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Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2019 submitted by the Russian Federation/ Rospatent

Please fill in your items before submitting your report

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. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

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

Within the frameworks of the federal project “Information infrastructure” of the national program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” Rospatent implements activity to create and operate an information system for informatization of IPRs registration and protection procedures.

As a result of this activity implementation, it is envisaged to create by December 2021 14 information systems for informatization of IPRs registration and protection procedures.

In 2019, along with activities of the Federal project “Information infrastructure” there were conducted activities aimed at reducing the time for the provision of state services on state registration of objects for IPRs protection; activities aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens, using digital mechanism of public services”.  Further work on optimization of the Office workflows and the development of electronic services will allow achieving significant results.

In 2019, the work aimed at increasing the indicator, reflecting “a share of citizens, using digital mechanism of public services” was continued.  The conducted activities were focused on the improvement of functional range of personal accounts for electronic services and information user support, including answers for questions, incoming through the technical support service.  There were conducted relevant regular meetings on how to work with digital services, to update the information, published within the “Filing application” section at FIPS webpage https://new.fips.ru/ podacha-zayavki.

The above-mentioned activities allowed in 2019 to achieve an electronic filing rate for industrial designs of 58% of all national applications were filed electronically.

On the site of Rospatent, the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans":  http://www.rupto.ru/ru/about/plans

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

As a result of 2019, it was planned to create 11 SIS, 2 IS, 7 SHS and 1 supporting IS in the volume of the 1st stage.

2019 results:

  1. SIS “Management of formal checks on the possibility for performing legally important actions

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented a function for formal checks at the stage of formal examination of applications for registration of trademarks and appellations of origin, as well as a designer of technological regulations for formal checks).

2. SIS “Smart examination system for means of individualization”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented a function for search by description by words of trademarks and optical characters recognition of individualization means filed for registration).

3. SIS “Decision-making support system in the field of Intellectual Property”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented analytical panels:

- Director General panel based on information on the execution of a state task

- Regional panel based on patent information and reflecting various territorial, temporal, and species sections).

4. SIS for document management

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there are implemented basic functions for managing processes and documents, registration and processing of incoming and outgoing correspondence, as well as functionality focused on the registration procedure of trademarks and appellations of origin).

5. SIS “Single state digital register for results of intellectual activity”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented a function that is prescribed by the administrative regulations of Rospatent for recording to the State register the information on registrations of trademarks and appellations of origin).

6. SIS for documents storage management

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system focused on the storage of the information on the current workflow for registration of trademarks and appellations of origin).

7. SIS “Distributed ledger of objects for IPRs protection and means of individualization, occurring in circulation”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system for turnover and management of rights to trademarks).

8. SIS “Single information workspace for internal interaction”

There is implemented a function of employee workspace with the integration of technological user services such as e-mail box, access to network file system.

9. SIS for integration and management of legal and reference information

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of subsystems for internal interaction on the integration of information systems and software services for maintaining legal and reference information as well as the administration).

10. SIS “Omni-channel interaction of Rospatent with stakeholders when providing public services, services under international agreements and treaties, publication of publicly available information on activities in the field of registration and protection of intellectual property in the form of open data”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a subsystem “Personal account”, a subsystem for maintaining omni-channel interaction, and administration subsystems for supporting seven public services:

- State registration of transfer under a contract of an exclusive right to an invention, utility model, industrial design, trademark, service mark, registered integrated circuit topography, computer program, database;

- Amendment to state registers of inventions, utility models, industrial designs of the Russian Federation, as well as to patents for an invention, utility model, industrial design;

- Extension of the exclusive right to a trademark, service mark, collective mark;

- Restoration of a patent for an invention, utility model, industrial design;

- Amendment to state registers for trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin of the Russian Federation, to the List of well-known in the Russian Federation trademarks, as well as to certificates for a trademark, service mark, collective mark, for an exclusive right to appellation of origin).

11. SIS for supervision of the use of rights to results of intellectual activity

There is implemented a function of subsystem for preparation of control and supervision activities, and a subsystem for administration.

12. IS “Infrastructure to search for patent information and means of individualization”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented a prototype of an open search platform and a prototype of a search service.  The main purpose of these prototypes is the testing and approbation of technological solutions that form the basis of the system).

13. IS “Management of centralized maintenance and support of information technology infrastructure and users”

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented user maintenance requests management).

