-patents registered in the register after declassification
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

UTILITY MODELS
-list of published utility model applications (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of published utility model applications (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of registered utility models (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered utility models (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of registered utility models with the extended term of validity (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered utility models with extended term of validity (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-abandoned utility models
-lapsed (expired) utility models
-utility models lapsed by reason of failure to pay renewal fee
-cancelled utility models
-partially cancelled utility models
-assignments and transfers of rights to utility models
-changes of the rights of disposal to utility models (lien)
-changes of the rights of disposal to utility models (termination of lien)
-license contracts registered or granted
-termination of force of license contracts
-registered utility models in the register after declassification
-forfeitures of protection and transfers of an applicant or owner(on the basis of the court decision)
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

EUROPEAN PATENTS
-list of available translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-suspended procedures on European patent applications by reason of withdrawal
-conversions of the European patent applications to national applications
-abandoned European patents
-revocations of European patents
-partial revocations of European patents
-lapsed (expired) European patents
-European patents lapsed by reason of failure to pay the maintenance fees
-assignment and transfer of the rights to European patents and European patent applications
-changes of the rights of disposal to European patents and European patent applications (lien)
-changes of the rights of disposal to European patents and European patent applications (termination of lien)
-license offers to European patents and European patent applications
-withdrawals of licence offers to European patents and European patent applications
-license contracts registered or granted
-termination of force of license contracts
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

SUPPLEMENTARY PROTECTION CERTIFICATES
-bibliographic data of published applications for granting supplementary protection certificates (arranged according to document numbers)
-bibliographic data of granted supplementary protection certificates (arranged according to document numbers)
-suspended procedures on applications for granting a supplementary protection certificate
-refused applications for granting a supplementary protection certificate
-published applications for extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates
-extended terms of validity of supplementary protection certificates
-revocations of extended terms of validity of supplementary protection certificates
-suspended procedures and refused applications for extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of granting contrary to Article 3 of the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009, respectively No. 1610/96
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of lapse of basic patent before expire of validity term
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of revocation or limitation of basic patent
-change of validity term of supplementary protection certificate as amended by Article 17 (2) of the Regulation (EC) No. 1610/96 of the European Parliament and Article 17 of the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1768/92
-assignments and transfers of rights for applications for granting the supplementary protection certificate
-lapsed supplementary protection certificates
-license contracts registered or granted to supplementary protection certificate
-assignments and transfers of rights for the supplementary protection certificate
-changes in data of applicants for granting the supplementary protection certificate
-changes in data of owners of the supplementary protection certificates
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

Patent documents are available in paper form in the Office’s library, also in electronic form in the Office’s web site and on ESPACE ®-PRECES CD-ROM by the end of 2008 only (CD-ROM contains patents from the Region of Eastern and Central European States). ESPACE ® ACCESS PRECES (complete bibliographic information) is used as an index to these fulltext CD-ROMs.

Word processing and office automation

Text processing and office administration automation is ensured by application of databases of patents, utility models, European patents and supplementary protection certificates.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), etc.)

MS Office 2007, FineReader 11, Adobe Acrobat 10 Professional SK, Corel Draw 11, Adobe InDesign Standard CS5.5, Photoshop CS5.1, EPSON Scan 3.74 SK are being used for text processing, photocomposing and printing.

For the digitalization of patent documents scanner Fujitsu fi-4340C and software tools Eposcan 1.03.08 (scanning and indexing of documents) were used, along with Wipost33 EPO 1.04.00 (conversion of scanned and indexed documents to BAC format according to the WIPO Standard ST.33) and ST.33 to PDF in version dated 23rd February 2007 (conversion of documents from BAC format to PDF 1.3).

SLEX99 – Lexicon of Slovak Language contains following parts: Short Dictionary of Slovak Language, Slovak Dictionary of Synonyms, Rules of Slovak Grammar, used for the data processing. The photocomposing and printing is carried out by the Office.

The Desk-Top Publishing technology is being used for data and images processing, for the Gazette and first pages of patent documents.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data

ON-LINE DATABASES
http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage.
National databases are:
-"Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters", gives public access to information from national registers of industrial property rights and are updated daily http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en

-“Patent documents of the IPO SR” - SK and CS patent documents including bibliographic data and also complete patent documents, utility models documents and European patents documents with designation of SR
http://data.indprop.gov.sk/Patenty/index.php?jazyk=sk&typdokumentu=patenty&new=1

-“Classification Systems” http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia contains classifications used in Slovakia and abroad :

Patent classifications
http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia-patenty

including various additional information.

-Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" may be viewed on the address http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette - each issue is available as a one PDF file containing the whole issue. At the same time it is divided into PDF files containing only selected parts of the gazette, e.g.: patents, designs, trademarks or official announcements. In the archive on this webpage are available the previous volumes also in PDF format. The older volumes are gradually being added.

In the part ”International and EU databases” there are links to the most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/?zahranicne-online-databazy#patenty.

ON-LINE ORDERS
http://www.upv.sk/?online-orders

The IPO SR provides electronic order forms for Official Gazette, magazines Intellectual Property and E-zine, expert publications of the IPO SR and IPO CZ, Annual Reports, patent documents and searches (see the part „Products and Services“, chapter VI).

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

Abstracts printed on the first pages of patent documents as well as a part of official announcements are revised and in case of need corrected by the Office’s experts before publication of patent and utility model applications. Abstracts appear only in case of patent application and utility model application publications in the Official Gazette. The English translation of abstracts are being sent to the European Patent Office for the publication in the database Espacenet.

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), and reclassification³ activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

Patent applications and utility model applications were classified, preclassified (i.e. preliminarily classified at the subclass level) and reclassified by Office’s experts according to the edition MPT 2012.01 of the International Patent Classification. The WIPO Standards ST.8 and ST.10/C were also used for these purposes. Classification of applications was conducted before the publication of the application, while final specification of the classification symbol can be done during the search of the application. Patent applications were preclassified by allotting subclass symbols to route a patent application to the appropriate examiner or for statistical purposes. Reclassifying of applications according to the current edition of the IPC was carried out after entry of a new edition of the IPC core level into force.

The IPC 2012.01 had been used in the Office for classification the Slovak patent documents until the end of 2012.

Software tools to operate the Slovak version of the IPC in standardized electronic form in the Internet were implemented within co-operation with the WIPO. The tools simplify preparation of Slovak translations of the IPC issued annually after changes effective since 2011. Slovak editions of the IPC in the electronic form are made accessible to public and the Office employees on the site http://mpt.upv.sk/ or http://ipc.indprop.gov.sk.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

The WIPO Standard ST. 9 is used for patent and utility model bibliographic data coding in all relevant outcomes or records. All bibliographic data are being processed in electronic database form. The fully searchable data are updated and made available to the public daily in the Internet.

Digitalisation

In 2012, the Office continued in regular monthly digitalisation of new entries of national patent documentation (patent applications, patent specifications, utility model applications, utility models), corrected documents to relevant patent documents issued by the Office, translations of patent claims of European patent applications and translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK. The Office also continued the production of Official Gazette on CD ROM.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The patent documentation search file used by the patent examiners and the technical public contains patent documents from 26 countries, the EPO, the WIPO and the OAPI, patent gazettes from 35 countries, including the EPO and the WIPO and the non-patent literature (20 titles of technical periodicals and 9.375 titles of special literature).

Updating

Updating of patent documentation search file is performed regularly according to current technical possibilities.

Storage, including mass storage media

The basis of the patent fund forms the collection stored on the paper medium (cca 10 millions documents). However the majority of the patent documentation is currently received on electronic carriers. In 2012 the regular annual accession of optical discs reached 286 pieces of optical discs with full texts and bibliographic information concerning the patent documents.

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file

IPO SR is maintaining the patent documentation collection stored in paper form, which forms, as a part of PCT minimum documentation, the basis of search files within the range:
-from 1950 to 1992: the documentation DD (from 1958), DE (from 1951), CH (from 1944), FR (from 1945), GB (from 1967), PL (from 1963), SU (from 1941), US (from 1960) and the documentation EPO (from 1978) a WIPO (from 1978)
-from 1919 to the present: national documentation SK and formal CS
-from 1993 to the present: national documentation CZ

Since 1993 the Office has been receiving patent documents stored on optical discs from following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, France, Georgia, Italy, Japan, Canada, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, United States of America, United Kingdom and from international organisations EPO, OAPI and WIPO.

In 2012, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR continued in receiving patent and utility model gazettes from the following states and organizations: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Benelux, Brazil, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Spain, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ukraine, EPO and WIPO. The previously received gazettes from: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia , Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and US also constitute the available search files of the office.

