Page History

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Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of trademark information activities and expected time frames for their realization

Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) is being carried out in five main areas:

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New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description: aims, partners, tasks 

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2016:

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Main areas of trademark information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year

Electronic interaction with applicants on FIPS website.

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Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes 

From Table 1, below, it is clear that the overall number of trademark registration applications filed in the Russian Federation in 2016 increased in comparison to 2015. The overall increase in application numbers was 5.34 per cent, due to a rise in applications received from Russian applicants. The number of applications from foreign applicants declined by 14.48 per cent due to a noticeable decrease in applications under international procedures (by 20.28 per cent).

Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 28.22 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2016 in comparison to 2015 occurred due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 40.70%), foreign applicants also experienced growth (by 16.84%).

Table 1

Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc. 

The following pages of the Office’s website contain:

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Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs

In 2016, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 11 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 342 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaluga, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Novokuznetsk, Obninsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ryazan, Sarov, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, who were representatives of various companies and organizations, and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 131 people participated in the meeting via video-conference, organized on the basis of 12 TISCs. In the computer room of the WTPTB FIPS department, practical training were held to work with the electronic filing service for registration of a trademark.

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Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

In 2016, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2016 (updated daily).

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- work on the automatic classification of the entire 2016 input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications, submitted from the WIPO International Office under the sixth edition of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification).

  (ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

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Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.) 

The Trademarks and Registration Division participates in the regulatory and method-related settlement of issues in the consideration of applications for registration of non-traditional trademarks, and the publication of corresponding information. Moreover, information received through Rospatent’s involvement in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications is widely used.

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Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2016, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, which is subordinate to Rospatent, in the Official Publications section, and is freely available, constituting a functional and comprehensive information source. The ISSN number is 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

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Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.

The Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, is published twice per month.

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Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.) 

In 2016, development of a continuous publication system from Rospatent’s Electronic State Registers (EGR) was completed. Since January, 2017, the system has been available to a wide range of users.

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Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.) 

On the FIPS website, users can access information about the legal status of trademarks that is updated daily.

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Information is provided in the Information Resources section of the Office’s website on registrations with an indication of the legal status or stage of prosecution of the registered subject matter in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

Other matters

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Other activities

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information

Assistance to developing countries

Other activities

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In order to support the computer network’s system software at the required level, work was carried out in 2016 to transfer a number of domain controllers to the new versions of the server operating systems, thereby enhancing the level of IT security.

In 2016, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location. The number of FIPS employees working remotely increased from 178 in 2015, to 210 in 2016.

In 2016, in order to improve the accessibility of State services provided by Rospatent, a hardware and software system was installed and configured which enables remote examination of claims and objections in the Chamber for Patent Disputes for inhabitants of the regions. Participation in the hearing is provided through a browser, and no additional software installation is required for external participants. Implementation of the system received a favourable response among patent attorneys.

In 2016, the hardware platform of the FIPS Certification Centre underwent modernization. Work was also carried out on the specialized software of the Certification Centre, which, from December 1, 2016, enabled the transition to the issue of certificates without binding to IP addresses, which increased the fault tolerance of technological processes using electronic signatures.

In 2016, a duplicating channel for Rospatent’s Internet access was connected, which in 2017 will facilitate an improvement in the speed of access and reliability of systems connected to the Internet.

Madrid automated system has provided paperless prosecution and electronic State services for international applications and registrations, as well as support for the entire cycle of work for registration: classification of incoming correspondence on international applications and registrations, storing the current status of international applications and registrations, bookkeeping, and integration with other systems.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Fujitsu M10-4S server

(RAM – 64GB, processors – 16, external memory – 14 TB)

HP DL380 server – 24 units

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 200 GB)

Сервер HP DL580 – 8 units

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 600 GB)

HP, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 500 units.

Software:

Solaris, Windows XP, Windows 7,

Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.

Carriers used:

Ultrium magnetic tapes.

