Annual Technical Report 2007 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (SCIT/ATR/ID/2007/RU)
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 expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models. Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to the previous year
The Office procedures for filing and examining applications for the grant of Russian Federation patents for industrial designs did not change in 2007.
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
Table 1 (attached) shows the rate at which applications were filed and patents granted for industrial designs in 2006-2007.
In 2007 the growth in the number of industrial design applications received continued and reached 109.99 per cent. The number of patents granted for industrial designs increased markedly in comparison with 2006 (by 50.28 per cent), mainly owing to foreign applicants (growth of 86.77 per cent).
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to industrial designs
Web pages addresses on the Office site, which provide statistical information relating to industrial designs are the Statistics section, http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/regions/okrug2006.rtf and http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/regions/otrasl2006.rtf;
and the Provision of legal protection for intellectual property subject matter section of the Rospatent Annual Report http://www.fips.ru/rep2006/R1.htm.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
Publishing, including printing, copying techniques and electronic printing
During the reporting period the following were published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system (primary publication section):
• 4,020 announcements concerning industrial design patents.
Documents providing protection were prepared and sent to rightsowners for all types of industrial and intellectual property subject matter.
CD-ROMs containing the Official Gazette were printed by a firm which specializes in publishing such products.
Paper publications are printed on the FGU FIPS polygraphic base using a Docutech 6100 operational printing system by electrographic means.
All printing materials are transferred electronically in PDF format.
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information
Table 2 (attached) shows Rospatent publications on industrial designs.
In 2007, the annual index to the Gazette for 2006 was issued:
• for the Industrial Designs Official Gazette — one volume.
The Industrial Designs Official Gazette on CD-ROM electronic carrier with search system and the corresponding paper Gazette are distributed by subscription. The latest Gazette is available on the Rospatent site.
Mass storage media and microforms used
Data are stored on paper, diskettes and optical disks, as well as in the form of databases or data files.
Databases and office automation
In 2007, the Office began to publish or continued to supplement the following databases:
- From 2007 onwards the Industrial Designs Official Gazette began to be published on CD-ROM, with 12 disks per year. Alongside the Official Gazette on CD-ROM, the Gazette was published on paper with the same frequency;
- In 2007, the CD-ROM collection continued to be supplemented with disks from the Industrial Designs database with documents providing protection from 1993 to 2007. For 2007 the database was supplemented with 4,020 patents for national industrial designs and illustrations thereof;
- Sets of information on industrial designs for 2005 and 2006 were published on one DVD each;
- A retrospective file of information on industrial designs for 1993-2004 was published on one CD-ROM;
- The International Classification of Industrial Designs (ICID) (seventh and eighth editions) on CD-ROM and paper carrier (eighth edition).
In 2007, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the Rospatent Internet site and registers of Russian industrial designs continued to be kept with an indication of their legal status.
Data on the FIPS industrial designs database, the number of documents contained therein, a retrospective and frequency of updating are contained in Table 3 (attached).
Data on FIPS open registers, the number of documents therein, a retrospective and frequency of updating are contained in Table 4 (attached).
As part of the program of complex modernization of the automated systems of Rospatent, in 2007 the following work was performed:
• the Judicial Decisions Automated System was brought into industrial operation, and is a system of electronic document exchange, connected by procedures for participation in judicial hearings and the implementation of court decisions on different forms of intellectual property subject matter;
• a system of electronic document exchange was brought into operation, relating to the registration of industrial design applications and input of bibliographical data, with integration into the existing automated processing system (FGU FIPS automated database).
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data
The web page address on the Office site which provides access to:
• Gazettes online – Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/default.htm;
• Other industrial design information sources, including downloading of the main data file – in the Information search system section, Databases http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm;
Classificators http://www.fips.ru/russite/classificators/classificators.htm#pro; Registers of Russian Industrial Designs http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rude.htm;
and Register of Russian Industrial Design Applications http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rudeap.htm subsections.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification (please indicate whether industrial designs are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)
In 2007 proposals were prepared and sent to WIPO by Rospatent, relating to:
- introduction into the Locarno Classification of new names of goods in subclasses 10-01 “wall, tower, chimney and table clocks, alarm clocks”, 24-99 “miscellaneous medical and laboratory equipment”, and 28-99 “miscellaneous pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations, toiletries and appliances”;
- introduction of additional subsections into existing subclasses of the Locarno Classification 02-04 “footwear, stockings, socks” and 05-05 “textile items”, in accordance with trends of development and improvement of the given classification system as part of the reform approved by the WIPO Committee of Experts.
