Annual Technical Report 2008 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Slovakia (SCIT/ATR/TM/2008/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.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to the previous year
During 2008 the Office received 3,821 trademark applications, what represents a slight decrease (2.5 %) when compared with the previous year.
In 2008 when compared with the year 2007, the number of trademark applications from Slovak applicants decreased by 0.6 % to 2,872.
In 2008, in the international procedure under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol to the Madrid Agreement 3,571 applications for trademarks were filed, representing a decrease by 11.5 % as compared in 2007.
The total number of registered trademarks decreased by 10.7 % to 3,486.
The number of domestic registered trademarks was lower by 12.7 % (2,470), the number of trademarks registered for foreign applicants decreased by 5.6 % to 1,016.
On December 31, 2008, there were 48,884 valid trademarks registered in the Office register.
In comparison with the statistics of the years 2002 - 2008, there are following results in trademark area:
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks
URL to annual technical reports on trademarks:
http://www.wipo.int/scit/en/atrs/
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=9&idd2=909
URL to the Annual Reports of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic:
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=11&idd2=92
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
Publishing, printing, copying techniques
Publication of trademarks
The Office publishes published trademarks applications and registered/ renewed trademarks in the Official Gazette.
Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR"
Trademark information forms part of the Official Gazette - " Vestník ÚPV SR", covering all industrial property rights in one publication. IPO SR started to publish the Official Gazette only in electronic form on CD ROM as from January 2008 (number of Gazette 1/2008). In 2008 the Gazette had a circulation of 200 copies, of which 62 were distributed monthly by subscription. Other copies were sent free of charge to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO, to information and consulting sites INNOINFO, within the frame of industrial property information exchange to foreign offices and as the statutory copies according to the act as well. Electronic form of Official Gazette, available to the public in the Internet free of charge, contains searchable data, which are regularly updated.
The following numbers of trademarks were published in the Official Gazette in 2008:
Published trademarks applications 3,434
Registered trademarks 3,405
Renewed trademarks 2,001
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
The Gazette contains trademark announcements arranged in following main chapters:
-list of published trademark applications (numerical series)
-bibliographic data of published trademark applications including the list of goods and services (arranged according to the application numbers)
-list of published trademark applications converted from the Community trademark applications (numerical series)
-bibliographic data of published trademark applications converted from the Community trademark applications including the list of goods and services (arranged according to the application numbers)
-list of registered trademarks without change in comparison to applied sign (numerical series of applications with the number of registration )
-bibliographic data of registered trademarks without change in comparison to applied sign (arranged according to the registration numbers)
-list of registered trademarks with change in comparison to applied sign (numerical series of applications with the number of registration )
-bibliographic data of registered trademarks with change in comparison to applied sign (arranged according to the registration numbers)
-list of registered trademarks based on the trademark applications converted from the Community trademarks (numerical series of applications with the number of registration )
-bibliographic data of registered trademarks based on the trademark applications converted from the Community trademarks (arranged according to the registration numbers)
-list of renewed registrations of trademark (numerical series of applications with the number of registration )
-bibliographic data of renewed registrations of trademark (arranged according to the registration numbers)
-international registrations of trademarks
-bibliographic data of registered trademarks replaced by an international registration according to the article 4 bis of the Madrid Agreement and article 4 bis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (arranged according to the international registration numbers)
-official decisions (refusal, etc.)
-lapse of trademark rights
-cancellation of the trademark registration
-partial cancellation of the trademark registration
-assignments of rights and other changes of owners
-partial assignments
-right of lien
-registration of licensing contracts in respect of trademarks
-termination of licensing contracts
-registration of sublicensing contracts in respect of trademarks
-termination of sublicensing contracts
-change of data concerning trademark owners
-change in the list of goods and services
-change of wording or reproductions of trademark
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes
Word processing and office automation
Word processing and office automation is ensured by application over the trademark database.
Techniques used for the generation of trademark information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.)
MS Office 2003, FineReader 9.0, Adobe Acrobat 8.Professional SK, Agfa FotoLook 3.6, Quark Xpress Passport 7.3, Corel Draw 11, Adobe Design Standard CS4.
SLEX99 - Lexicon of Slovak Language are used for the data processing; the photocomposing and printing is carried out by the Office.