14. The procurement and commissioning of the supporting hardware and software systems were made:

- “System of secure remote access”;

- “System for ensuring the continuity of operation”;

- “Integrated information security system”;

- “Software-defined data processing center”;

- “Basic information technology systems and services”;

- “Automated workplaces of FIPS”;

- “Automated workplaces of Rospatent”.

15. Supporting IS for digitalization

The system has been developed and is ready for commissioning in January 2020 in the volume of the first stage (there is implemented functioning of a system focused on the digitalization of information contained in incoming paper materials of applications and correspondence).

The above-mentioned projects focus on the establishment of a comfortable information environment in the field of IP for citizens, businesses, state organizations, and federal executive authorities.

The implementation of these services will allow applicants interacting with Rospatent absolutely digitally, including the issuance of digital protection documents.

It is also worth noticing that the SIS “Decision-making support system in the field of Intellectual Property” will make it possible to conduct an analysis of patent activity based on various indicators in Russia and all over the world, in particular in terms of priority areas for the development of science and technology.  This system will allow forecasting the development of priority areas of the economy both in Russian and its distinct regions, as well as assessing the progress in reaching set targets of national and federal projects relating to the field of IP.

In 2019, an automated case management system for international registration of industrial designs under the Hague Agreement was commissioned.

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at FIPS in 2019:

- operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Registers for industrial designs (hereinafter referred to as EGR).

- operability of the service of electronic filing of applications for industrial designs is ensured.

-  a system for official Internet publication of information on intellectual property subject matter from the EGR was implemented and trialed.

In 2019, operation continued of the automated system of paperless document flow for reviewing industrial design applications (abbreviated to ‘ASBBD Industrial Design Applications’), as part of which electronic correspondence is provided, as well as signing by electronic signature.

The transition to electronic prosecution has seen a gradual decline in the use of paper-based information, a reduction in the time taken to process documents and search for required information, thereby leading ultimately to increased productivity and better public awareness of patent rights and amendments thereto, as well as the status of patent documents.

In 2019, EGR ID records continued to be completed. As at the end of 2019, it contained 53,273 patents.

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

In 2019, the number of requests for the provision of public services (hereinafter referred to as requests) for registering applications for industrial designs filed with Rospatent electronically increased by 15% compared to 2018.  The list of measures aimed at increasing applicants’ interest in applying electronically for the provision of government services is as follows:

1. Expanding the functionality of electronic interaction services.

In 2019 a new version of the Registrar AWS (Automated Work Station), which provides a comfortable environment for filing and managing applications, was made available to users of the service.

2. Conducting monthly thematic meetings for FIPS specialists with users of electronic filing services for applications for inventions and utility models, applicants and representatives thereof, as well as all those wishing to participate in the process of electronic interaction with Rospatent and FIPS when submitting and reviewing applications.

3. Posting of educational video materials and programs on the FIPS website.Users become more interested in e-filing mechanisms and digital interaction, this brings the increased number of views under tutorial videos, posted within the “Application filing” section, that exceeded 15800 views.

4. The FIPS technical support service is conducting a review of requests from users of electronic services. In 2019, about 5,000 requests were considered.

5. Any interested person may obtain the necessary knowledge and practical experience in preparing documentation electronically for applications for the grant of a patent for an invention or utility model.  One-to-one training is conducted in the computer room of the patent library, and is free-of-charge.

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

Table 1 shows the trends in the filing of applications and grant of patents for industrial designs in 2018 and 2019.

Table 1

 

2018

2019

% 2019 to 2018

Total number of industrial design applications filed, including:

5908

6920

117,13

- according to the national procedure

-

6048

102,37

- by Russian applicants

3218

3363

104,51

- by foreign applicants

2690

2685

99,81

- following the international procedure under the Geneva Act to the Hague Agreement*

-

872

-

Total number of patents granted, including:

6305

5395

85,57

- to Russian applicants

2840

2951

103,91

- to foreign applicants

3465

2444

70,53

 * The actual figures for the receipt of international applications for industrial designs (Hague Agreement) are included in the total number for industrial designs, starting in the first half of 2019.  The data are presented here in accordance with the Rospatent Annual Report for 2019. For reference: 329 applications were received in 2018 (not included in the table for the reasons mentioned above).