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The Rospatent in-house trademark databases are as follows:

- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 554,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2016 inclusive, updated daily);

- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 177 trademarks recognized by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property as well-known, updated daily)- for trademark database subscribers;

- a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2016 (contains information on 509,000 applications, updated daily);

- the ICGS database.

Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

For searches of verbal and figurative elements of trademarks, an automated search subsystem of the Automated System, Russian Federation Trademarks, is used (RF TZ). Special search images are intelligently prepared, and automatically indexed by algorithms. In order to examine a claimed designation, intelligently-prepared, special search instructions are generated to search for similar verbal and figurative elements of marks, packaged by date of completion of the formal examination. The search instructions are run on the server, and the examiners are provided with the search results for analysis and selection in a special interface of reference documents.

Work is carried out daily on the upkeep of the search arrays in the search subsystems of the TZ RF automated system to search for similar verbal (QSS subsystem) and figurative elements (SILOIZ subsystem) of trademarks for the purposes of examining the claimed designation;

At the end of 2016, the total number of indexed trademarks comprised 1,234,896 marks with verbal and figurative search elements used to search for similarities between marks.

The search array contains all the marks received by Rospatent from 1924 to the present day, including ‘Madrid’ registrations. Searches of the complete array of marks are carried out. Marks are grouped by category in the list of search results.

The search file is divided into groups, the size of which by number of processed trademarks as at the end of 2016 is in parentheses:

• with verbal elements QSS subsystem (1,120,569 marks);
• with figurative elements SILOIZ subsystem (621,942 marks);
• with Vienna Classification codes (573,856 marks).

The search file is updated on a daily basis as incoming applications and constituent elements of marks are processed. Verbal and figurative search elements to be searched are stored on separate servers.

Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)

At the Office, the following document prosecution systems are used for information on trademarks:

• RF TZ automated system for prosecuting applications for trademarks and appellations of origin.
• The Amendments to Trademark Registrations automated system for the prosecution of requests received following registration of a trademark (e.g. extension, change of owner or termination of validity).
• The Madrid Paperless Prosecutions of International Registrations automated system.
• TM-ADMIN, the electronic document flow system for registering and handling documents, including scanning, recognition and data entry procedures, document consideration processes, and preparing and sending outgoing correspondence.
• The electronic trademark application filing service, KPS RTZ, is intended for the filing of trademark applications and for electronic correspondence with applicants from the applicant’s personal area, and to provide the processes for exchanging electronic documents between applicants and the Office. It functions using a means of cryptography and electronic signatures, and is integrated into the hardware and software environment of the automated system for paperless prosecution of trademark applications, TM-ADMIN.
• The ‘My Area’ service on the FIPS website is intended for electronic correspondence relating to paper applications, and for a number of documents submitted electronically which require original documents to be submitted with hard-copy signatures.
• Electronic exchange of data with WIPO on the international registration of trademarks is carried out using MECA technology and WIPO Standard ST.66. Decisions on preliminary and final refusal are sent to WIPO electronically.
• The Electronic State Register of RF Trademarks and Service Marks, and the electronic list of trademarks well known in the Russian Federation (EGR). Each entry in EGR is signed with the electronic signature of the in-putter, which allows the signatory to be identified and his/her authority to be verified at the time of signing.

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

The trademarks collection is intended for examiners and other categories of users. Trademark information is provided on a fee-free basis to third-party users at VPTB. The trademark collection is available at VPTB both on paper and electronically, and includes:

- Rospatent Official Gazettes;

- pаtent gazettes from foreign countries and international organizations, both special gazettes and ordinary gazettes on industrial property with sections dedicated to trademarks;

- databases containing information on trademarks of Russia, foreign countries and international organizations.

In 2016, over 0,700 trademark gazettes from all countries were published on paper, and over 27,500 electronically.

Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

The VPTB patent law collection includes books and periodicals on a broad range of issues of legal protection and use of trademarks and service marks in Russia and overseas. The collection is available electronically and in hard-copy, and also includes publications found on the official Rospatent and FIPS websites, and contains different types of information sources: national and international law, commentaries and reviews, guidelines, training aids, standards, patent office reports, conference and seminar materials, compilations of court decisions and collections of statistics, etc.

