Page History

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During 2003, Rospatent issued 50,000 invention-related publications, including: 24,727 patent specifications; 25,043 application specifications; 230 previously unpublished invention specifications; and 8,311 utility model specifications.

All the information published in official Rospatent paper editions is issued on optical CD-ROMs and DVDs, and is available on the Internet.

Table 3 shows the rate of orders for full annual sets of invention descriptions both on paper and CD-ROM. During the past five years, the total number of sets distributed annually on CD-ROM has increased by 220 per cent. The table shows that in the past year the number of orders for this information on CD-ROM has increased by 10 per cent, compared to the previous year.

In addition to subscribing to current acquisitions, it is possible to order retrospective information arrays on inventions. During the past five years, prices for official information on CD-ROM have been continuously reduced. On the whole, between 1999 and 2003 the prices for annual sets of invention descriptions on CD-ROM were reduced by 210 per cent and the prices for sets of abstracts 1.6 times.

In 2003, permanent CD-ROM database subscribers were given the possibility to carry out free searches of Internet databases.

Table_3_ru_pi_2003

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

In 2003, official publications included the following titles:

 Inventions and Utility Models gazette – 36 issues;
 patent specifications – 24,727 descriptions;
 annual index to Inventions and Utility Models gazette (five volumes);
 CD-ROM optical disks “Russian Patents” – 12 disks (monthly) containing official information on Russian Federation patents (bibliographical data, specifications, abstracts in Russian and English, texts of descriptions with graphs and tables)
 CD-ROM optical disks – four disks (quarterly) containing information on Russian Federation patents (bibliographical data, abstracts in Russian and English, basic drawings illustrating abstracts) and on utility models (bibliographical data, claims in Russian, basic drawings illustrating claims);
 title pages of utility model descriptions for Russian Federation patents;
 official text of the current edition of the International Patent Classification in Russian;
 Rospatent activity report.

In 2003, the re-issue of previously produced disks in the form of cumulative annual DVDs in the MIMOSA system was completed in the “Diapat” system.

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

Data on inventions and utility models are systematized and thoroughly checked in technical databases.

Data are also stored on paper information carriers. A significant portion of the information received and produced in the past few years is also stored on optical disks. Archive information and information which is not part of the PCT minimum documentation is also stored on microforms.

In the past few years, CD-ROM and DVD optical disks have become more and more widely used.

Word processing and office automation

In 2003, work was completed on transferring the software for the automated system of publishing information on inventions and utility models to new program and technical resources. This provided the opportunity for technological and program links to be established between the publication subdivisions and the sectoral expert divisions in relation to the preparation of documents for publication.

The software devised and brought into operation for automated preparation at the stage of examining documents for publication brought together the expert and publication subdivisions in work involving the single office automated system and created the preconditions for a transfer to paperless technology when transferring application documents between subdivisions.

At the end of 2003, preparation was completed for the production of databases containing a retrospective array of domestic inventions for the years 1924 to 1993 on DVD-ROM disks. As with all the other Rospatent information products on optical disks, these databases were created in the MIMOSA search system environment, which has a good user interface and allows many different kinds of searches to be carried out. The array contains 86 disks and a bibliography is presented in symbol-code form and the documents themselves in facsimile format. In order to enhance the search possibilities facsimile texts were admitted automatically using the Fine Reader numbering program and correctly recognized words were placed in the search index. This significantly broadened the search possibilities of the system and provided the opportunity to search for individual words in the text of a facsimile document.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.)

The automated system of preparation for publications facilitates fully automatic production of mock-ups of formatted editions, by using computer technology with peripheral devices for high-resolution and rapid scanning and printing.

The following technical equipment, which allows ready printed items to be produced in the form of printed editions and facsimile (photo) copies, is used for printing and production (reproduction) preparation purposes in relation to secondary patent information sources:

- equipment for printing processes;
- equipment for producing (printing) patent information in facsimile form;
- equipment for microfilming and printing microfilms (microfiches).

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

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In 2003, abstracts continued to be published for Russian Federation patents granted:

 in Russian, as part of full texts of patent documents on paper and CD-ROM;
 in English, as part of CD-ROMs with full texts of patent documents;
 in Russian and English, on CD-ROMs containing only abstracts.

Abstract-related information for Rospatent patent documents is also available on the Internet:

- a free abstract database for inventions in Russian – RUABRU;

- a free abstract database for inventions in English – RUABEN.

