Annual Technical Report 2007 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Lithuania (SCIT/ATR/ID/2007/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 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

Application filings and registrations in 2007:

27 applications filed direct with the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania (SPB), from which 77.8 applications originating in Lithuania;
23 designs registered.

Compared with 2006 the number of:

filings decreased by 15.6;
filings originating in Lithuania constant;
design registrations decreased by 42.5.

Packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods, games, toys, tents and sports goods, household goods, furniture were the leading areas as reflected in design application filings in 2007.

Statistics of the year 2007 (national design applications and national designs, national designs in force) has been provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=statistics.php).

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes

The Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trademarks contained announcements published in 2007:

FG9L Registrations published in accordance with Article 21 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PD9L, TC9L Changes in the Register of Designs of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with Article 29 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
MM9L Registrations lapsed in accordance with Article 30 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
ND9L Renewal of registration of the design in accordance with Article 35 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
PC9L Transfer of the design in accordance with Article 40 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
QB9L Licensing (sublicensing) in accordance with Article 41 of the Design Law of the Republic of Lithuania;
TK9L Rectifications.

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

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

III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied

Registrations have been classified in accordance with eighth edition of International (Locarno) Classification.

Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of Data (INID Codes) relating to designs were used in the Register of Designs of the Republic of Lithuania and in SPB Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trade Marks in 2007.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

The SPB Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trade Marks has been prepared using DTP tools, printed and has been provided by LTL.

The exchange of SPB Official Gazette with foreign states and intergovernmental organisations was effected by LTL and this way LTL file was updated with foreign documentation in 2007.

The SPB Official Gazette publications (Adobe PDF format) has been included in SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=gazette.php).

V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs

SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=gazette.php) the Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trade Marks in 2007.

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 designs has been provided on SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=statistics.php).

Public users had a possibility to use the following CD/DVD-ROMs received in 2007:

Promyšlennaja sobstvennost. Oficialnyj biuleten (AM);
Schweizerisches Patent-, Muster- und Markenblatt (CH);
Industrial Property Bulletin (GR);
Boletin Oficial de la Propiedad Industrial. (ES);
Buletin Oficial de Proprietate Industriala (MD);
Glasnik intelektualne svojine (RS);
IPPO Glasnik (MK);
Published registered design applications (JP);
Buletin Oficial de Proprietate Industriala (RO);
Promislova vlastnist (UA);
Rasmij achborotnoma (UZ);
International Designs Bulletin (WO).

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)

The Register of designs of the Republic of Lithuania was open to public access only in the following forms in 2007:

Extract from the Register (on request);
SPB Official Gazette.

LTL also offered to its visitors the opportunity to get acquainted with a wide range of Lithuanian publications (SPB Official Gazette, etc.), Official Gazettes of foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on CD/DVD-ROMs, sets of communications and regulations in 2007.

The visitors of LTL had been consulted on the spot as well as by phone or e-mail and had an opportunity to order design search in 2007.

SPB published on its website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/en/index.php?c=gazette.php) the Official Gazette Inventions Designs Trade Marks.

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

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

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information

The official gazette 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 SPB Official Gazette in foreign states and intergovernmental organisations on the basis of mutual exchange has been effected by LTL.

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)

Lithuanian specialists took part in the following events in 2007:

EPO Conference PATLIB2007, Seville (Spain);

WIPO Standards and Documentation Working Group (Eigth Session) of Standing Committee on Information Technologies, Geneva (Switzerland);

European Patent Academy seminar on Intellectual Property knowledge dissemination at universities, Helsinki (Finland);

Conference on Problems and prospective of the Library information activities in the context of innovations, Minsk. (Belarus).

European Patent Network (EPN) seminar on the issues of technology transfer and multilateral collaboration has been organized by EPO and SPB and took place at LTL (Vilnius). Delegations from the European Patent Office (EPO) and European Patent Academy, patent offices of Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, Latvia, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Bulgaria, and Lithuania took part in the seminar.

The International Baltic Conference on Intellectual Property was held in Vilnius in 2007. The 30th Anniversary of the European Patent Office and the 50th Anniversary of Lithuanian Technical Library have been commemorated during the Conference days. A meeting of heads of Northern and Baltic Sea countries patent offices has been also organized during the Conference days in Vilnius.

Seminars on the protection of the industrial property have been held in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and LTL.

Upon active cooperation with WIPO industrial property information coordinators has operated in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as well as in Kaunas University of Technology.

SPB representatives took part and gave presentations on design protection at Conference DECISION: DESIGN. REALITY AND AIMS (Lithuanian Exhibition and Convention Centre LITEXPO) in 2007.

An exhibition dedicated for the World Intellectual Property Day and for the 16th Anniversary of the SPB has been organized at LTL.

Lithuanian press published articles on the improvement of Lithuanian industrial property information system.

Bibliographical index The Protection of the Industrial Property, where books and articles of the Lithuanian authors in the field of industrial property for years 1991-2007, has been maintained and quarter publication Protection of the Industrial Property has been published by LTL as well.

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

SPB website (http://www.vpb.gov.lt/) provided information on legislation related to designs in 2007.

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

SPB website (http://www.vpb.lt/en/) contained design related news in 2007.

X. Other relevant matters

The replies of the Lithuanian party to Standing Committee on Information Technologies Circulars were directed to WIPO and the formats of the publication and exchange of the Lithuanian industrial property data based on WIPO standards had been determined in 2007.

In 2007, Lithuanian industrial property statistical data had been submitted to WIPO to be published in its publication Industrial Property Statistics.