The Desk-Top Publishing technology is used for data and image inputs processing for the Gazette and first pages of the trademark documents.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online trademark gazettes and to other sources of trademark information, including download of bulk trademark data
@SKIPO - Electronic Slovak Industrial Property Office Portal
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=99
@SKIPO is an integrated system of e-services that offers access to on-line databases, on-line services and @filling room. The purpose of the portal of the Office is to provide the public with all our e-services from one place and in transparent manner and gives the possibility to communicate electronically with the Office. The effort of the Office is to make available as much information in electronic form, which are placed on internal network now, as possible. All data from databases are provided free of charge.
ON-LINE DATABASES
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=2
IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage. Most frequently used databases are
-"Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters", give public access to information from national registers of industrial property rights and are daily updated http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en
-"Trademark Classifications" contains Slovak version of 9th edition of Nice and 5th edition of Vienna Classification (fully searchable), links to other classifications systems for classifying trademarks used in the world and other useful information http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=sk?idd=13&idd2=1303
-"Official Gazette" enables looking on an single issue, searching in the selected issue and searching in all issues http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=14.
In the part "Foreign on-line databases" are available links to most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=sk&idd=19.
ON-LINE ORDERS
http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=1&idd2=
IPO SR makes available electronic order forms on Official Gazette, magazine Intellectual Property and E-zine, 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 classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification (please indicate whether goods and services for the registration of marks and whether the figurative elements of marks are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification(s) is (are) used)
Goods and services are classified in accordance with the actual version of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification). In the IPO SR exist an obligatory classifying system of goods and services by applicant according the said Classification. The last version of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification) is used as the code system of figurative elements of trademarks, which are classified by Office's expert.
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
Classification symbols were checked by internal electronic classification system built in Office registry software.
Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied
In accordance with the Act No.55/1997 amended by the Act No.577/2001 the applicant is obliged to indicate in the application the goods and services for which the trademark is filed, according to the International Classification (Nice Classification) accompanied with the appropriate number of this Classification. But there is no obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification.
Bibliographic data and processing
The WIPO Standard ST.60 is used for trademark 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.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
File Building
Since the computerized search system for trademark information has been launched the trademark manual search files building and updating has been ceased.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
In 2008, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR received trademark gazettes from the following states and organizations: AT, BA, BG, BR, CH, CZ, DE, EE, FR, HR, HU, IT KG, LT, LV, MD, MK, PL, PT, RO, RU, SI, SM, UA, US, OHIM and WIPO.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
In-house systems (online/offline)
The online trademark database kept by the Industrial Property Office serves for national trademarks searches and also for trademark procedure. Select registry data are available to the public in the Internet.
It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for the trademarks.
International trademarks searches were performed in the Internet and in the Office management system "INVENTIO" for administration of international trademarks with designation for SK.
In the beginning of 2006, the Office implemented a new search system Acsepto. It enables performing the professional trademark searches for designations of products and services in databases of national, international and European trademarks as well as in other selected trademark databases.
CTM searches
In accordance with the EU Council Regulation No.40/1994 on the Community Trademark, the Office continued performing the searches about subjects of the Community trademark (CTM) applications also during the previous year. Based on OHIM requests the Office made searches in databases of national and international trademarks with designation for the Slovak Republic, the results of which were regularly sent back to OHIM.
Similarly as in case of the services provided to the public the search system Acsepto has been used also for CTM searches since the beginning of the year. It enables making searches of word, picture and combined trademarks within all designations applied for or protected in the territory of the Slovak Republic.
The way of performing CTM searches was changed in 2008 due to amendments of the Council Regulation No 40/94 on the Community Trademark effective as from March 10, 2008. The Office realised smooth transition to the new CTM search system in the course of May and June. This change requires stating certain minimum data in search reports as well as adoption of new format of search reports and method of its dispatching.
The Office made 48 302 searches under the previous system and 1 993 searches for designations of products and services under the new system throughout the whole year 2008.
CETMOS
For the first time in 2008 the Office could perform trademark searches under the project CETMOS (Central European Trade Mark Observation Service) throughout the year. The aim of the project is a co-operation of the Central and Eastern European countries to provide to public high quality search services. Despite of spending much effort and energy to begin with this searches and exchange data among the partner offices the number requests did not meet our expectations.