Internet publications from the All-Russian Patent Technology Library Division are available on the FIPS website in the State Patent Collection and VPTB Information Products sections at:

 http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/.

For novice users of patent information, links can be found to WIPO publications in Russian under the What is Intellectual Property? heading in the For Beginners section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/ip.

In the Daily Publications section of the FIPS website, information is posted on a daily basis on current registrations of trademarks, service marks, appellations of origin, well-known trademarks, as well as notifications regarding amendments to the State Register of Trademarks prior to publication thereof in the Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=search&type=UsrTM&number=0.

In the Regulatory Documents section, the following guidelines can be found on various examination and prosecution issues:

• Guidance regarding the requirements for the presentation of images of three-dimensional designations in applications for State registration of trademarks:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/other/inf_ob_tz;

• Guidance regarding the possibility of using the ‘Goods and services manager’ service to compile a list of goods and services in relation to applications for State registration of trademarks:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/madrid_system/press_mgs;

• Recommendations on the application of provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation relating to a patent owner's consent to registration of a similar trademark: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_gk4.pdf;
• Guidelines on determining the similarity of goods and services when examining applications for the State registration of trademarks and service marks: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/met_rec_tm.pdf;
• Recommendations on individual matters concerning examination of designations representing labels and polygraphic packaging: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/rec_poligraf.pdf;
• Guidelines on verification of claimed designations for identity and similarity: http://www.fips.ru/sitedocs/metod_rec_tojd.pdf.

Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

In 2016, the VPTB department of FIPS held six thematic meetings of heads and specialists of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community to familiarize themselves with new laws concerning State registration and disposal of the exclusive right in a trademark or service mark, as well as 11 thematic training meetings on the electronic filing system for trademark applications. 258 people took part in these meetings by videoconference, organized by business entities that enjoy the status of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC): Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library (Barnaul), Astrakhan’ State Medical Academy of the Russian Federation, Belgorod State Universal Scientific Library and Belgorod National Research University, State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), Don State Technical University and Scientific Research Institute, ‘Spetsvuzavtomatika’ (Rostov-on-Don), N.G.Chernyshevsky Saratov State University, Institute of International Business and Law, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, ‘St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics’, and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University (Yakutsk), Tatarstan Scientific and Technical Information Center (Kazan’), Tomsk Polytechnic University, and First President of the Russian Federation, B.N. Yeltsin, Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg).

In 2016, as part of the Program for Regional Information Support, Rospatent provided 7 new accesses to FIPS’ full-text databases (hereinafter, DB) to business entities in the Russian regions free of charge.

The opportunity to access databases on the FIPS website free of charge via the Internet was provided to 259 organizations in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation as at December 31, 2016.

 Access was provided to: 48 support organizations; eight science cities; 41 State scientific centers (SSC), 36 scientific centers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SC RAS), 13 organizations within the framework of the Federal Target Program, Development of Nanotechnology Infrastructure in the Russian Federation for 2008–2011 (FTP), 140 TISCs and 19 other organizations.

Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Organization of education and advanced training for FIPS specialists is carried out within the Unified Training System (UTS) under the principle of continuity with the use of internal and external forms of education starting from the date of hiring. Ensuring of conditions for continuous advanced training for employees is provided by the Statute of FIPS.

Major task in 2016 was to provide conditions for FIPS experts and researchers to learn new by-laws, first of

all, rules and administrative provisions entered into force in the second half of 2015 and 2016. The task was completed by internal training that allows to change training programs promptly in accordance with amended laws and enforcement practice.