The total number of applications filed for industrial designs increased by 17.13% compared to 2018 primarily as a result of the Hague Agreement, while the number of applications filed by Russian applicants in accordance with the national procedure grew by 2.37%, and the number filed by foreign applicants fell by 0.19%.

The number of industrial design patents granted decreased by 14.43% as compared to 2018.

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

The following pages of the Office’s website contain:

Legal information- Regulation section:

 http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/promyshlennye-obraztsy-normativnye-dokumenty.php;

  • Office Annual Report-Rospatent Annual Reports section:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/about/reports;

  • Rospatent: Figures, Facts and Projects 2019

https://rupto.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2019-short-version-en.pdf;

  • Links section:

 http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/links;

  • Guide to the resources of the VPTB Division of FIPS and Internet resources:

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/putevoditel-po-fondam-otdeleniya-vptb-fips-i-internet-resursam.php;

  • Information noticesin the Industrial Designs section:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/informatsionnye-soobshcheniya.php.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

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

In 2019 the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 2 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for industrial design applications.  These meetings were attended by 71 people including 30 people via video-conference, organized on the basis of 2 TISCs.

Free, one-on-one training for users of electronic industrial design filing systems is held in the computer room of the library (VPTB).

The web page addresses of Office websites providing information on filing applications are as follows:

  • State registration of industrial designs, and grant of patents in respect of industrial designs, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/gosudarstvennaya-registraciya-promyshlennogo-obrazca-i-vydacha-patenta-na-promyshlennyy-obrazec-ego-dublikata;

  • Access to documents for patent applications for inventions, utility models, and industrial designs, and issuance of copies of said documents:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-vydachu-patenta-na-izobretenie-poleznuyu-model-promyshlennyy-obrazec-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov;

  • Methodological recommendations on the examination of applications for industrial designs:

http://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php;

  • "Forms of documents" section:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/documentforms;

  • Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples section:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/formy-dokumentov/index.php#3;

  • "Filing of an application" section / "Submission of applications for an industrial design" subsection:

http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/podacha-zayavki-na-promyshlennyy-obrazets/;

  • "Filing of an application" section / «Personal account for correspondence on request» subsection:

https://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php;

  • Fees section: 

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

  • Fee calculator:

http://new.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/kalkulyator-poshlin/index.php;

  • Frequently Asked Questions section/Legal protection of a created design:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy.

Details of seminars and other similar events held in 2019 can be found in Part 5(d).

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

In 2019, the FIPS website gave access to:

  • The Open Registers information resource, which for the purposes of searching for information on registered results of intellectual activity and means of individualization, other information concerning the status of an issued patent or certificate, or that of an application, provides access to:

- registers of Russian patent documentation for all types of industrial property;

- registers containing information on paperwork for applications filed between 2007 and 2019, for the grant of patents for inventions, utility models, and industrial designs;

- the register of applications for State registration of disposal of an exclusive right under contract, and applications for State registration of the transfer of a right without an agreement;

  • the official Rospatent gazette, Industrial Designs;
  • information published daily on current official publications.

(c) Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

At Rospatent, in 2019 the 12th edition of Locarno classification was used for classification of the current patent documents.

In accordance with the WIPO program for the improvement of the Locarno classification in 2019, Rospatent proposed 6 new designations of industrial designs for inclusion into the 13-th edition of the Locarno classification, and the proposals of foreign patent offices were also commented.

In 2019 Rospatent took part in the work of Committee of Experts of WIPO of the Locarno Classification.

Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification

Other activities

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of industrial design information, outline of the content (industrial design applications, design patents, registrations, etc.) and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Rospatent publications on industrial designs are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

Publication Title

Form of Publication

Frequency of Publication

Official Rospatent publications on industrial designs

Industrial Designs Official Gazette (primary publication section), including the following sections:

 RF Industrial Design Patents



 Bibliographic data, image (s) of the product (s) (picture (s), figure (s), including those executed by means of computer graphics, reproductions, or in other ways), i.e., images of the product that provide a full representation of all of the significant features of the industrial design.


 Once per month 
(12 issues per year)

Notifications

 

Information is published on changes made to entries in the State Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation.

 Information is provided by the appropriate subdivisions of the Institute and Rospatent in the established form.

Court decisions on infringement of the rights of patent owners

Court decisions on the infringement of the rights of patent owners (at the patent owner’s request)

Annual Rospatent Activity Report for 2018 (on CD and on website)

Structure and composition of data determined by Rospatent

Once per year

During 2019, the Industrial Designs Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter, ‘FIPS’), 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 2313-7460.

Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

All Industrial Designs Official Gazette for 2005-2019 available at:

https://www1.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:

  • Regulations on the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs:

http://new.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/polozhenie-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-promyshlennye-obraztsy-utverzhdeno-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-31-12.php;

  • Official Publications section:

https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;

  • Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/.

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

The Official Gazette, Industrial Designs, is published once per month.

The forms of notifications on industrial designs published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs, are presented in Table 3:

Table 3

1. Notifications containing communications on changes to information concerning State registration of an industrial design

PD4L Change of denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of patent owner

ТС4L Change of author’s(s’) details

ТЕ4L Change of correspondence address

2. Notifications containing communications on termination and restoration of validity of an industrial design patent

MZ4L Premature termination of validity of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request

ММ4L Premature termination of validity of a patent owing to non-payment within the prescribed period of the fee for maintenance of the patent in force

MK4L Termination of validity of a patent for an industrial design upon expiry of the term of validity

NF4L Restoration of validity of a patent

3. Notifications containing communications on extension of the term of validity of a patent for an industrial design, grant of a duplicate patent

ND4L Extension of term of validity of a patent for an industrial design (group of industrial designs) on the basis of the patent owner’s request

RH4L Grant of a duplicate patent

4. Notifications containing communications on agreements relating to disposal of the exclusive right in an industrial design, transfer of an exclusive right in an industrial design, without the conclusion of an agreement with the patent owner

PC4L State registration of an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right

QB4L  State registration of an agreement on grant of right of use

PC4L State registration of the transfer of an exclusive right without an agreement being concluded

QB4L State registration of an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an  exclusive right

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on alienation of an exclusive right

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on grant of right of use

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to a commercial concession agreement (sub-concession), according to which the user was granted the right to use the industrial design

QZ4L State registration of amendments relating to an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement on grant of right of use

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement

QC4L State registration of termination of an agreement on a pledge (subsequent pledge) of an exclusive right  

5. Notifications containing other communications on registered industrial designs

ТK4L Correction of obvious and technical errors in the records of the State Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation and/or in publications in the Gazette

RZ4L Other changes relating to registration of industrial designs

The web page addresses of the Office’s websites providing information relating to access to online publications:

  • Industrial Designs in the Official Publications section

https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;

  • International Classification for Industrial Designs

https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/classification/mkpo?view=index;

  • Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents subsection

http://new.fips.ru/registers-web/.

From the above page, a user may refer to the following resources by means of the appropriate link:

Register of Industrial Designs of the Russian Federation;

Register of Applications for the Grant of a Russian Federation Industrial Design Patent.

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

FIPS examiners can access all free available resources in the Internet, containing information about industrial designs.

The minimum scope of the search includes industrial design documentation from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and WIPO.  Nevertheless the scope of the search may include any generally available documents regardless of the language, age and type.

The list of available databases is located in the internal network and is updated regularly.  The list contains information about industrial design resources of countries and organizations included in the minimum scope of the search, as well as additional resources.  Additional resources cover industrial designs information of about 30 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO.  For each resource there is information about Internet address, retrospective, and a brief description of search and browsing options.

Also publications on industrial designs in paper are available for examiners (20 periodical publications, including 5 foreign publications).

Furthermore, as an additional service, to examine industrial designs based on industrial design images results are prepared of a search for similarity with figurative elements of Russian Federation trademarks in the sub-system of linguistic description and image similarity search, SILOIZ.  The search results are provided to examiners of industrial designs in a specialized interface for the preparation of reference materials based on the results of examination of industrial designs.

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

In 2019, subscribers were provided with the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, based on official Rospatent information, on CD/DVD with search system.  They are distributed with a frequency of 12 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, series of Industrial Designs Official Gazette published in previous years (2016-2018) were offered on CD/DVD.

In 2019 in addition, users were offered sets of information on industrial designs for 1993 to 2018 on DVD/USB Flash Drive (only 13 disks and 3 USB flash drives), as well as a retrospective set of an array of information on industrial designs for 1993 to 2018 by FTP.

All products on CD/DVD/ USB Flash Drive and by FTP were distributed along with MIMOSA information-search system software, which provides searching of bibliographic data, ICGS indexes, the verbal elements of marks, and also combinations thereof.