Scientific terminology work was done and all the amendments to the eighth edition of the ICID received from foreign patent offices and approved by the WIPO Committee of Experts were translated.
The preparatory stage of the work to publish the ninth edition of the Russian-language version of the Locarno Classification (ICID-9) was completed.
The collection of industrial designs was not reclassified.
Bibliographic data and processing
All industrial design application documents received by the Office in 2007 were numbered using optical disk recognition software and the bibliographical data in electronic form are used in the Russian Federation Industrial Designs automated system.
Two-digit INID codes are used to index bibliographical data on standard forms and in the automated system.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
File building
The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:
- national and foreign special or general gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various types of carriers (Industrial Designs of Russia Electronic Gazette on CDROM, Industrial Designs of Russia set for 1993-2007 on DVD), grouped in accordance with ICID indexes or gazette issues;
- a specialized collection of a wide range of titles of industrial design publications, which comprises materials containing publications from national gazettes with a translation of the name of the industrial design into Russian and other literature. This collection is grouped according to the ICID indexes and varies in depth according to each country.
In 2007, on the Rospatent site access was granted through the Internet to:
- an information search system relating to national patent documentation;
- registers of Russian patent documents relating to industrial designs;
- registers containing information on the prosecution of applications filed in 2007 for the grant of industrial design patents;
- the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette.
Rospatent Internet resources include the following databases:
- a database of industrial designs (contains information on 29,000 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2007 inclusive);
- a database of industrial design applications filed in 2007 (contains information on the prosecution of 4,500 applications);
- the ICID database.
Updating
The collection is updated on paper and optical information carriers by means of the inclusion of current documentation on industrial designs of the Russian Federation and documentation received from foreign partners of Rospatent as part of the international exchange system, and also through the acquisition of literature by subscription from major foreign publishing houses.
The databases are updated with the following frequency:
- industrial designs database— monthly;
- database of industrial design applications filed in 2007 — daily.
A search of the Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation Automated System is carried out by examiners, which includes all applications from 1991 onwards with daily updating of the data.
Storage, including mass storage media
Storage conditions for the collections correspond to the types of information carriers used:
• patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
• on microcarriers – in metal boxes, files – film libraries (microfilms) and in metal cabinets (microfiches);
• on CD-ROMs – in special cabinets.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
The All-Union Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division receives information on industrial designs from 49 countries and three international organizations.
V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs
In-house systems (online/offline)
The in-house system used since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, which is used for searches when examining industrial design applications, to create outgoing correspondence and is the source of electronic data for the publication of information in official editions.
The system contains data on applications and patents, including graphics files with illustrations of industrial designs and the International Classification of Industrial Designs Automated Subsystem.
External databases
Below is a list of the countries which provide information on their industrial designs in the corresponding Internet databases. The databases listed are accessible for examination searches.
1. Сountries and organizations included in the minimum compulsory search field
Russian Federation
WIPO (The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs)
United States of America
Japan
United Kingdom
Germany
Spain
France
2. Additional information resources from other countries
The European Union (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) (OHIM), Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
Industrial design applications are registered in the TM-ADMIN system, and procedures for exporting data into the system of prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs – FGU FIPS automated database – have been devised and introduced.
The FGU FIPS automated database is designed to monitor the prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, account for the payment of patent fees, draw up plans and reports relating to the activities of examination divisions, prepare data for publication and obtain responses on Rospatent activities included in the Rospatent and WIPO Annual Reports.
The system guarantees the entry and registration of application materials and incoming correspondence, prepares outgoing correspondence, and monitors all processes in the life cycle of applications, beginning from application filing up to the examination decision (grant, refusal, withdrawal).
The system functions in real time.
The programming language Basic, Web-Builder, DISI, RE screen editor and WINNIX terminal emulator are used as production means in the Universe SU Database environment.