V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

In-house systems (online/offline)

The Office keeps and creates national search database of granted patents, registered utility models and supplementary protection certificates, which serves for searches and purposes of proceedings on patent applications, utility model applications and applications for granting and extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates. Nowadays, selected data are also available to public via Internet.

It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for granted patents, published patent applications, registered utility models, utility model applications, European patents with designation for SK and supplementary protection certificates.

Following search CD-ROM are being used through the local CD-ROM network by the Ultranet 2000 system:

IPO SR Official Gazette
ESPACE - ACCESS EP - A (2009)
ESPACE - ACCESS EP - B (2009)
ESPACE - ACCESS - EPC (EUROPE) (2006)
ESPACE – PRECES (1993-2007)
ESPACE - ACCESS - PRECES (1993-2007)
ESPACE - ACCESS – RUSSIA (1994-2001)
ESPACE – BULLETIN (2009)
PAJ (1976-2004)
GlobalPat (1971-2000)
legal and economic information, encyclopaedia and statistics
translating dictionaries

External databases

Searches carried out in the STN on-line service (e.g. CAS), access to EPOQUE, Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPI) available within the EPOQUE, EPO Global Patent Index and the like databases.

Using the EPO Internet database Espacenet, European Patent Register (with links to national registry data) and other free available databases of national offices (e.g. Czech patent and utility models databases, USPTO national database, IPOUK national database) and WIPO search system PATENTSCOPE.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)

The Office automation management system – software “INVENTIO” contains registers of patents, European patents with designation for SK, utility models, supplementary protection certificates and PCT registry (data since 1993 – patents, data since 2003 - European patents with designation for SK, data since 1992 – utility models, data since 2002 - supplementary protection certificates and data since 1995 – PCT applications filed with IPO SR as a receiving office).

Administrative management system is based on Lotus Domino and Fabasoft eGov Suite.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

Equipment used:
LAN is built on base of the Cisco technology, Fast ETHERNET 1000/100/10 Mbit/s, WINDOWS 2003 / 2008 Server; MS SQL Server 2005 / 2008; workstations PC Pentium, Windows XP / 7, thin client WYSE V10, WYSE S10, HP t5740.

Linux Red Hat Enterprise 4.0,
Informix Dynamic Server 10,
Citrix XenApp 5.0 FP3,
Ultranet – Ultra Console 2000

SAN HP MSA 1500 CS, SAN HP MSA P2000, G3
HP Storage Works MSL SDLT 5026 series library, MSL LTO 4048,
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.07.01

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings

In 2012, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 1 305 users and 1 290 of it were from the public. In total there were provided 6 247 borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 22 090 copies of patent documents and other industrial property documents for the manual and computer search purposes, as well as copies from technical periodicals and other associated and non-patent literature were made. In 2012 there were performed 66 patent searches and 36 searches on bibliographic data.

The Office’s reading room serves as a WIPO deposit library as well. The deposit library fund includes 173 volumes of publications issued by WIPO, which are available for study in reading room.

The Office’s reading room including the search workstation opens daily from 8:00 to 15:00.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

In the last year were processed 6 781 patent documents in paper form and 286 optical discs containing full texts and bibliographic information relating to patent documents as well to made them available for search purposes. The entire acquisition of patent documents amounted to 1 149 878 documents, out of which 1 143 097 entries represented documents in electrical form. Other new entries, for instance Official Gazettes of the foreign offices (22) and miscellaneous associated literature, were processed on the monthly basis.

The patent literature (patent documentation and official gazettes) were acquired within the frame of mutual exchange and the non-patent literature mostly by purchase or as a gift.

Collection management, preservation

A list of the complete patent documentation was regularly updated on the Office’s web site.

Non-patent literature was processed, stored according to librarian rules and made available via in-house database system “Knižnica” to the staff.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

Patent Information Centres and Contact and Information Points

Since 2003 the Office has established 10 contact and information points, while four of them are the Patent Information Centres. They are located in state, regional and district libraries as well as in the Slovak National Library (SNK) in Martin and Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI) in Bratislava. A list of centres and points is available on the Office’s web site http://www.upv.sk/?partners.

The main goal of patent information centres is to provide complex information services in the field of patent, trademark and industrial design information, search services, consultation and methodical assistance concerning the searching of information, making copies of required patent documents, printing records from electronic form etc. Every patent information centre serve as a contact and information point.