In 2003, in official Rospatent publications of abstract-related information 24,727 abstracts were published for patents granted.

In 2003, the Information and Publications Center of Rospatent continued to issue the Russian edition of Inventions of Countries of the World. Information was published from the official gazettes of WIPO, the EPO, France, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America concerning more than 574,000 inventions (1,644 thematic publications were issued – themes are allocated on the basis of the IPC). Inventions of Countries of the World was also published on machine-readable carriers (optical disks and diskettes); nine full sets of the publication and 599 individual subject-based publications were produced on diskettes and CD-ROMs.

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

The IPC is used in the Rospatent system.

IPC-7 is used for the publication of patent documents.

Rospatent participated in the preparation of the reformed IPC-2006 as part of the Working Group to Review the IPC and the Committee of Experts.

In 2003, the following were prepared and sent to WIPO:

- comments on a draft of C422 (C40B);
- a reviewer’s report on a draft of C394 (F04D);
- reviewers’ reports and proposals on drafts of D025 (C07F) and D027 (G01M), D037 (C07J) and D048 (H04B);
- comments on hybrid system drafts (H042, H045, H046, H047, H048, H049, H054, H056);
- proposals for a standardized sequence of basic groups in the subclasses C07F, C07H, C07J, C10G, D06M, D06P, G01M, H04B, H04H, H04J;
- a reviewer’s proposals on chemical formulae for the subclass C07, verified by a Europatent;
- a response to a WIPO circular (IPC 107 concerning use of the reformed IPC);
- amendments in references to subclasses in which Rospatent is the reviewer;
- amendments in the content of the subclasses in which Rospatent is the reviewer.

Rospatent produced the electronic Russian-language version of the reformed IPC according to the amendments approved by the 30th to 33rd sessions of the Committee of Experts, as well as the Russian-language version of the Introduction to IPC-2006.

Lists for the reclassification of the national collection of descriptions, according to the headings subject to amendment, were produced.

Recommendations for the automated reclassification of national descriptions with indexes for the hybrid systems were produced.

Software for the transfer of data on patent documents according to IPC-7, in the IPC-advanced level format, was produced in accordance with the WIPO standards ST.8 and ST.10.

Hybrid system indexing

FIPS experts provide full hybrid system indexes for national patent documents on all publications (abstracts, descriptions for applications and patents, as well as utility model certificates).

Recommendations for the automated reclassification of national descriptions with indexes for the hybrid systems were produced.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing for search purposes

The software used for text processing (input, recognition, formatting) of primary materials is based on the system of optical recognition of symbols, and a Microsoft Word text processor is also used.

In 2003, work continued on inputting full-text documents of applications for inventions and utility models into the Rospatent database.

In 2003, 30,651 applications for inventions and 7,622 utility model applications received by the Office were converted into electronic form.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

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The structure and composition of the State Patent Examination File (SPEF) are determined by its purpose and established on the basis of the tasks it performs. The composition of the SPEF is regulated by Rule 34 of the Regulations Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

In its composition, the SPEF includes a file of domestic and foreign patent documentation organized according to the IPC, and a collection of patent law, scientific and technical, and lexical-reference literature.

In structural terms, the SPEF consists of current and retrospective portions of collections of national and foreign patent documentation, and also a collection of patent-related literature, including scientific and technical literature in the form of books and periodicals. SPEF patent documentation is systematized according to IPC groups, within headings by country, within countries by year of publication, and thereafter in numerical order.

SPEF national patent documentation includes descriptions of inventions of the USSR (from 1924 onwards), descriptions of inventions and utility models (applications, patents and Russian Federation certificates), and the official gazettes of the USSR and Russian Federation. National patent documentation is compiled in separate arrays (documentation of the USSR, Russian Federation and the collection of descriptions for Russian Federation utility models).

Updating

The current portion of the collection is updated annually both for national and foreign patent documentation. In 2003, the SPEF received 585,800 copies of descriptions on paper, including 526,400 copies of foreign descriptions and 59,400 copies of national descriptions. In addition, 1,415,400 copies of patent documents were received on optical disks.

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As of April 1, 2004, the SPEF contained approximately 18 million patent documents on paper from ten countries and three international organizations, included in the “minimum documentation” (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation and USSR, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, as well as WIPO, EPO, EAPO and also patent documentation from CIS countries).