The FGU FIPS automated database system is integrated with the Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation Automated System (a two-way exchange of data takes place).
In 2007, the Applications section of the Rospatent site was expanded with information on the prosecution of applications for industrial designs. The aim of expanding this section of the site is to increase the openness of information from Rospatent for applicants and other external users.
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), data carriers used
Compaq DL380 server – 4 units
(ОM-2GB, processors-2, external memory – 200GB)
Compaq DL580 server – 2 units
(ОM-8GB, processors – 4, external memory-300GB)
Compaq Р3/P4, HP Р3/P4, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 110 units
Software:
SINIX, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003 operating systems.
Carriers used:
SDLT and Ultrium magnetic tapes
VI. Administration of industrial design information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Planning, administration, automation, security
The Central Patent Collection (TSPF) contains national and foreign patent documents on all types of industrial property subject matter, including industrial designs, both in the form of full-text descriptions of inventions for applications and patents, and also abstract and bibliographical information; as well as reference-search and other information.
The FGU FIPS VPTB provides free access to the TSPF without any restrictions and serves all categories of users in Russia, neighboring and other foreign countries (including examiners).
The Library premises are equipped with protective lighting and an automatic fire-fighting system.
Collection management, preservation
The specialized collection of industrial designs includes:
- full descriptions for industrial designs from foreign countries;
- (artistic) design periodicals;
- advertising prospectuses and catalogues;
- thematic collections of publications from the national gazettes of a number of foreign countries;
- method-related and reference literature.
The overall volume of this collection is 2.1 million editions, including:
- around 120,000 full descriptions of industrial designs from foreign countries;
- national and foreign journals on the designs and new types of products constitute more than 33,600 copies;
- thematic collections from national gazettes of a number of foreign countries constitute more than 1.9 million publications;
- a special collection of advertising prospectuses and catalogues linked to exhibitions, as well as advertising for new goods and other items containing 45,600 copies of publications.
The collection of official industrial design publications in the TSPF is provided by various countries and covers various periods.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and industrial design information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
The FGU FIPS VPTB is equipped with a special room for work with information on industrial designs, primarily for examiners but also accessible to external users.
Access to official publications of patent officers is unlimited for all categories of users. In 2007:
- the number of gazettes issued constituted 24,000 storage units;
- the number of thematic collections issued constituted 13,800 units;
- the number of design journals issued constituted about 15,400 copies;
- the number of advertising prospectuses and catalogues issued constituted 9,900 copies.
In 2007 the composition of electronic official gazettes was supplemented by the Industrial Designs Official Gazette which began to appear on CD-ROM, with a frequency of 12 disks per year. Alongside the Official Gazette on CD-ROM, the Gazette was published on paper.
Additionally, users were offered sets of information on industrial designs for 2005 and 2006, each on one DVD, and also a retrospective set of files of information on industrial designs for 1993-2004 on one CD-ROM.
All CD-ROMs and DVDs are distributed together with the MIMOSA software which provides a search of bibliographical data, ICID indexes, a list of essential features and also combinations thereof.
In 2007, users were offered the International Classification of Industrial Designs (seventh and eighth editions) on CD-ROM and on paper (eighth edition).
An annual index (one volume) was produced for the Industrial Designs Gazette on paper.
In 2007, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the Rospatent Internet site and registers of Russian industrial design, with an indication of their legal status, continued to be kept.
Work of users with an information-search system
Access for external users to the industrial designs database is provided by agreement.
Table 5 (attached) contains data on the number of search system database enquiries.
Table 6 (attached) contains data on the number of database enquiries relating to registers of trademarks, appellations of origin, official trademarks, international trademarks and trademark applications.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of industrial design applications
How to file an application heading in the Industrial Designs section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/design.htm;
Fees section http://www.fips.ru/potrf/index.htm; http://www.fips.ru/potrf/poshl.htm
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to industrial designs; opposition and appeal procedures related to industrial designs; etc.