The main goal of contact and information points of the Office is to inform the public about where can apply for protection of the results of creative activity, and particularly to inform the general public about the existence of the national institution, which protects immaterial goods, industrial property.

The Office supported the activity of centres and contact and information points by regular sending Slovak patent specifications in paper form and the Official Gazette in electronic form, as well as all information materials and recourses made available to the public, publications published by Office, information pamphlets, documents and forms relating to applying for protection of industrial property rights, access to offices databases via Internet etc.

The co-operation with patent information centres and contact and information points within the PATLIB network, which is being realised on the basis of mutual cooperation agreements, continued also in 2012.

It is the second year that PATLIB centre of Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava (CVTI) has participated in the pilot project of the European Patent Office (EPO) aimed at re-orientation of PATLIB centres. The goal of the project is the introduction of new innovative and supporting services and cooperation with regional or national network to support innovations. Project will run to the end of 2013, with an option of extension for two more years.

The realization of the pilot project is based on a working plan, which was elaborated in cooperation of CVTI and the office. PATLIB centre submits to the EPO the evaluation report relating to results achieved within the project twice a year.

Information and Advisory Points for Innovations (InnoInfo)

The mission of InnoInfo centres http://www.upv.sk/?information-and-advisory-points-for-innovation-innoinfo operating in the regions of Slovakia is to orientate especially the small and medium sized entrepreneurs in the field of innovations and industrial property. InnoInfo centres are established in business incubators, regional advisory and information centres, regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at the Universities of technical orientation.

Co-operation of the IPO SR with Trenčín Regional Chamber of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the BIC Bratislava, Ltd. has been having a high level for years, but we can not say this about other satellites of the Office. Therefore in 2012 those responsible employees of the Office visited all information and advisory centres involved in the InnoInfo Project to develop meaningful and mutually beneficial co-operation. The InnoInfo representatives were at first interested in information leaflets and the actual publications on IP protection to be sent regularly as well as in organising expert seminars related to these issues together with the Office.

The IPO SR representatives met the entrepreneurs from tourism in Kysuce in December 2012 to provide basic information on brand building. The representative of the Regional Development Agency Kysuce in Čadca organised the meeting. The Agreement on Mutual Co-operation with the Directress of the Banská Bystrica Regional Chamber of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BBRC SCCI) Marína Spirová was signed on September 27, 2012. The Agreement was the base for creation of the 15th InnoInfo. The partners included into the network made InnoInfo available on their web sites to provide basic information on IP protection of signs, technical solutions and designs.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

The Office library provides following services to the public:

-methodical and consultation assistance for the public
-general information provided by Office's experts
-lending service (patent documents, Official Gazettes, special monographs, patent associated literature and reference literature) in the reading room
-sale of special monographs and periodical publications (“Intellectual Property” in paper, Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR” on CD-ROM) upon request or on the place
-reprographic services upon request or on the place
-sending of copies of patent documents upon request
-searches on state of the art, international patent search, searches on patent families, bibliographic data upon request in written or on-line form
-on-line searches in Office’s databases for patents, European patents with designation for SK, utility models and supplementary protection certificates and self-service during a personal visit
-monitoring of the state of selected technical fields upon request (permanent sending of documents)
-registry information provided in the reading room
-CD-ROM workstations available in the reading room


Patent information on the World Wide Web:

-general information
-information about Office activities (seminars, training courses, etc.)
-application guide and forms
-administrative fees
-relevant laws
-Annual Reports
-extracted data from register
-patent specifications (meanwhile since 1993)
-Official Gazette (PDF form)
-order forms (searches, patent documents, Official Gazette, special literature)
-products and services
-7-th edition of the IPC (fully searchable)
-core level of the IPC 2006 and IPC 2009 (in PDF format only)
-IPC 2009 - IPC 2012.01 in standardized electronic form
-patent classifications and related information
-annual technical reports on patent information (2002-2012)

Information Centre
http://www.upv.sk/?information-centre

Within their professional consultancy activities, the Centre staff provides the public with the necessary IPR-related information personally, by telephone (+421 48 4300 131), mail or e-mail infocentrum@indprop.gov.sk or by fax. The Information Centre includes also “Helpdesk” providing information about electronic on-line filing.

Information Centre provided totally 7,146 pieces of information in 2012; 5,555 by phone; 1,134 by e-mail; 250 personally;205 by post and 2 pieces of information were sent by fax.