New additions in 2003 were databases on CD-ROM from Ukraine (patent documentation), the EAPO “summary index 1996 – 2003”, serving as an information search system for the already existing array of applications and patents from the EAPO and USA (“IP.com” with bibliographical data and abstracts of protected publications for 2003), as well as new thematic databases on CD-ROM with information relating to various areas of legislation and practical activities.

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

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Rospatent uses databases containing national patent information on CD-ROM optical disks, issued since 1994, and also databases supplied through the Internet, which include information published previously on the CD-ROMs in question.

A foreign patent collection on CD-ROM has been created for and is widely used by Rospatent experts. By the end of 2003, the Institute’s CD-ROM collection contained 97 databases, stored on 11,753 disks (CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs), with information from 29 countries and four international organizations.

External databases

In 2003, Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) experts already had access to more than 200 patent and non-patent databases for online searches. These databases included GLOBALPAT, containing patent documents from five countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America) and two international organizations (EPO and WIPO), from 1971 to 2003 inclusive, grouped according to the IPC headings; the PAJ database, containing abstracts in English of patent applications from Japan, from 1976 to date; the ESPACE ACCESS database representing an information search system for the full-text collections ESPACE EP and ESPACE WORLD; the USPTO (USA) database, the Esp@cenet EPO database, the WIPO IPDL (PCT) database, the Russian Patents database, the All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information RZH database, and also other databases on expert-related subjects.

Access for experts is granted to the remote databases of the firms Questel-Orbit (since 1997), Lexis-Nexis (since 1999), Patolis-e (since 2000), STN (since 2001), Delphion (since 2002) and the Derwent World Patent Index.

As part of bilateral cooperation with the European Patent Office (EPO), Institute experts have free direct access to part of the EPO EPOQUE in-house search system.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics, administrative support, etc.)

Since 1986, the FIPS automated databank has functioned within the Rospatent system based on FIPS, which is designed to regulate business correspondence relating to applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, patent fee payment accounts, and the compilation of plans and reports connected with the activities of expert departments. The FIPS automated databank also allows statistical information to be obtained on the activities of FIPS subdivisions and the features of the process of examining applications and the fee accounts, as well as the production of Rospatent annual reports.

In order to increase the productivity of computer resources, in 2003 work was done to convert the software used with and the data contained in the FIPS automated databank, based on an RM-600 computer with a Reliant Unix V5.45 operating system, from an SUBD Advanced Pick 6.0 environment to an SUBS Uni Verse environment on the same platform.

The number of users working simultaneously was around 300.

The basic FIPS automated databank server is a combination of two SIEMENS RM600 servers (RM1 and RM2) using OS Reliant Unix 5.45, combined in a general cluster by a general field of disk memory. The second server (RM2) acts as a reserve in case of failure of the first server.

The FIPS automated databank contains information on 1,088,336 applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs, as well as approximately 390,480 documents providing protection.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

 RM600-E80 Server
(OM – 1GB, processors – 3, external memory – 360 GB, VT320 Display – 100 units)
 Compaq Proliant 3000 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 36 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 5000 Server
(OM – 256 MB, processors – 2, external memory – 38 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 6000 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 4, external memory – 70 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM – 32 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 8 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM – 128 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 12 GB)
 Compaq Proliant 2500 Server
(OM - 64 MB, processors – 1, external memory – 9 GB)
- Compaq DL380 server – 16 units
(OM – 2 GB, processors – 2, external memory – 200 GB)
- Compaq DL580 server – 4 units
(OM – 8 GB, processors – 4, external memory – 300 GB)

Compaq 586, PMMX, PII, PIII Fujitsu-Siemens workstations – 1100 units.

Software:
SINIX, Novell, Windows95, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

Carriers used:
DLTtape III, DLTtape IV and SDLT magnetic tapes.

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library 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)

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The All-Russian Patent Technology Library (VPTB FIPS) forms part of the system of the Federal Service of Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks as a division of FIPS and provides access to the Central Patent Collection for a wide circle of information users in Russia, and neighboring and other foreign countries (including State experts).

The overall area designated for Central Patent Collection storage and reading rooms serving a wide circle of users is about 6000 m2.

These premises are equipped with an alarm system and an automatic fire-fighting system.

