CWS.ATR.PI.2009.LT

Annual Technical Report 2009 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Lithuania (CWS/ATR/PI/2009/LT)

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

Application filings and grants in 2009:

107 patent applications filed direct with the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania (SPB), from which 87,40 % applications originating in Lithuania (including: 17 PCT international applications; 3 application in accordance with EPC);
9 PCT international applications commenced the national phase;
285 patent applications published, from which 69,1 % European patent applications extended to Lithuania;
84 Lithuanian patents granted;
1039 European patents enforced in Lithuania (including 629 European patents in accordance with EPC).

Compared with 2008 the number of:

national filings increased by 1,9 %;
filings originating in Lithuania increased by 14,4 %
Lithuanian grants increased by 12,0 %;
patent applications published increased by 95,2 %;
European patents enforced in Lithuania increased by 33,89 %.


Statistics of the year 2009 (national filings and PCT national phase entries, national patents granted on the basis of national filings and PCT national phase entries, national patent applications pending, national patents in force) is provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/index.php?l=en&n=321

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

The SPB official patent publications are:

Patent Applications (A documents);
Patent Specifications (B documents);
Official Bulletin Inventions, Designs, Trademarks.

The Official Bulletin contained announcements published in 2009:

BB1A Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 21 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG9A Patents published in in accordance with Article 22 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FD9A Patent Applications withdrawn accordance with Article 21 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MM9A Patents lapsed in accordance with Article 27 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9A Transfer of Patents in accordance with Article 31 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9A Licensing in accordance with Articles 34-36, 38 and 39 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PD9A, TC9A Changes in Patents published in accordance with Article 43 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB1A International Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 48 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB1D European Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 51 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG9D European Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
BB4D European Patent Applications published in accordance with Article 59(3) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
FG4D European Patents published in accordance with Article 59(3) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MG9D Revocation of European Patent extension in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MG4D Revocation of European Patents in accordance with Article 59(3) of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PD9D, TH9D, TC9D Changes in European Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9D Transfer of Patents published in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9D Licensing in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MF9D European Patents revoked in accordance with Article 54 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MM9D Cancellation of European Patent extension in accordance with Article 58 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9D Applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 271 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9D Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 271 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND1D Decisions not to grant Supplementary Protection Certificates published in accordance with Article 271 of Patent Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
TK9D Rectifications.

Sections of the Official Bulletin have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17.

SPB Official Bulletin paper publications have been prepared using DTP tools and have been provided by LTL. SPB Official Bulletin publications in Adobe PDF format have been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?n=1398l=lt).

Patent Applications in paper form (A documents) and Patent Specifications (B documents) have been open for public inspection at Lithuanian Technical Library (LTL).
Patent Specifications in paper form (B documents) SPB have sent to ARCANUM INFORMATICS Ltd. for digitisation (WIPO ST. 33) and inclusion into ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO Bacon Numerical System (BNS) and esp@cenet databases. Sending to ARCANUM INFORMATICS Ltd. by mail of Lithuanian paper documents for digitisation (WIPO ST. 33) caused presentation delay (up to a half of the year) of Lithuanian Patent Specifications (B-documents) on ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases in 2009. Lithuanian Patent Applications (A-documents) have been not at all available on ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases.

Because of EPO official tool epoScan absence Lithuanian B documents have been scanned by the SPB not in standardised exchange facsimile format (WIPO ST. 33).

Databases of Patents of the Republic of Lithuania and of European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania have been accessible on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/isradimai/index.php?l=en2n=333).

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

Lithuanian language invention abstracts of patent applications and patents have been published as presented by applicants.

English language abstracts to be published on EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases have been translated by SPB examiners.

285 patent applications published were classified in accordance with eight edition of International Patent Classification (IPC) in 2009.

Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of Data (INID codes) relating to patents have been used in the Register, Official Bulletin, Patent Applications (A documents) and Patent Specifications (B documents).

The SPB Official Bulletin Sections have been coded in accordance with WIPO Standard ST.17.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

At the end of the year, the stocks of LTB contained over 42 million patent documents.
LTL stocks have been updated with full text patent documents from countries and organizations (AM, BG, BY, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, EA, EP, FI, FR, GB, GE, HU, JP, KG, KZ, LT, LV, MD, RO, RU, TJ, UA, US, UZ, WO).

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

The SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) the Official Bulletin Inventions Designs Trade Marks and databases of Lithuanian Patents and European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania. SPB website Databases have been an exact copy of the data stored in the Common Software Databases. Common Software Databases contained bibliographic, legal status data, abstract data, national patent specifications, translated claims of European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania included.

Industrial Property search and other services have been provided by Patent Information Center of LTL (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm).

Statistics of national patents has been also provided on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/).

Lithuanian Patent Specifications (B documents) have been available on SPB website (www.vpb.gov.lt) ESPACE®-PRECES CD-ROM, EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases (http://lt.espacenet.com/).

Bibliographic, legal status data (SPC data and data in accordance with EPC included) have been available also on EPIDOS/INPADOC databases.

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)

Lithuanian Technical Library (LTL) offered for visitors the opportunity to get acquainted with a wide range of Lithuanian publications (SPB Official Bulletin, full text of patent specifications in paper and CD-ROM format, etc.), Official Gazettes, patent bibliography of foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on CD/DVD-ROMs, sets of communications and regulations in 2009.

The visitors of LTL had been consulted on the spot as well as by phone or e-mail and had an opportunity to order patent search in 2009.


LTL website (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm) provided Lithuanian patent A and B documents scanned not in standardised exchange facsimile format (WIPO ST. 33) because of EPO official tool epoScan absence in Lithuania in 2009.

SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) the Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trade Marks and databases of Lithuanian Patents and European Patents entered into force in the Republic of Lithuania.

Search for patents in the CD-ROM databases, internet and other services have been provided by Patent Information Center of Lithuanian Technical Library (http://www.tb.lt/PIC/PIC.htm)

Statistics of national patents has been provided on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=statistics.php).

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

For the first half of the year 2009 the official bulletin of SPB has been distributed in 39 foreign states and intergovernmental organisations (AM, AT, BA, BG, BY, BX, CH, CZ, DE, EE, EP, FI, FR, GB, GE, GR, HR, HU, IE, JP, KG, KZ, LV, MD, MK, PL, RO, RS, RU, SI, SK, SM, TJ, TM, TR, UA, US, UZ, WO) on the basis of mutual exchange.
The distribution of official patent publications of the SPB in foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on the basis of mutual exchange has been effected by LTL.
Bibliographic, legal status data, abstracts in Lithuanian and English of Lithuanian patent applications and patents, extracted from SPB CommonSoftware Database, have been posted on EPO FTP sites prior to the actual publication date. Paper Patent Specifications (B documents) SPB have sent to ARCANUM INFORMATICS Ltd. for digitisation (WIPO ST. 33) and inclusion into ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO Bacon Numerical System (BNS) and esp@cenet databases. Sending to ARCANUM INFORMATICS Ltd. by mail of Lithuanian paper documents for digitisation (WIPO ST. 33) caused presentation delay (up to a half of the year) of Lithuanian patent specifications (B-documents) on ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases. Lithuanian patent applications (A-documents) have been not at all available on ESPACE®-PRECES, EPO BNS and esp@cenet databases.
The bibliographic, legal status data on Lithuanian Patent Applications, PCT Applications, Lithuanian Patents and European Patents have been supplied to EPO to be included into ACCESS-EPC, INPADOC PFS, INPADOC PRS and esp@cenet. PCT Applications data have been also supplied to WIPO to be included into PATENTSCOPE® search service database.

Several libraries of Lithuanian universities and specialised research libraries have been provided with ACCESS-PRECES, ESPACE®-PRECES CD-ROMs (obtained from the Hungarian Patent Office).

Format in paper form have been used for exchange of priority documents and for filing of patent applications.

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)

On 27th January 2009 on initiative of State Patent Bureau together with business incubator “Vilnija” the Vilnius technical creativity day was commemorated with the opening of the exhibition of creations of Lithuanian designers in Lithuanian Technical Library, for which the exhibits were provided by Lithuanian Institute, also the day of “Open doors” took place in the State Patent Bureau and a seminar-discussion in the business incubator “Vilnija”.
Implementing the program provision of the fifteenth Government “Strengthen national legalization of industrial property objects, inventions, design, trade and service marks and topographies of semiconductor products” State Patent Bureau together with Lithuanian Technical Library, Institute of Lithuania and business incubator “Vilnija” organized this exhibition namely on the 27th of January, when the first Lithuanian Law to Protect Trademarks was enacted in 1925.
On 20th-21st April 2009 practical meeting of specialists from the national patent offices of Nordic and Baltic states on the relevant trademark and design protection topics took place in Lithuanian Technical Library, in 6 Šv. Ignoto street, Vilnius, organized by the State Patent Bureau. The meeting was attended by specialists from Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian national patent offices.
Every year on 26th April governments and organizations of the entire world together with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day. The importance of development of intellectual property products is vital to underline, promote innovations, creativity, and positive attitude of the general society to importance of protection of intellectual property rights on economic, social and cultural development of the state on this day.
In 2009 State Patent Bureau organized several events to commemorate this day in Lithuania: SPB together with Vilnius Gediminas Technical University organizes a seminar “Industrial property in Lithuania: plan against the crisis”, attended by specialists, working in state and academic institutions, business representatives who held interest in the protection of intellectual property. The “Open-doors” day was organized in the premises of SPB, attended by students from Vilnius University, scientists, inventors, other persons having interest in the possibilities of protecting the industrial property or in the activities of the State Patent Bureau.
On 24th April 2009 an opening of exhibition “The history of the development of industrial property protection, commemorating 1000 year anniversary of the name of Lithuania” took place in Lithuanian Technical Library. The exhibition was aimed at commemorating the World Intellectual Property Day and was organized by State Patent Bureau and Lithuanian Technical Library. During the opening of exhibition the historic development of the industrial property protection system was introduced, as well as the descriptions of Lithuanian inventions before world wars, laws, contemporary patent documents, publications, articles, patents of inventions that changed and formed the world of innovation. The organization, best at commercializing industrial property, received an award of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the seventh consecutive year in Lithuania. The WIPO award, which is an international recognition of intellectual potential, was received by the company “Vilniaus duona” in 2009.
On 19th-22nd May 2009 State Patent Bureau participated in the 17th international exhibition on technique and technologies, environmental protection, energy and electro technique, electronics, appliances, engineer cooperation “Balttechnika 2009”, that took place in the Lithuanian exhibition centre “Litexpo”. The stand of State Patent Bureau was exposed in the exhibition, the representatives of SPB informed the visitors on the protection of industrial property objects (inventions, designs, trademarks), on the history of its development, the today and the future in Lithuania and abroad.
SPB in cooperation with WIPO organized a seminar for judges and public prosecutors in Molėtai town in 2009. The topic of the seminar was “The enforcement of intellectual property rights – measures of administrative, civil and criminal law”.
Lithuanian Technical Library published 4 information publications “Protection of Industrial Property” in year 2009.

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

The SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/) provided information on legislation related to patents in 2009.

The Annual Report of the Office has been included on the SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/).

SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/) contained patent related news in 2009.

X. Other relevant matters