The Industrial Designs Official Gazette was published on the FIPS website, and upkeep of the registers of Russian industrial designs with an indication of legal status continued. 

Users are also provided with free access to information on applications for the grant of Russian Federation patents for industrial designs received after January 1, 2005.

On the FIPS website, the official bulletin "Industrial Designs" was published and the registers of Russian industrial designs continued to be maintained, indicating their legal status.

The Internet resources of Rospatent comprise the following databases:

Registers of Russian industrial designs contain the following databases:

- an industrial designs database (includes information on 83,000 patents from 1993 to 2019);

- a database of applications for industrial designs filed between 2007 and 2019 (includes information on the prosecution of applications, updated daily).

The FIPS website provides users with access to:

- the information-search system for industrial designs;

- registers of Russian industrial designs;

- registers containing information on prosecution of applications filed between 2007 and 2019, in respect of industrial design patents;

- Rospatent Official Gazette “Industrial Designs".

ISS users are given access to:

- a database of industrial designs containing information on 77,000 patents from 1993 to 2018;

- the LOC database.

Users’ work with the information-search system

Examiners are able to work with all industrial design databases.  Access to the industrial design databases is provided to third-party users on a contractual basis.

In 2019, as part of the cooperation agreement between Rospatent and the appropriate organizations, the following had access to:

  • full-text industrial design databases:
    - 207 Technology and Innovation Support Centers

 - Two organizations of Rostekhnologiya

  • all FIPS databases:
  • ­ 189 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs
  • ­ 717 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
  • ­ 101 organizations of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service
  • ­ 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense
  • ­ 96 organizations of the taxation service
  • ­ 60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights
  • ­ 2 users of the RosOboronPostavka
  • ­ 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service
  • 12 users of the Roskhomnadzor.

Third-party users are granted free access to the following industrial design databases:

- A database containing information on RF industrial design patents No.87456, published in issues of the Industrial Designs Gazette.

- LOC database.

In 2019, internal and external users made more than 3,841,000 requests, of which:

  • Approximately 78,000 by internal database users;
  • more than 3,763,000 by external database users.

Users’ Work with Registers of Russian Patent Documents

Users are provided with free access to all documents contained in the "Open Registries".

In 2019, users made more than 135,608 thousand page views of "Open Registries", of which:

more than 1778,000 - internal users of registries;

more than 133,830,000 - third-party users of registries.

The web page addresses on the Office website which contain information relating to information products and services provided by the Office, are:

  • Information on subscribing to patent information products – in the Patent Information Products section: Catalog of Publications and Databases:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/;

How to purchase publications and databases subsection:

http://new.fips.ru/vse-uslugi/patentno-informatsionnye-produkty/poryadok-priobreteniya-izdaniy-i-baz-dannykh.php;

  • Industrial Designs Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:

https://new.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;

  • Carrying out searches in the Search System section:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/


Open Registers: http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/otkrytye-reestry/;

  • Patent databases– Databases subsection of the Search System section:

http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/promyshlennye-obraztsy-rude.php;

  • Information on accessing and using resources – in the Search System section:

Support, http://new.fips.ru/elektronnye-servisy/informatsionno-poiskovaya-sistema/podderzhka-polzovateley-informatsionno-poiskovoy-sistemy.php.

and instruction on work with Internet resources FIPS

https://new.fips.ru/iiss/Инструкция по работе с информационными ресурсами.doc

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

All patent document databases contain information on legal status that is updated monthly.

Automated database subsystems for determining legal status use data from official publications that contain information on newly registered protection titles or amendments.  Following publication of each Gazette, data on legal status are posted on the Rospatent website in the Information Resources section.  The status of industrial design patents may be “valid”, “may terminate validity”, “validity terminated, but may be restored”, and “validity terminated”.

Information on the legal status of industrial designs is published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, posted on the FIPS and Rospatent websites, and also in the Industrial Designs FIPS Gazette on CD/DVD:

- information on the grant of RF patents for industrial designs;

- information on amendments to the entries of the State Register of Russian Federation Industrial Designs (Notifications section of the Gazette).

In the Search section of the Office’s website, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of registered subject matter in the Open Registers: http://new.fips.ru/registers-web/.

Other sources

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

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

In 2019, work continued on developing hardware and software to ensure industry experts and employees of functional departments could work securely in a remote location.

It continues to operate a hardware and software system that allows for remote viewing of claims and objections in the Chamber of 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 favorable response among patent attorneys.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

Equipment used (industrial design search systems):

HP DL380 server – 8 units.