In the VPTB an information-search system (ISS) is in operation in both the conventional and automated modes. The large volume of information received annually and the increase in the amount of documentation on CD-ROM require a high degree of automation of library and bibliographical processes, primarily the development of the “electronic catalog” system.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

The main sources in the formation of the State Patent Collection, accounting for 98 per cent of new acquisitions, are the official publications of Rospatent and patent documentation received through international exchange with patent offices in foreign countries and other information centers. The documentation received is registered, classified and grouped for storage purposes.

Taking into account the reorganization of the structure of the Collection, which has been carried out, Library patent documentation currently contains around 100 million copies of patent documents in various formats, including:

- the foreign patent documentation collection with around 87.4 million copies;

- the national patent documentation collection with more than eight million copies;

- the collection of patent-law, normative-methodological and information-related literature contains 68,000 copies.

In 2003, further growth was observed in the amount of documentation acquired by the VPTB FIPS Division on optical disks. The VPTB FIPS Division currently receives optical disks from 43 countries, five international organizations and the information firm Derwent.

As of the end of 2003, the Central Patent Collection contained more than 27.2 million copies of full descriptions of inventions for applications, patents, utility models, and official and abstract publications of patent offices for all industrial property subjects on optical disks.

Collection management, preservation

The Library collections are arranged along geographical-systematic-numerical lines. The conditions for storing the collections are determined primarily by the type of format:

The conditions for storing collections correspond to the different formats used:

 - patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
 -on microcarriers – in metal boxes in files-film libraries (microfilm) and in metal cupboards (microfiches);
 - in automated databases;
-on optical disks (CD-ROMs), in special cabinets.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

In 2003, State patent information resources were stored in the collections of the:

- Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks;
- intersectoral territorial scientific and technical information centers (69 STICs);
- libraries (national libraries of subjects of the Russian Federation, regional universal scientific libraries – RUSLs).

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

The VPTB Division’s overall readership stands at more than 11,100. In 2003, around 3,000 people registered with the library and in the past year 91,800 readers visited the library, to whom around 53 million copies of patent documents were issued, including around 10 million copies on paper; about 21,000 copies on microcarriers and, on optical disks, more than 42 million copies of patent documents.

General and specialized reading rooms operate in the VPTB Division for the comfort of readers who wish to work. These rooms provide:

 patent documentation from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region;
 patent documentation on microcarriers;
 an information-bibliography service;
 databases on optical disks.

Visits to the Library and service for all categories of users are free of charge. In addition to conventional forms of service, in 2003 access for readers to automated databases in the VPTB was improved. One hundred and sixty-nine databases are currently fully installed and in use, including 156 on CD-ROM.

Service for internal users as part of the selection and distribution of information (SDI) system continued. In 2003, 24 SDI subscribers were served and received monthly information on matters relating to the legal protection of industrial property. The overall volume of bibliographical data, available to users, was around 18,000 information units, including more than 10,000 such units which were sent by electronic mail.

In order to expand the scope of the patent-information service provided by the VPTB, a whole range of fee-paying information services are on offer including a thematic selection of patent documentation, a search for systematic indexes, a search in automated databases, a search for patent-analogs, and others representing more than 30 designated services. Services are provided directly in the Library, at the request of readers, and also to remote users of patent information.

In 2003, the VPTB FIPS Division satisfied around 24,000 information requests from users, including 716,000 pages of copies of patent documentation which were produced.

Around 1,000 remote users of patent information subscribe to the VPTB.

Through the Internet (www.rupto.ru), Rospatent provides databases containing Russian patent information, including descriptions of inventions and abstracts in English.

On the basis of official information concerning inventions and utility models, databases are produced in accordance with users’ special orders.

In 2003, technology and software for creating and managing electronic newsletters on industrial property subjects were produced and introduced.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

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In 2003, within the framework of bilateral agreements the Russian Agency for Patents and Trademarks conducted an international exchange of patent documentation in conventional and electronic formats with patent offices in 60 countries, six international organizations and the information firm “Derwent”.

The volumes of acquisitions of foreign descriptions are determined above all by the scales of activity of national patent offices and international organizations. Leading positions in this area are occupied by Germany, Japan and the United States of America, as well as the EPO and WIPO.