The Information Centre was moved to premises freely accessible to public in order to improve comfort of the Office´s clients and the services provided were optimised by joining the Information Centre to department providing search and consultation services related to
industrial and legal information.

Workplace of the IPO SR in Bratislava

Workplace of the Office, which was opened in 2004 offered information relating to filing applications for industrial property rights subjects last year. In the workplace, there is a filing room.

Pre-diagnostics of industrial property rights
http://www.upv.sk/?prediagnostika-priemyselnych-prav

To increase the awareness of industrial property, to support innovations, creativity and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises are the primary goals of industrial rights pre-diagnostics performed by the IPO SR experts since 2008. During 2012 the Office employees visited 30 companies from the whole Slovakia. The most of them were in Banská Bystrica (6), Bratislava (4), and Žilina (9) Self-Governing Regions. Although filing applications is not the primary goal of the pre-diagnostics, totally 153 applications in 5 years were received since introduction of this service.

URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications

Electronic filing (eOLF a PCT-SAFE)
http://www.upv.sk/?electronic-filing-of-applications

The Office's on-line filing room enables filing of the European patent applications, international PCT patent applications and national patent and utility model applications in electronic form. (For more information see the part „Medium allowed for filing application“, chapter VII).

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.

Webregisters
http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage. Most frequently used databases are "Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters". Webregisters give public access to data extracted from patent, utility models, European patents with designation for SK, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) registers, which are kept by the Office with the possibility of simple and advanced search or browsing results. Data concerning in particular pending patent, utility model and SPC applications, all filed applications or granted patents, SPCs and registered utility models in the register are daily updated.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., patent search service(s) and patent databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

Products and services

URL addresses providing basic information concerning the information services offered and information products issued by the Office and other relevant information relating to their accession and utilization

-Official Gazette http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette

-patent documents http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

-magazine “ Intellectual Property” http://www.upv.sk/?dusevne-vlastnictvo
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products

-IPO SR and IPO CZ publications http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products

-E-zine IPO SR http://www.upv.sk/?e-zine-upv-sr

-IPC 2012.01 in standardized electronic form http://ipc.indprop.gov.sk

-on-line order forms http://www.upv.sk/?online-orders

-price list http://www.upv.sk/swift_data/source/pdf/Cennik.pdf

-data extracted from register http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

-patent documentation fund http://www.indprop.gov.sk/swift_data/source/dokumenty/patfondy.pdf

-IPO SR reading room http://www.upv.sk/?other-services

-searches http://www.upv.sk/?searches

For more information relating to services offered by the Office, see the part “Information services available to the public“, chapter VI.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information

Regional co-operation

In 2008 IPO SR stopped participation in the joint ESPACE® - PRECES CD-ROM
project (patent specifications of BG, CZ, HU, LT, LV, PL, RO and SK).

International co-operation

Bibliographic data and abstracts of the published patent and utility model applications, granted patents and registered utility models in English were supplied to the Espacenet and INPADOC database in electronic form.

The Office sent the copies of patent documents in electronic form monthly within the bilateral co-operation with the European Patent Office related to patent information. The data were subsequently provided for the database Espacenet – administered by the EPO – freely accessible to public in Slovak language on the address http://sk.espacenet.com/ and European patent translations into the Slovak language were used for corpus of language necessary for realisation of another project of bilateral co-operation – Patent Translate. This service shall enable translations of patent documents into all European and selected non-European languages to improve the accessibility of patent information for users of services also in Slovakia in the near future.

In 2012 continued the mutual exchange of patent documentation and official gazettes between the IPO SR and other offices also international organisations, including the EPO and the WIPO.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

Priority documents have been supplied to applicants on request in paper form.

Medium allowed for filing applications

Patent and utility model applications are filled in paper, fax or electronic form.

The IPO SR enables except on-line filing of European patent applications, European PCT applications and international PCT applications also receiving national patent and utility model applications including subsequently filed documents relating to proceedings on patent applications, utility model applications and applications for translations of patent claims of European patent applications and of European patent specifications with designation for SK in electronic form.

The Industrial Property Office of SR has been still trying to increase the share of applications for industrial rights subject-matters and subsequent documents via electronic tools with electronic signature.