• publication procedure – Regulations on Official Publications of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks in the Publications section http://www.fips.ru/izdan/pol.htm;
Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section; http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/des.htm http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/inv.htm;
Databases section in the Information Search System section; http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm;
Open Registers section http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/index.htm; http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/reestr_rude.htm;
Industrial Designs section in Prospectus of Publications and Databases for 2008 in the Publications section http://www.fips.ru/izdan2008/po_ofi.htm;
• examination and grant of a document providing protection, relating to industrial designs – in the Normative Documents section, Office Acts subsection http://www.fips.ru/npdoc/ved_doc.htm#2;
• procedure for filing objections and appeals relating to industrial designs – Patent Disputes Chamber section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/pat_palata.htm .
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., industrial design search service(s) and industrial design databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
• conducting searches – in the Information Search System section: Services http://www.fips.ru/russite/uslugi/podp.htm,
Databases http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm;
Open Registers http://www.fips.ru/cdfi/index.htm subsections;
Industrial Designs subsection in the Electronic Gazettes section http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/des.htm; http://www.fips.ru/el_bl/default.htm section;
Collections section http://www.fips.ru/vptb/inf.htm#pat ;
• industrial designs database – Databases subsection http://www.fips.ru/russite/dbs/dbs.htm in the Information Search System section;
• information on access to and use of resources in the Information Search System section Support http://www.fips.ru/russite/support/m4.html;
Regulations http://www.fips.ru/russite/documents/m1dop.html subsections.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
Within the framework of international exchange, in 2007 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent to 50 countries in 54 annual sets.
In 2007, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 166 copies on paper;
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 262 copies on paper.
Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape
Within the framework of international exchange, in 2007 the Rospatent Industrial Designs Official Gazette was sent on optical disks to 50 countries in 54 annual sets.
In 2007, the following were received:
- separately published specialized gazettes – 230 copies on optical disks and 276 copies downloaded from the Internet;
- general gazettes with sections on industrial designs – 375 copies on optical disks and 423 copies downloaded from the Internet.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
In 2007, four seminars, held in different regions of Russia, and also a number of international exhibitions were devoted to the problems of protecting industrial designs.
Thus, the competition program Tenth Moscow International Exhibition of Industrial Property Archimedes 2007 was presented, including in the nomination of the Best Industrial Design.
At the First Specialized Exhibition on Trademarks and Industrial Design – 2007, 14 industrial design applications were examined by a Committee of Experts for participation in the Trademarks and Industrial Design – 2007 competition.
Annually, Rospatent holds conferences, seminars and round tables in Moscow with the participation of representatives of international organizations and other States. Below is given brief information on the most important of these.
• On March 28, 2007 a conference and round table were held as part of the Tenth International Exhibition Archimedes 2007 at Sokol’niky, devoted to current issues of the theory and practice of protection and use of intellectual property subject matter (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/arh2007.htm).
Representatives of many towns and cities of the Russian Federation and also representatives from the Republic of Serbia, Republic of Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania participated in the work of the conference and round table. Conference participants included patent attorneys, representatives of industry, military educational institutes, scientific organizations and the press – a total of about 130 people.
• On October 10 and 11, 2007, the Eleventh Scientific and Practical Conference on Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Subject Matter in the Context of Administrative Reform and the Entry into Force of Part Four of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was held on Rospatent and FGU FIPS premises (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/conf11.htm).
• On December 12, 2007 a scientific and practical conference was held as part of the First Specialized Exhibition on Trademarks and Industrial Design – 2007, organized by Rospatent (http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/sins/inf_vystavka.htm).
As part of the conference a round table on issues of registration, grant and provision of legal protection for trademarks and industrial designs and their use in civil circulation was held.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
In 2007, FGU FIPS held a training course on individual programs for nine specialists from the National Center of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Belarus.
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 industrial designs
Inventions, Utility Models and Industrial Designs subsection in the Normative Documents section http://www.fips.ru/npdoc/index.htm#2;
the Normative and Legal Documents subsection in the Industrial Designs section: http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/design.htm
contain the Annual Report of the Office
Reports, Reviews and Statistics section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/reports.htm;
provide open source codes related to industrial design information systems
References section http://www.fips.ru/russite/search/search.html
contain industrial design-related news regarding the Office
Main News section http://www.fips.ru/rospatent/index.htm,
News section http://www.fips.ru/ruptoru/news.htm