In 2003, as part of the international exchange the VPTB Division received 7,316,100 copies of foreign patent documents and sent to foreign patent offices 1,575,900 copies of national descriptions of inventions.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

The exchange of patent documentation in various formats (paper, microfiches, optical disks) continued in 2003, as did the active replacement of all other types of information carriers with optical disks:

In 2003, the following were received from patent offices in foreign countries:

 23 annual sets of invention descriptions on paper;
 113 annual sets of descriptions on optical disks.

The following were sent to patent offices in foreign countries:

 two annual sets of invention descriptions on paper;
 66 annual sets of invention descriptions on optical disks.

In addition, the official Inventions and Utility Models gazette was sent as follows:

- 46 sets on paper;
- 18 sets on microcarriers.

Medium allowed for filing applications

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All the databases containing official information relating to current registration have now been transferred to the MIMOSA system, while the retrospective information arrays are being transferred to DVDs.

In 2003, Internet access to the information-search system for national patent documentation was granted and included the following databases:

 full-text database of Russian inventions (contains information on more than 253,000 patents from 1994 to 2003 inclusive);
 abstract database of Russian inventions (contains information on more than 438,000 applications and patents from 1994 to 2003 inclusive);
 abstract database of Russian inventions in English (contains information on more than 253,000 patents from 1994 to 2003 inclusive);
 abstract database for Russian utility models (contains information on more than 33,000 Russian utility model certificates from 1996 to 2003 inclusive).

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries

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In 2003, work was done to introduce in Russia the Russian-Language version of the WIPO Worldwide Academy study course program entitled “Foundations of intellectual property”, for study on a permanent basis by all those wishing to do so in regions of Russia, and also Russian-speaking specialists from CIS and other foreign countries. Three distance learning sessions (spring, summer and autumn) were arranged and held on the basis of the above program. 1,550 people were registered. 874 people completed the study, passed exams and received a certificate from the WIPO Worldwide Academy.

In 2003, work continued in connection with the training of employees of the federal executive authorities, who are responsible for resolving matters relating to intellectual property. Two programs of a new lecture cycle were devised. The first program is designed for State officials who have not undergone training within Rospatent. The second program is designed to develop the first and is intended to train State officials who had a mastery of the basic principles of intellectual property. More than 250 specialists from 21 ministries and offices applied for the training which was due to start in January 2004.

As a method-based center, the VPTB FIPS Division works to provide method-related assistance for the Central Scientific and Technical Institute, Russian libraries assembling patent documentation and also other interested organizations.

Consultations were held on a permanent basis for specialists in the field of patent information from the regions of the Russian Federation, CIS countries and the Baltic States. In 2003, employees of the Division participated in and gave papers at the regional conference on intellectual property matters in Arkhangelsk.

Part of the Rospatent system is the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property (RGIIS) where, in 2003, 517 undergraduates and 210 postgraduates trained. In 2003, within the RGIIS the in-house training and employee retraining systems continued to operate. One hundred and twenty one people participated in vocational retraining programs and 172 people completed a retraining program course.

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

In 2003, Rospatent organized the seventh ordinary annual scientific and practical conference on the “Theory and Practice of Intellectual Property Protection in the Russian Federation in the Light of Amended Legislation”. One of the representative events for the protection of intellectual property was the International Forum on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, organized jointly by WIPO and Rospatent. In addition, a seminar was held jointly with the Federal Patent Court of Germany on “Biotechnology and Patent Law”, together with a scientific and practical conference entitled “Man, Patents and Health”, with the assistance of the law firm “IP Pro”.

In 2003, in the regions of the Russian Federation (in Tula, Tver’, Kaluga, Moscow, Yaroslavl’, Arkhangelsk, Saint Petersburg, Anapa, Sochi, Togliatti, Samara, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil, Kemerovo and Khabarovsk), 22 conferences and seminars on intellectual property problems were organized and held with the participation of more than 40 employees of Rospatent and FIPS.

For the purposes of publicizing invention-related activities and devising measures for the moral stimulation of inventors, in 2003 Rospatent participated as one of the organizers in the following international inventions exhibitions: the Third International Exhibition of Innovations and Investment (in Moscow), the 94th International Inventions Exhibition “Lenin Competition” (in Paris, France), the Sixth International Industrial Property Exhibition “Archimedes-2003” (in Moscow), and the Fifty-Second World Exhibition of Innovations, Scientific Research and New Technologies “Brussels-Eureka 2003” (Belgium).

IX. Other relevant matters

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