Annual Technical Report 2003 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Israel (SCIT/ATR/PI/2003/IL)
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 term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.
I. Evolution of patent activities
– 5898 new applications (national applications and entries into the national stage of international applications) were received in 2003 against 6308 in 2002.
- 1814 patents were granted in 2003 against 1474 in 2002.
– Principal areas of growth: biotechnology, industrial chemistry, medical devices.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information
– Accepted patent applications (after examination) are laid open to public inspection at the Office library. Applications and patents are not printed.
– The Patents and Designs Journal (PDJ) is published monthly and contains
bibliographical information on new applications (A0) and abstracts of accepted
(published) applications.
– The PDJ includes lists of patents granted, patents renewed and patents void.
– Judicial decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and his deputy are published in Hebrew on the IPO web-site.
– Israel patent specifications are stored in paper form only. Bibliographical material is stored on computer. We have begun this year to transfer the Patents Register to a computer database.
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents
– Patent Examiners prepare abstracts of accepted applications for the PDJ. The IPO does not translate applications. Accepted applications and their abstracts are published in the original language (Hebrew or English). Almost all accepted applications are in English.
– Classification of all applications according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) 7th edition in use from 1.8.2000.
– Bibliographic data for search purposes is listed according to first listed applicant or owner and according to priority number. Search results are not always complete at this stage.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep
– Paper search files of Israel applications (with search results), updated by the examiners.
– CD-ROM’s from USPTO and ESPACE are maintained and considered part of the available search file.
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems
– In-house systems - Israel patents may be searched by number, first-listed
applicant/owner or priority number. The data base is not complete and has not been checked for reliability.
– External databases - our examiners search free sources on-line - USPTO, ESPACE, and fee sources on line: Delphion, Chemical Abstracts.
– A very basic administrative support system has been established for recording payments, renewals, status of files and location of files.
– The IPO automated system comprises a network of Intel Pentium Processor PC Win 95/98 workstations connected to Novell and NT servers.
- The current Information System of the Israeli Patent Office is an obsolete, DOS environment system. Today, with the support and financing of WIPO, a new, state of the art Information System is being built.
The new system will be built with Microsoft Visual Basic NET technology.
The new Information System will contain bibliographical data and drawing and will support the work of the Patent Examiners as well as other administrative activities such as correspondence and publications.
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)
The public may inspect Israel patents and accepted applications, as well as abstracts of patents or applications from the US, Great Britain, France and Germany, in the Office Library.
The library collections are on paper and copies may be made or ordered.
Assistance is provided to visitors for searching Israel patents on the internal
database (by owner or priority number) or in a card index arranged by IPC.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information
– The IPO does not at this stage produce machine-readable information.
– Medium used for exchange of priority documents - paper only.
– Medium allowed for filing applications - paper only.
– Patent Journals are exchanged with several Patent Offices.
VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries
– Assistance to developing countries - in 2003 the IPO did not receive trainees from developing countries under the WIPO training program.
IX. Other relevant matters
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| 1. | Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.
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| 2. | Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner). Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
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| 3. | Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC). The new symbols are available on patent databases.
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