Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2022 submitted by Rospatent
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of industrial design information activities and expected time frames for their realization
Annual Report 2022 https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/otchet-2022-ru.pdf (in Russian)
https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/otchet-2022-en.pdf (in English) (hereinafter referred to as the "AR").
AR chapter 2, pp.65
Goals, objectives and plans of the Rospatent are published in the section "Plans" of the Office website (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.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
AR par.2.1, pp.66-67
Digital Platform for Patent Information Search was launched in March (in Russian): https://searchplatform.rospatent.gov.ru/
- Main areas of industrial design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year
AR par.2.1, pp.67 - 68
- Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and grants (registrations) with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes
AR par.1.4, pp.23-26
https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/about/stat (in Russian)
- Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
Annual Report 2022 https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/otchet-2022-en.pdf
Rospatent facts & figures 2022 (summary of the AR)
https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/annual-report-2022-short-version.pdf (in Russian)
Rospatent News: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/news
The following pages of the Office website contain:
Legal information - Regulation section (in Russian): https://fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/promyshlennye-obraztsy-normativnyedokumenty.php;
Information notices in the Industrial Designs section (in Russian): https://fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/
II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
- Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for the grant of a patent for an industrial design (in Russian):
https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki/lichnyy-kabinet-dlya-perepiski-po-zayavkam/index.php
- Methodological recommendations on the examination of applications for industrial designs (in Russian):
https://www.fips.ru/to-applicants/industrial-designs/metodicheskie-rekomendatsii.php
- State registration of industrial designs, and grant of patents in respect of industrial designs, and duplicates thereof (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.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 (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/stateservices/oznakomlenie-s-dokumentami-zayavki-na-vydachu-patenta-na-izobretenie-poleznuyu-model-promyshlennyy-obrazec-i-vydacha-kopiy-takih-dokumentov
- Fees section: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/dues
- On the Office website there is an opportunity to file an application for industrial designs online and to maintain correspondence regarding such an application through the user's personal account (in Russian):
https://www.fips.ru/podacha-zayavki
- Applications can also be filed from the user’s personal account on the Public Services Portal (in Russian): https://www.gosuslugi.ru/
- Information Services Provided on the Basis of SPC: https://www.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/
https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/russian_patent_library
In 2022, 2 thematic webinars were held with the FIPS participation for applicants, representatives of the business community on the issues of filing applications for design: "International and regional systems of legal protection of industrial designs. Filing issues"; "Mistakes when filing applications for design".
Webinar recordings are available on the FIPS website (in Russian): https://fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/tematicheskie-vstrechi/plan-provedeniya-tematicheskikh-vstrech-2022.php.
- Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
Within the paperless document management system for an industrial design, access is provided to the primary materials of applications received in paper and / or electronic form, lists of goods and / or services, designations applied for registration, bibliographic data on applications and versions of documents - incoming and outgoing correspondence signed electronic signature.
- Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/products_services/classifications
AR par.6.1, p.122
III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- 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)
AR par.2.3.4, p.80
Gazette documents are in PDF format.
All Industrial Designs Official Gazette for 2005-2022 available at: https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO?lang=en
The web page addresses of the Office websites providing information concerning Office publications are as follows:
- Regulations on the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/documents/npa-rf/prikazy-rospatenta/polozhenie-ob-ofitsialnom-byulletene-promyshlennye-obraztsy-utverzhdeno-prikazom-rospatenta-ot-31-12.php;
- Official Publications section: https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;
- Catalogue of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section (in Russian):
https://www.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 forms of notifications on industrial designs published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Industrial Designs, are presented in Table.
1. Notifications containing communications on changes concerning State registration data on industrial designs
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 renewal 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 term extension of a patent for an industrial design, granting 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 pages of the Office website providing access to online publications:
- Industrial Designs in the Official Publications section (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/bulletins/PO;
- International Classification for Industrial Designs: https://www.fips.ru/publication-web/classification/mkpo?view=index;
- Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents subsection (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/registers-web/
- 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 70 countries and organizations, including the EUIPO database Design View. For each resource, there is information about web addresses, previous queries and a brief description of search and browsing options.
Examiners search for International Design Registrations under the Hague System in the databases: International Designs Bulletin, Hague Express, Global Design Database.
- Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
AR par.2.3.2 – 2.3.3, pp. 73-79
The Design Fund is free of charge to external users.
The Paper Designs Fund includes:
- collections of industrial design publications from official bulletins of the Russian Federation and foreign patent Offices (1992-2013);
- domestic and foreign books and periodicals on art design, technical aesthetics and advertising;
- advertising brochures and catalogues of domestic and foreign organizations and firms.
The FIPS all-Russian Patent and Technical Library (VPTB FIPS) has a reading room for users working with the Design Fund.
Access of external users to databases containing information on industrial designs of the Russian Federation, foreign countries and international organizations is free of charge in the computer room of the VPTB FIPS.
The web pages 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: Catalogue of Publications and Databases: https://www.fips.ru/en/informational-resources/information-products-and-services.php;
- Carrying out searches – in the Search System section: https://www.fips.ru/en/informational-resources/information-retrieval-system/
- through the Rospatent search platform (in Russian): https://searchplatform.rospatent.gov.ru/
Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
All patent document databases contain information on legal status that is updated monthly.
Information on the legal status of industrial designs is published in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette, posted on the FIPS and Rospatent websites.
