Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2014 submitted by

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PATENT INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

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

The main policies and plans of ARIPO in 2014 were anchored on the Consolidated Medium Term Strategic Plan 2014 - 2015 biennium adopted by the Administrative Council of ARIPO at its 37th Session held in Kampala, Uganda from November 25 to 26, 2013. The Consolidated Strategic Plan approved by the Administrative Council reduced the strategic goals to five, and the implementing programmes to 15.

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

One of the remarkable achievement of 2014 is the joining of São Tomé & Príncipe to ARIPO, through ratification of the Harare Protocol for the Protection of Patents, Utility Models and Industrial Designs. São Tomé & Príncipe became the 19th member State of ARIPO.

For 2014, the flagship program was the “ARIPO Roving Seminars” aiming at creating awareness on IP and ARIPO activities. The Roving Seminars which were held in Gambia, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Swaziland benefited 655 participants. The Roving Seminars undertaken by the ARIPO officials in the member States included technical missions to the IP Offices.

- The ARIPO/WIPO/KOICA Project to Upgrade and Modernize the ARIPO ICT Infrastructure and those of its Member States registered important developments with the deployment of several missions from Korea, including a resident consultant. With the provision of state-of-the-art equipment and its operationalization it is expected that the project be concluded by December 2014 and official launch to take place early February 2015.

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

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

The number of applications received by the ARIPO Secretariat continues to increase steadily. As at October 31, 692 patents and 299 trademark applications were lodged. There is an increase of 23% in the number of patent applications lodged and 9% in the number of trademarks lodged compared to same period of 2013. The number of industrial designs lodged shows a negative trend with a reduction from 201 to 138 corresponding to -31% compared to the same period of last year.

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

-Website: www.aripo.org

-Face book account under African Regional Intellectual Property Organization

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PATENT 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

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), reclassification³ activities; classification systems used (e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC)); matters concerning indexing of patent information

ARIPO patent documentation is included into PCT minimum documentation and patent documents are classified and reclassified in the full International Patent Classification (IPC) on the publication stage.

Information about published ARIPO patent documents including classification data is sent to EPO to be included into the Master Classification Database (MCD).

ARIPO does not reclassify the back file of published ARIPO patent documents.

Abstracting, reviewing, and translation of the information contained in patent documents

The filing language at ARIPO is English and as such the Harare Protocol on Patents requires that an application (including specification) that is in a foreign language is translated into English by the applicant within 6 months of lodging the application.

Other activities

-Digitization of ARIPO patent documents under the WIPOScan project continued

-Distributed to Member states on CDs

III. SOURCES OF PATENT INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications of the Office (patent applications, full text, first pages, abstracts, bibliographic data, granted patents, etc.), medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

-Digitization of ARIPO patent documents under the WIPOScan project continued

-Distributed to Member states on CDs

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

-The ARIPO Journal is published monthly and is available in print and in electronic format

-the ARIPO Newsletter is published bi-monthly and is available online on the ARIPO Website, in print and can be sent in electronic format

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

-Online - Patent Scope, ARDI, USPTO online databases, Espacenet, EPOLINE

-CD-ROMS/DVDs - ESPACE EP, ESPACE Bulletin, ESPACE UK, Patent Abstracts of Japan, Korean Patent Abstracts

-Print Formats-Industrial Property Magazines like; Research Disclosure, World Patent Information.

-Industrial Property Journals and Gazettes from the Member States and other external partners through the patent information exchange arrangements

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

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

Other sources

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

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

-The POLITE Database

-Internal e-mail system

-Fascimile

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

-PCs and Laptops, Network printers, Photocopiers, Scanners, Servers

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

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

File building and updating

Search is done in the POLite system and other online services like Espacenet. There is no single search file that is created for the purpose of search only. In the POLite system, data is updated regularly through normal system updates and also when new files are captured.

Foreign data included in the search system

- Publication data: China (2010-), Germany (1988-), Japan (1965-), OHIM (2003-),

US (1997- ), WIPO (1999- )

- Others: computer generated graphic designs (2003-), typeface (1999-), catalogues (1999-), two-dimensional designs (2013-)

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

Other matters

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

Patent library: equipment, collection management, network of patent libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign patent libraries

The Anderson Ray Zikonda Library is available and stocks patent and non-patent literature by the Office and from cooperating partners like the WIPO, EPO, EAPO, UK-IPO, JPO, KIPO, ROSPATENT, SIPO

-ARIPO also purchased some non-patent titles for research work.

-Currently, officers can access the library online public access catalogue (OPAC) via the Office intranet

-The library management software is the Liberty3 software by Softlink Europe

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

ARIPO continued with the publication of brochures on Patents, Utility Models, Common IP Infringements, Patent Application and Filing Procedures, General Information on ARIPO and FAQs

-Publication of the Harare Protocol and its implementing regulations

-Virtual library allows access to research literature from subscribed online databases like PUBMED Central, Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERii), HINARI, ARDI, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Accredited Open Access Journals _South Africa (AOAJSA), National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR)

Office's initiatives on providing foreign patent information in the local language(s) (e.g., machine translation tools, translation of abstracts)

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

The ARIPO Academy provided 10 scholarships to selected students from the member states, which pursue the Master of Intellectual Property (MIP) degree program at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. A total of 33 students have been offered scholarships by ARIPO since the inception of the Program in 2008.

Students from various Universities and R&D centres, in member states continue to seek and use the services and facilities of the ARIPO Office Library for information in their research work free of charge. These can be walk in users or those who wish to be assisted through the virtual library.

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

Other activities

The ARIPO office continues to pursue good relationships with its strategic partners. A number of MoUs were signed or renewed in the course of the year, specifically with Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), IP Australia, the Industrial Property Tribunal of the Republic of Kenya, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI Mexico), State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) of the Republic of China; and Norwegian Copyright Development Association (NORCODE).

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF PATENT INFORMATION

International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information

ARIPO continued exchanging of patent documents with the WIPO, European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, Korean Patent Office and all the National Patent Offices of the Member States of the Organization in electronic formats (CDs & DVDs.

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

Article VI of the Lusaka Agreement which was adopted on December 9, 1976 on the creation of ARIPO mandates the Organization to “co-operate with Governments of States not members of the Organization and with organizations, institutions and bodies (…) which are desirous of assisting the Organization or its members in achieving the objectives of the Organization”. To that end the following activities were undertaken with strategic partners:

• Visit to the African Union and the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office from February 24 to 25, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Bilateral Meetings between ARIPO and The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM)
• Visit of the Vice Minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) of the Peoples’ Republic of China to ARIPO, September 8
• MoUs signed with strategic partners

 In furtherance of Article VI of the Lusaka Agreement the following were executed in the year 2014:

• The Addendum to the MoU between the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) and ARIPO;
•   The MoU between ARIPO and IP Australia Concerning IP Australia’s Regional Patent Examination Training Program;
• The MoU between ARIPO and the Industrial Property Tribunal of the Republic of Kenya;
• The letter of intent to renew the MoU between ARIPO and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI Mexico);
• Renewal of the MoU between ARIPO and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) of the Republic of China; and

MoU between ARIPO and the Norwegian Copyright Development Association (NORCODE).

Assistance to developing countries

In 2014 ARIPO sponsored capacity building and training activities in the member states

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

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.

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.

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.