List of search CD-ROMs and databases used on local network through the UltraNet 2000system:
IPO SR Official Gazette
ARTICLE 6ter
EUROM - Community trade mark
NIVILO classifications
International Nonproprietary Names (INN) For Pharmaceutical Substances
List of Costumary Names Used in Brazil Associated with Biodiversity
legal and economic information, encyclopedia and statistics
translating dictionaries
External databases
Internet databases in particular:
ROMARIN
Madrid Express Database
OHIM – Community Trademarks Database
National databases USPTO and IPOUK
WIPO Gazette of International Marks
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
The Office automation management system contains national and international trademarks registry (data since 1990 - national trademarks and data since 1947 - international trademarks) using “INVENTIO” software.
.
Administrative databases 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 Server; MS SQL Server 2005; workstations PC Pentium, Windows 2000, Windows XP, thin client WYSE VX0.
Linux Red Hat Enterprise 4.0,
Informix Dynamic Server 10,
Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 4.0,
Ultranet – Ultra Console 2000
SAN HP MSA 1500 CS,
HP Storage Works MSL 5026 series library, MSL 2024,
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.06.00
VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Planning, administration, automation, security
In 2008, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 1 396 users and 1 327 of it were from the public. In total there were provided 7 309 borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 25 100 copies of patent 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 2008 there were performed 208 patent searches, 2 431 trademark searches and 36 design searches based on 1 043 written and 81 personally requests.
The Office’s reading room including the search workstation opens daily from 8:00 to 15:00 except the Wednesday (9:00-16:00).
All online services and other basic information are available via Internet address of IPO SR: www.upv.sk.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and trademark information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
The Office library provides following services to the public:
-general information provided by Office's experts
-lending service (Official Gazettes, special monographs and reference literature) in the reading room
-interlibrary lending service
-international interlibrary lending service
-sale of special monographs and periodical publications ("Intellectual Property", Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" in paper) upon request or on the place
-reprographic services upon request or on the place
-on-line searches in Office's search system, self-service during a personal visit
-searches in International Trademarks Database ROMARIN
-searches upon request - orders in written and on-line form
-registry information provided in the reading room
-CD-ROM workstations available in the reading room
At present, traditional methods of searching trademarks (card catalogue) are not used.
Trademark 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
-selected registry data
-Official Gazette
-order forms (searches, Official Gazette, special literature)
-Nice Classification (9-th edition)
-Vienna Classification (5-th edition)
-trademark classifications and related information
-annual technical reports on trademark information (2002-2008)
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 in Martin and Centre of Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava. A list of centres and points is available on the Office's web site http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=10&idd2=. (For more information see the annual technical report on patent information.)
The co-operation with patent information centres and contact and information points within the PATLIB network continued also in 2008. Experts from the IPO SR had consultations with representatives of centres and under the co-operation agreement new information products were provided regularly. Employees of the centres took part in PATLIB Conference 2008 in Warsaw, in conference organised in the IPO SR on the occasion of World IP Day as well as in seminar aimed on providing electronic services by the IPO SR..
Information and consulting sites for innovations
The mission of the thirteen "innoinfo" centres 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 consultancy and information centres, regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at the Universities of technical orientation.
The Business and Innovation Centre Bratislava, by means of which the Office got into Slovak branch of the European Enterprice Network, joint the innoinfo network in September last year. Because the Office was forced to repudiate an Agreement on Mutual Co-operation with one of the partners, the number of "innoinfo" centres is presently the same as in the past (13), three of them are operating at universities.
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 filling.
During the second year of operation of Infocentrum IPO SR noted a moderate growth in number of requests for information. In 2008 total of 4 397 requests for information were processed, most of them were submitted by phone. Nearly 12 percent of requests were received from abroad. Received questions related mainly to the cross-border payment of fees and to trademark registration and renewals without use of services of patent representatives.
To make a work of the Information Centre more efficient and transparent the Office launched a testing of the information system Q-integra at the end of the year 2008.
Workplace of the IPO SR in Bratislava
Workplace of the Office, which was opened in 2004 in the building of the Ministry of Finance in Bratislava offered especially services concerning the searches in the fields of trademarks, designs and patents in the last year. In the workplace, there is a filing room and room for discussions and negotiations .
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of trademark 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 only in electronic form http://www.upv.sk/eskipo.php?lang=en&idd=15&idd2=.
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 trademarks; opposition and appeal procedures related to trademarks; etc.