(RAM – 4GB, processors - 2, external memory – 300 GB)

HP DL360 server – 4 units.

(RAM – 128GB, processors - 2, external memory – 600 GB)

HP DL580 server – 5 units.

(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 900 GB)

HP workstations - 65 units.

 Software:

Solaris, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 10, AstraLinux, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server operating systems.

Carriers used:

LTO-7magnetic tapes

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

In 2019, work continued on populating the database of an automated paperless document flow system for examining industrial design applications (Industrial Design Applications), providing examiners with a wide range of features.

Industrial design software continued to be used, providing a review of trademark database search results on the basis of pre-prepared search instructions, in order to prevent unfair competition when using trademarks and industrial designs.

FIPS examiners can access all free available resources in the Internet, containing information about industrial designs.

The minimum scope of the search includes industrial design documentation from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and WIPO.  Nevertheless the scope of the search may include any generally available documents regardless of the language, age and type.

The list of available databases is located in the internal network and is updated regularly.  The list contains information about industrial design resources of countries and organizations included in the minimum scope of the search, as well as additional resources.  Additional resources cover industrial designs information of about 30 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO.  For each resource there is information about Internet address, retrospective, and a brief description of search and browsing options.

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

Examiners of applications for industrial designs are provided with the results of information searches in the automated system for verbal searches, RF Trademarks, and the system for formalized linguistic descriptions of trademark images, SILOIZ, for similarities between verbal or figurative elements of trademarks and verbal and figurative elements of industrial designs that have been the subject of applications.

Examiners from the industrial designs department analyze and use the results obtained in taking substantive decisions regarding elements similar to the trademarks found.

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

Industrial design applications are registered in the IRWC system (a unified system for registering applications and incoming correspondence), procedures for exporting data to DBA systems and the system of ASBBD "Applications for industrial designs" have been developed and implemented.

Paper documents are transferred into electronic format and uploaded onto the Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system using Data Center software, and, in particular, primary industrial design application materials and additional documents relating to industrial design applications are transferred and uploaded to electronic applications.

The automated industrial designs database is used to generate various statistical reports.

The Industrial Design Applications automated paperless prosecution system registers incoming mail, prepares outgoing correspondence, and monitors all stages of an application’s life cycle, from filing of the application to the examination decision (grant, refusal, or withdrawal), monitoring deadlines for reviewing correspondence and conducting examinations.

Other matters

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

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

The industrial designs collection is intended both for examiners and other categories of users.  Information on industrial designs in the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library (VPTB) is provided to all categories of users on a fee-free basis.

The industrial designs collection consists of two arrays of documents:

- national and foreign special and general Gazettes with sections on industrial designs on various carriers, arranged according to Gazette issue number;

- a specialized collection of a broad range of industrial design publications; the collection is arranged according to LOC indexes.

The collection is kept up to date by including current documentation on RF industrial designs and documentation from Rospatent’s foreign partners received under international exchange, as well as by acquiring literature through subscription from major foreign and Russian publishers.

The specialized collection on industrial designs includes:

- periodicals and books on industrial design and style;

- advertising brochures and catalogs associated with exhibitions, and adverts for new goods and products;

- thematic collections containing publications from the national Gazettes of a range of foreign countries with a translation into Russian of the name of the industrial design;

- methodology and reference literature.

As of December 31, 2019, the collection contained, in total, over 2.6 million publications, including:

- national and foreign journals on design and new production methods – over 20,451 copies;

- 1009 books on design;

- advertising brochures and catalogs –  48,329 copies;

- the thematic collections of national Gazettes from a range of other countries – approximately 2.5 million publications.

A collection contains official publications on industrial designs produced by different countries for various retrospective periods.

A room has been specially equipped at VPTB for all categories of users working with industrial design information.

In total in 2019, 39,637 paper copies were lent out of the Industrial Design Collection: official bulletins, design magazines and books, advertising brochures and catalogs.

The access to the databases containing information on industrial designs of the Russian Federation, foreign countries and international organizations is provided in the computer room of VPTB.

The collection of applications and contracts for the results of intellectual activities and means of individualization includes applications for industrial designs.  As of December 2019 this part of the applications collection consists of 33,571 copies on paper and micro carrier (the reduction of this part of the collection is associated with the writing off of documents in 2019 due to the expiration of storage periods).

Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design 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 industrial designs 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. 

The Rospatent: Figures, Facts, and Projects booklet, which contains statistical and analytical materials reflecting the main outcomes of the activities of Rospatent and subsidiary organizations in 2019, as well as plans for development of the intellectual property sphere, is published in the “Electronic Brochures” section.

https://rupto.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2019-short-version-en.pdf.

In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of industrial designs.

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/sourses/publications

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

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/index.php

http://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/bibliograficheskie-ukazateli-i-spiski.php

Brief information on legal protection of created designs:

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy.

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://new.fips.ru/to-applicants/dlya-novichkov/chto-takoe-intellektualnaya-sobstvennost-.php

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

In 2019, the implementation of the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between Rospatent and WIPO on the establishment of TISCs in the Russian Federation continued.

On May 30-31, 2019, the VII TISC Congress in the Russian Federation was organized and held at the site of FGBOU VO “Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University” (Veliky Novgorod).  93 TISCs, heads of regional authorities and business entities from 47 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, representatives from the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Uzbekistan attended the Congress.

For the first time, special events were organized at the Congress: the WIPO National Training Seminar for TISCs, and a public lecture for government and municipal employees.

218 employees of the TISC regional network were trained in the framework of the spring/autumn session of the WIPO Academy.

In 2019, VPTB FIPS implemented educational projects and awareness-raising campaigns in the field of promoting IP knowledge for young people with the involvement of FIPS state examiners, including on the protection of industrial designs (the information is available on the FIPS website):

- Meetings with lecturers and students of the Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Design and Applied Arts in the framework of the VTB FIPS project "On intellectual property to scientific youth”;

- IP webinars for children and mentors of the Quantorium network of children's technology parks - “DesignView and TMView information resources”;

- Workshops on the protection of industrial designs for students of Moscow colleges of light industry in the framework of the VPTB FIPS project "Inventors NEXT".

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

Further professional training for FIPS specialists

One of the key objectives of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property development is a continuous improvement of the professional skills of FIPS employees as a part of a Unified education system based on the continuity principle, starting from the first day of employment.

The main tool for this task in 2019 was a system of studies for various categories of FIPS employees following the introduction of new normative legal acts regulating rules and procedures for the provision of public services.

This task was carried out by training employees under technology training sessions directly in the departments of FIPS and in group lessons.

In accordance with the Consolidated Plan on Internal Training of Employees in 2019, signed by the Head of FIPS, 7 group sessions were organized with 420 FIPS specialists attending.  Moreover, 252 sessions were organized directly in FIPS departments.  In 2019, the main focus during the study organizational process was placed on studying new normative legal acts in the field of providing public services, as well as on the amendments to the Provision on patent and other fees.

FIPS, by implementing a balanced human resource policy, draws particular attention to the training of employee pool of state intellectual property experts.

The key element of this training is an “Expert-intern” program, during which young specialists receive extensive theoretical and practical experience by working in expert units under the guidance of experienced mentors, and go through training under specially developed advanced programs:

“Training of expert interns under the program “Training of experts conducting application examination for trademarks” (126 academic hours).

The first intake of the “Expert-intern” education program graduated in 2017, and in total, the number of students who received the training under the above-mentioned programs amounted to 25 students in 2017, 122 students in 2018, 88 students in 2019.

The vast majority of expert-interns are assigned on a full-time basis to expert departments of FIPS upon receiving the training, and as a result, the training and advanced training programs for expert staff of FIPS are showing their effectiveness.

Organization of supplementary vocational training at FIPS for specialists of organizations

To satisfy the national economy’s need in specialists with a high level of professional competence in the field of intellectual property, Administration of Rospatent and FIPS made a decision to enhance the educational activities of the Federal Institute of the Industrial Property, taking into account the high professional competence of the expert staff of FIPS.

Activity on realizing the supplementary vocational programs is based under license series 77Л 01 № 0008944 (reg. № 038110), issued 19 December 2016 by the Moscow Department of Education; educational activity is carried out since 2017.

In this period during the sessions of the Scientific and Technological Council of FIPS there were developed and approved 25 advanced training programs and 3 professional retraining programs, all aimed at improving the level of the professional competence of employees in the intellectual property field.  Leading FIPS state IP experts, as well as external specialists and practitioners, are invited to teach.

In order to coordinate the educational activity of FIPS, a Scientific Educational Center was created.