In the Search section of the Office website, information is provided on registrations, with an indication of legal status or stage of prosecution of registered subject matter in the Open Registers (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/registers-web/
IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE
Information on the following topics is desired:
- Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvementsAR par.2.1, pp. 66-67
- 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)
Server HP DL580 – 5 units.
(RAM – 16GB, processors - 4, external memory - 900 GB)
HP workstations - 75 units.
Software: Solaris, Windows 7, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server, Astra Linux operating systems.
Carriers used: LTO-7magnetic tapes
- Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
AR par.2.2, pp. 68-69
In 2022, 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 Internet resources, containing information about industrial designs.
The internal industrial design database contains records of more than 120 000 applications and 97 000 granted patents.
- Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
AR par.2.4, pp.82-83
- Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
Applications for industrial design are accepted by e-filing system on the Office website or through the Public Services Portal.
Registration of applications for designs is carried out in the unified system of registration and incoming correspondence, data are exported to the unified data storage system and the paperless system for examination of such applications.
In the information system for digitization of traditional formats, certain types of documents are prepared in modern formats for subsequent examination during the provision of public services, in particular the translation and uploading of primary design application materials and supplementary design application documents into e-filing application.
The unified document repository ensures storage of documents and structured data in WIPO Standard ST.96 format within the public services provided by Rospatent. The system is integrated with all new information systems through a unified API. The unified repository is used for generating various statistical reports on industrial designs. The paperless workflow system for the examination of design applications ensures the registration of incoming letters, the preparation of outgoing correspondence, the control of all the processes in the life cycle of application from its filing to the issue of the examination decision (issuance, refusal, revocation), the control of the time for the examination of correspondence and the time for the examination.
V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
- Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
AR par. 2.4, pp.81-84 Information Services Provided on the Basis of SPC
https://new.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/
https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/russian_patent_library - Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
The web pages:
Annual Report: https://rospatent.gov.ru/content/uploadfiles/otchet-2022-en.pdf
Brief information on legal protection of created designs (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/faq/kak-mozhno-zashchitit-originalnyy-dizayn-ot-poddelok-i-zaimstvovaniy
In the "Electronic brochures" section you can download practical manuals on the protection and use of industrial designs (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/sourses/publications
Internet publications from VPTB FIPS Division are available on the FIPS website in the SPC and VPTB FIPS Information Products sections at: https://www.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/
https://new.fips.ru/en/about/vptb/vptb-information-products.php
Electronic catalogue of patent law and scientific and technical literature (in Russian): https://irbis.fips.ru/web/index.php?LNG=&C21COM=F&I21DBN=FIPS&P21DBN=FIPS Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
AR par.5.3, pp. 108-114
AR par.7.3, pp.170 - 172
AR par.7.2.2- 7.2.3, pp.158 - 163
Scientific youth about intellectual property (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/projects/molodezhi-ob-is.php
Inventors NEXT (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/about/vptb-otdelenie-vserossiyskaya-patentno-tekhnicheskaya-biblioteka/projects/izobretateli-next.php
Technology and innovation support centers (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/about/tspti-tsentr-podderzhki-tekhnologiy-i-innovatsii/index.php
- Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
AR par.7.2.2 -7.3, pp.158-169
AR par.7.3, pp. 163 - 169
Information about thematic meetings and webinar recordings are available at (in Russian):
The web pages of the Office website containing information about training, seminars and conferences:
- "Training. Advanced professional training. Retraining" section (in Russian): https://www.fips.ru/about/deyatelnost/obuchenie/index.php
- "Conferences, webinars" section (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/activities/conferences
- "Scientific Conferences" section: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/scientific_conferences
- Training videos (in Russian): https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/sourses/multimedia/video#training-video
Information about thematic webinars and webinar recordings are available at (in Russian):
VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION
Information on the following topics is desired:
- International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Within the international exchange of information on industrial designs, FIPS publishes official Rospatent bulletins, including information on industrial designs, on the FIPS FTP-server and provides access thereto via login and password to the patent Offices of 47 foreign countries and 2 international organizations.
In 2022, 59 design bulletins from 3 countries were included in the Design Fund: 12 paper bulletins; 12 optical disk bulletins and 35 bulletins downloaded from the foreign patent Offices websites.
- Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to industrial design information
On December 12-14, 2022, Rospatent took part in the 11th session of Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, which was held in a hybrid format via videoconference by the International Bureau of WIPO.
https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/news/11-ya-sessii-rabochey-gruppy-vois-14122022 (in Russian)
Rospatent carried out the training of examiners of Industrial Designs Department of the Eurasian Patent Organization from March 28, 2022 to April 8, 2022. During this training, the examiners learned about the procedure for consideration of international registrations of industrial designs with the designation of the Russian Federation under the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.
On April 27-28, 2022, Rospatent participated in the International Forum "Intellectual Property in Belarus. National Intellectual Property Center – 30 years" that was organized by National Center of Intellectual Property Center in Minsk, the Republic of Belarus. Rospatent made a presentation on the participation of the Russian Federation in the international and regional systems of legal protection of industrial designs.
On November 15, 2022, Rospatent carried out the training of examiners of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Tajikistan on issues of the participation of the Russian Federation in the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.
On November 21-23, 2022, Rospatent took part in the 46th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications.
https://rospatent.gov.ru/ru/news/46-sessiya-postoyannogo-komiteta-wipo-24112022 (in Russian)
AR par.6.1, p.129
VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS
Section "International Cooperation" on the Office website: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation
"The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs" subsection: https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/international_cooperation/hague
Section "International Conferences": https://rospatent.gov.ru/en/activities/scientific_conferences