Electronic applications filing increased by more than 1% and European applications and international applications filed under the Patent Co-operation Treaty increased by 37% in comparing with the previous year. European patent documents translations with designation for the Slovak Republic increased by 59% in comparing with 2011. The number of subsequent documents to patent applications, utility models applications and to European patent documents translations with designation for the Slovak Republic increased by more than 10 % in comparing with the previous year.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means

Intellectual Property Course
http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?education

IPO SR continued the education programme Intellectual Property accredited by the Ministry of Education of the SR also last year. From September 2011 to May 2012 the Module D – IP Rights was running. 23 participants terminated the study in the said module. 22 participants entered the education programme from September 2012; 18 participants are external and 4 internal. This proves that the interest of public in education in intellectual property protection area has been increasing permanently.

In October 2012, 6 participants terminated their educating by their final theses plea. Some of final theses were recommended to be published in the Intellectual Property Magazine. New lectures approved by the Accreditation Commission helped to increase the education level.

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

World Intellectual Property Day
http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?ipo-sr-activities-for-smes

The employees of the Industrial Property Office of SR, invited guests and also interested people from public celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD) on April 26. The WIPD is the Open Day, too. Ásta Valdimarsdóttir, the Head of Operation Service, International Registries of Madrid and Lisbon, Brand and Designs Section, WIPO, and Peter Gogola, the Mayor of Banská Bystrica, participated in the Opening Ceremony. This year´s WIPD with the motto - Visionary Innovators - was also supported by the exhibition of art works with the topic Future through the Eyes of Young "Innovators" of pupils of the Primary Arts School of Ján Cikker in Banská Bystrica, celebrating 70th Anniversary of its Establishment in March this year. The working part of the WIPD 2012 at the IPO SR consisted of the Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia XII related to the topic Counterfeiting and Piracy - False Hopes, Real Threats. Real possibilities to eliminate this negative phenomenon were discussed.


Web Site of the Office
www.upv.sk

The Office also in 2012 continued with updating the web site daily to provide visitors new information on IP, to inform about upcoming conferences and other events and to update information of all relevant sites within the whole web site. The English version of the site was complemented and updated regularly to inform the foreign visitors.

There were 183,040 visitors of the web site recorded in 2012; the average number of users was 501 during weeks and 170 during weekends. Trade Marks, News, Web Registers (registers and databases) and Patents were the most visited sites. 80 % of visits were from Slovakia, 4 % from Czech Republic and 16 % from abroad. Every seventh visitor visits the site regularly and approximately 40 % of the visitors access the web site via the tab "favourite" or via direct entry of the address without using a browser.

WWW.PATENTOVAT.SK

The Industrial Property Office made the new internet portal www.patentovat.sk available to increase the awareness of IP and its protection in the beginning of April 2011.It consists of the updated informative multi-medial DVD Intellectual Property - the Unique Deserves Protection! - issued by the Office in 2007. The internet portal reflects new trends in promotion of IP protection and information technologies and is linked to the social network facebook and to the official web seat of the Office www.upv.sk. The portal www.patentovat.sk focuses on the public to popularise IP and to provide information on possibilities of IP protection and related services and products of the Office.

International Seminars

The 4th year of the international conference IP Protection at Universities took place at the University of Žilina on November 13. The IPO SR in co-operation with the mentioned University, the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information organised the event with the support of the WIPO.

ENClub - the Economy Newspaper Club and the IPO SR organised a discussion forum with the topic What are the Support Activities for Industrial Property, Innovations and Economic Growth? in the Bratislava Hotel Crowne Plazza on June 25. The WIPO was the special guarantee.

Co-operation with Universities

Intellectual Property Protection at Universities IV
http://www.upv.sk/?events&clanok=intellectual-property-protection-at-universities-iv

The 4th year of the International Conference Intellectual Property Protection at Universities took place at the University of Žilina on November 13, 2012. The Conference was organised by the IPO SR in co-operation with the University of Žilina, the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information and with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Researchers' Night 2012

On Friday, September 28, 2012, the 8th year of the European festival of science - Researchers´ Night - took place. It is the European Commission Project to show the public by means of interesting activities that scientists, researchers - although they have an interesting profession - are only "common" people and to show the results of their work. Researchers are Among Us was the motto of the Project.