In 2019, VPTB FIPS held 2 thematic meetings on the issue of “Training to work with the electronic filing system for industrial design applications”.  The other 6 thematic meetings touched upon the following issues: “The features of using FIPS website search engine to search for information on various objects of intellectual property”, “Filing and consideration of applications for industrial designs in accordance with the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs”, “Discussing the issue of amending Clause 2 of the Requirements for documents of an application for a patent for an industrial design related to the requirement of unity of an industrial design”, “Promoting patent activity of applicants in respect of industrial designs”, “Actual issues of the practice of patenting of industrial designs”, “Using patent analytics in patenting inventions, utility models and industrial designs”.

In total, these 8 meetings were attended by 654 persons from Moscow, Moscow Region and other cities, as well as 203 persons attended the meetings via video conferences organized on the base of the entities having TISC status.

Information about thematic meetings is available at:

https://new.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/index.php

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

- the "Training. Advanced professional training. Retraining":" section

http://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php;;

- plan of thematic meetings of the employees of Rospatent and FIPS with representatives of the business community dedicated to acquaintance with new by-laws for 2019.:

https://www1.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-na-2019-g.php

- conferences and seminars in the regions of the Russian Federation in 2019:

https://new.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/konferentsii-seminary/plany-provedeniya/plan-provedeniya-konferentsiy-i-seminarov-v-regionakh-rossiyskoy-federatsii-v-2019-g.php

- training videos: https://rupto.ru/ru/sourses/multimedia/video#training-video

Other activities

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

International exchange of industrial design 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 industrial design information, on the Institute’s FTP server, and has granted log-in and password access to documentation to the offices of 47 foreign countries and two international organizations.

In 2019, 1,095 copies of industrial design gazettes were received from 39 countries and one international organization on all kinds of carriers: 24 paper copies; 54 copies on optical disks, and 1,017 copies downloaded from office websites or Internet resources.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information

On October 30 to November 1, 2019 Rospatent took part in the 8th Session of Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs for the second time  in capacity of a full-fledged member.

In the course of the session the Russian delegation supported a proposal submitted by the IB for a new Rule to provide for the addition of a priority claim after the filing date.  The proposal allows the applicant or holder, prior to completion of technical preparations for publication, to add a priority claim to the contents of an international application or international registration by submitting a request to the International Bureau within two months from the filing date.

In discussing the issue of financial sustainability of the Hague system and possible revision of the schedule of fees the Russian delegation expressed itself in favor of a study on the possible increase of the amount of the basic fee for each additional design for the renewal of an international registration, and a broader review of the Schedule of Fees of the Hague System for discussion at a future session.

On the initiative of the Rospatent delegation the Working group discussed possible options for the introduction of new languages into the Hague system bearing in mind two languages: Russian and Chinese.  The Working Group requested the International Bureau to prepare, for discussion at its next session, an advanced study of the cost implications and technical feasibility of the introduction of the Chinese and Russian languages into the Hague System.  The Working Group also requested the International Bureau to prepare, for discussion at the next session, a paper on criteria for the selection of additional languages for introduction into the Hague System.

In discussing a possibility of increasing time limits for standard publication of international application made by the IB in the WIPO Bulletin the Rospatent delegation supported the proposal submitted by the Working Group to request the International Bureau to consult with user groups and report back on the findings at the next session of the Working Group.  The Rospatent delegation informed the Working group of its intention to consult the Russian users.

In the framework of the session the Rospatent delegation made a presentation which contained a summary of experience gained by Rospatent in the examination of international applications for industrial designs and some recommendations for applicants.

In 2019, Rospatent, supported by the IB of WIPO, arranged an roving seminar through 3 big cities of Russia: Saint-Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Tyumen in order to promote an efficient use of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks, and the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs.

Besides, several round-table discussions on the use of the Hague system by Russian applicants were held in Moscow in the framework of the 23rd International conference on Intellectual Property.

The competitive program of the 22nd Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies, Archimedes-2019, which was organized with the support of Rospatent from March 26-29, 2019, and attended by representatives of more than 300 organizations from 35 foreign countries and 44 regions of the Russian Federation, included the traditional specialized competition “The Best Industrial Design of the Archimedes Salon”.

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.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

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

http://www.rupto.ru/ru/international-cooperation;

https://rupto.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation

"The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs" subsection:

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

https://rupto.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation/hague