Organization of training for FIPS employees with the use of internal forms

According to the Consolidated plans of internal training of employees approved by Director of FIPS, the following activities were held in 2016:

• 12 centralized studies on application of provisions of new normative legal acts on rendering governmental services as per implementation schedules for corresponding normative legal acts. The studies were held by heads and members of working groups who participated in preparation of respective administrative procedures for 19 state services;

• 10 centralized studies for heads of departments, their deputies and leading employees of FIPS; the studies cover the issues of respective activity directions and are assigned for different categories of experts;

• 435 studies held directly in FIPS divisions in accordance with quarterly plans on internal training, dedicated to studies of newly adopted regulating documents, examination issues, as well as analysis of the results of internal and external quality control of examination in certain divisions.

In 2016, during training the main focus was made on studying new provisions of normative legal acts regulating rendering state services. Training of experts on use of computer databases selected for information search during examination and applied automated systems was continued.

Within the framework of expertise (experience) exchange with foreign patent authorities, trainings for experts of Japanese, SAR, Indian, Chinese, Brazilian, Kirgizia examiners were held in Rospatent. In the course of trainings, the examiners exchanged the experience in holding substantive examination.

Advanced training of FIPS novice experts

Advanced training of novice experts in the field of inventions and utility models examination is performed on a regular basis; corresponding certificates are granted. In 2016, civil contract was concluded with RGAIS by the results of open tender as per the established procedure; in compliance with this contract, training of the 14th group of FIPS novice experts (27 persons) was conducted.

Training was conducted in accordance with Educational topical plan of 214 teaching hours. Training program took into account new provisions of normative legal acts, regulations and administrative procedures that regulate rendering state services on the state registration of inventions and utility models.

FIPS employee training at RGAIS 

16 FIPS specialists successfully completed Master’s educational program and received a license on educational Master’s program 40.04.01 «Jurisprudence».

11 FIPS specialists continued their training program of higher education (entered the university on their own initiative and at their own expense).

1 FIPS specialist continued his training in postgraduate study.

In 2016, 13 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in eight regions of the Russian Federation addressed issues relating to trademark protection in Russia, and international registration of marks.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information about training, seminars and conferences:

- the "Training" section

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/science/teach/;

 - the "Training seminars" section for TISCs of the RF:

http://www1.fips.ru/TISCs/teach_sem;

 - a plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/archiv_meetings;

 - conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2016:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/archiv_meetings.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

In order to fulfill its obligations in relation to exchange of patent information, FIPS posts electronic Gazettes, including trademark information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 45 foreign countries and three international organizations.

In 2016, the VPTB Division received trademark information from 41 countries and one international organization.

In 2016, 1,785 copies of Gazettes featuring trademarks were received from the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries on all kinds of carriers: 24 copies on paper carrier; 116 copies on optical disks; 1,645 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information

As part of its participation in international and regional activities and projects relating to trademark information, representatives of the trademark division took part in the following events:

- 35 session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, April 25-27, 2016);

- 14th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks (WIPO headquarters in Geneva, June 13-17, 2016);

- regional seminars organized by WIPO in conjunction with FIPS on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’, held in cities in the Russian Federation etc.

In 2016, Rospatent organized and held two national seminars in conjunction with WIPO on ‘Promoting Efficient Use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs’ in two regions of the Russian Federation, at which four FIPS employees delivered addresses:

• October 13-14, at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education, Tomsk National Research Polytechnic University in Tomsk;

 • October 17-18, at the Orenburg Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Orenburg.

March 30- April 1, 2016, at the 19th Moscow International Exhibition of Inventions and Innovation Technologies, Archimedes 2016, which was organized with Rospatent’s support, and attended by representatives of more than 300 organizations and participants from 18 countries and 38 regions of the Russian Federation, the competition program was included in the traditional International Exhibition competition for trademarks and appellations of origin, ‘Trademark- LEADER’.

Assistance to developing countries

Rospatent has no special programs to help developing countries. Assistance is provided in response to individual requests from the Offices of developing countries.

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

Section "International Cooperation" on the website of the Office:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter;

Subsection "Madrid System of International Registration of Marks":

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/inter/coop/wipo/madrid_system.