The Researchers´ Night was organised in Slovakia for the 6th time thanks to the Slovak Organisation for Researching and Developing Activities (SORDA), Slovak Academy of Sciences and to the portal EurActiv.sk. The Office participated in the event for the 2nd time - with expositions in the Avion Shopping Park, Bratislava, Europa Shopping Centre, Banská Bystrica and in the shopping centre Optima, Košice. The IPO SR representatives discussed with visitors issues of creativity and inventions, IP protections; they provided visitors information materials issued by the Office and various games and quizzes for younger visitors. The Science is Life was the motto for the greatest scientific show in Slovakia.

Exhibitions

Presentation of the IPO SR at fairs and exhibitions in Slovakia and also abroad is an important means for providing information and consultations on IP protection. In 2012 the Office participated in four international exhibitions:
-CONECO - international construction industry fair, Bratislava, (March - April);
-Furniture and Living, Nitra (March);
-International Engineering Fair, Nitra (May);
-AGROKOMPLEX, Nitra (August)

At these exhibitions the Office services were promoted and contacts for pre-diagnostics were being obtained. During these exhibitions innovative Slovak companies were contacted; several of them were interested in pre-diagnostics.

The Office also participated in 64th International Trade Fair Ideas - Inventions - New Products iENA 2012 in German Nuremberg in the common stand of patent offices Internationales Patentinformationszentrum.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MAGAZINE

This periodical publishes in particular original contributions of the Office experts as well as experts working in the field of industrial and legal protection, discussions and debates on published topics, case law, reviews, Office news , international news and other relevant IP information.

Intellectual Property Magazine last year was issued under the guidance of the editorial board modified significantly. In the end of the previous year, the leaving members were replaced by JUDr. Renáta Bačárová, PhD., LL.M., prof. Ing. Štefan Medvecký, PhD. and JUDr. Ing. Vladimír Neuschl. It seems to be reviving although it is too early to evaluate their work in the editorial board. Š. Medvecký wrote the Editorial and V. Neuschl prepared an article about the annual conference of the Slovak Chamber of Patent Attorneys in the second issue of the Intellectual Property. The Editorial of the third issue was written by R. Bačárová.

To increase the number of subscribers of the Magazine remains the actual task. In this relation the hopes are being put in the President of the IPO SR Mgr. Ľuboš Knoth, who became the member of the editorial board again after years.

IPO SR E - ZINE

IPO SR E-Zine is an e-mail magazine providing current information on intellectual property in Slovakia and worldwide. It is being issued monthly, but last year this tradition was "broken" in a good way. On June 11, the IPO SR issued EXTRA E-zine. It consisted of an interview with the IPO SR President Ľ. Knoth.

There were almost 170 external subscribers last year; 15 of them are editors of printed and electronic media.

Editorial Activities

The Office publishes classifications, miscellanies, expert monographs, acts and related commentaries, promotional and information brochures, leaflets or translations of the WIPO and the EPO original publications providing valuable information on industrial property field to public. The major popularisation activities of the Office last year included:
-Annual Report of the Industrial Property Office of SR, for the second time in electronic and web versions;
-The Miscellany from the Conference Intellectual Property Protection at Universities IV (CD);
-Commentary to the Act on Trade Marks;
-International Trade Marks under the Madrid System;
-International Classification of Goods and Services to Register Trade Marks (Nice Classification);
-The Magazine Intellectual Property, in colour, web version with quarterly delay;
-Information brochure Industrial and Legal Protection Subject-matters

IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

provide information on legislation related to patents

-legislation in force http://www.upv.sk/?legislation-in-force

-related legislation http://www.upv.sk/?related-legislation

-invalid legislation http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?neplatne-pravne-predpisy

-multilateral treaties http://www.upv.sk/?multilateral-treaties

-EU legislation http://www.upv.sk/?eu-legislation

contain the Annual Report of the Office

http://www.upv.sk/?annual-reports

if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR

Information relating to subjects of industrial property rights

Office's Web page contains basic information which are useful for the applicant by filing the application of particular type of industrial property right, such as application forms, legislation, instructions of the IPO SR, information for applicant, administrative fees, contact to expert assistance, etc.:

Patents http://www.upv.sk/?Patents

SPC http://www.upv.sk/?supplementary-protection-certificates

Utility models http://www.upv.sk/?utility-models

Designs http://www.upv.sk/?designs

Topographies http://www.upv.sk/?topographies-of-semiconductor-products

Trademarks http://www.upv.sk/?trademarks

Geographical indications http://www.upv.sk/?designation-of-origin-and-geographical-indications

contain patent-related news regarding the Office

http://www.upv.sk

X. Other relevant matters