Webregisters
http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en
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 trademark register, which is kept by the Office. Data concerning in particular pending trademark applications, all filed applications or registered trademarks 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., trademark search service(s) and trademark databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
Products and services
Comprehensive information concerning the products offered by the Office and other relevant information relating to accession and utilization of the products are on http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=27
-Official Gazette
-magazine Intellectual Property
-IPO SR and IPO CZ publications
-E-zine IPO SR
-on-line order forms
-price list
Basic information about following information services offered by the Office including the contact and the way of their utilization are on http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=28
-IPO SR reading room
-CETMOS (Central European Trade Mark Observation Service)
-trademark databases, information and searches
-order of technical publications
-on-line order forms
-price list
Information services offered by the Office, see the part "Information services available to the public", chapter VI.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of trademark information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
In 2008 followed the mutual exchange of trademark information in the form of official gazettes between the IPO SR and other offices also international organizations, including the OHIM and the WIPO.
Exchange of machine-readable information
In 2002 the IPO SR stopped the participation in the joint ESPACE TRACES CD-ROM project (Trademarks of BG, CZ, HU, PL, RO and SK).
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)
Training courses for national participants
The Intellectual Property Course
(http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
Since 2000, the IPO SR has been an accredited educational institution providing the Intellectual Property Course. The lecturers are university teachers, experts from practice and the IPO SR experts. An overall number of training lessons extends to 342 hours, out of which 227 hours are lectures and the remaining training hours are devoted to hands-on practical exercising and training.
The Intellectual Property course consists of four separate parts:
module A: Intellectual Property and Copyright Law Essentials;
module B: Creativity - Management of Creativity, Marketing and Economics;
module C: Information in the field of Industrial Property Protection;
module D: Industrial Property Law.
In the academic year 2007/2008 11 participants passed the final examination and submitted their final theses.
Supporting activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.):
Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia VIII. (http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
On April 28, 2008, the IPO SR organised in its premises the conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia VIII. Utility models were the main topic of the Conference, because since January 2008 the new Act on Utility Models became effective. April 28, 2008, was also the Open Door Day of the Office for people who were interested in getting information about intellectual property.
Lectures and Seminars
(http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=31)
The IPO SR in co-operation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office organised the seminar Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement from the Point of View of Police and Prosecution for Slovak police and prosecutors in November 2008.
International Seminar on Current Development in Madrid System for expert Slovak public organised by the IPO SR in co-operation with the World Intellectual Property Organization was an important expert event organised in May 2008.
The IPO SR also organised the Meeting of Electronic Services Users in November 25.-26. 2008 within the European Week of Science and Technology. Beginners and advanced users had an opportunity to obtain interesting information also from representatives of the European Patent Office.
Exhibitions (http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=sk&idd=30&idd2=3006)
On April 28, 2008 the IPO SR organised in its premises a vernissage of an exhibition of wooden toys - Development of Design in Slovakia.
In 2008 the IPO SR participated as an exhibitor at 29th international building fair CONECO in Bratislava and at 14th international Engineering Fair in Nitra.
The Office organised in April 22.-24. 2008 5th national contracting exhibition of inventions and technical innovations UmInEx in Banská Bystrica, concurrently with 11th international building fair FOR ARCH SLOVAKIA.
The IPO SR was also represented at 60th international exhibition of ideas, inventions and innovations IENA 2008 in German Nurnberg.
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 trademarks
Information on legislation related to trademarks
- legislation in force http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=21
- related legislation http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=22
- multilateral treaties http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=24
- EU legislation http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=25
contain the Annual Report of the Office
The Annual Report of the Office
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=9&idd2=92
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
Industrial property
http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=2
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/index2.php?lang=en&idd=14
SPC http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=20
Utility models http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=15
Designs http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=16
Topographies http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=17
Trademarks http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=18
Geographical indications http://www.upv.sk/index2.php?lang=en&idd=19
contain trademark-related news regarding the Office
Trademark -related news regarding the Office
http://www.upv.sk/index.php?lang=en
X. Other relevant matters
New official Office's website was published on 31 August 2009. The ATR on trademarks for 2008 contains old URL addresses, because previous website is temporary available at http://www.upv.sk/old/.
Original websites of the Office have been actualised till August 30, 2009. Updated websites of the Office are on the address www.indprop.gov.sk or www.upv.sk.