Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2016 submitted by Rospatent

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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.

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

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

Development of information technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘IT’) is being carried out in five main areas:

- development of electronic interaction with applicants;

- electronic record keeping and optimization of record-keeping processes;

- Information support of users;

- inter-departmental electronic interaction;

- development of hardware and software infrastructure.

On the site of Rospatent, the goals, objectives and plans of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property are published in the section "Plans of Rospatent's activities":

http://www.rupto.ru/about/strategy.

One of the trends is reduction in the cost of labor used in examining comparisons of lists of goods and services (hereinafter referred to as G/S):

- testing of procedures in 2013-2016 for automated comparison of claimed terms of G/S with ‘extended ICGS’, a lexical and semantic identifier of names of G/S taking into account all terms included in ICGS (10-2016), and distributed by specially designed, generic groups of names of G/S (LEXINTU-2016);

- automation of this process is based on adaptive automatic accumulation of matched terms and subsequent automatic matching thereof when they recur in lists of other trademarks claimed for registration;

- ‘matching’ of terms (i.e. standardization of claimed terms, in effect) may be applied to one of the terms by LEXINTU, or to the title of a generic group. Standardization of this nature enables the examination to compare automatically the lists of signs being analyzed with lists of identical and similar signs, used by the examination for reference in making decisions, and to reduce labor costs for the analysis of lists of G/S significantly;

- in 2016, a prototype was designed of an information system with a database containing names of goods and services (G/S), the grouping and characteristics thereof, and a user interface for the creation, population and modification of the database by a specialist user who monitors comparisons of particular names of goods and services specified by the applicant in the trademark application. If there is a connection between the designed system and the database containing trademark numbers and related lists of goods and services, the platform describing the semantic links between the names of the goods and services will enable automated searches of the lists of applications and registrations of goods and services not only for exact matches with the name in question, but also for similar names of goods and services, based on specified parameters.

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

In order to enable electronic record-keeping during the provision of State services, the following work was undertaken at the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as FIPS) in 2016:

- Operability and fitness for purpose of FIPS information systems and resources was ensured, including the Electronic State Register for Trademarks (hereinafter referred to as EGR TZ), and the List of Well-Known Trademarks in the Russian Federation (EGR OTZ).

- A system for official Internet publication of information on IP subject matter from the EGR was implemented. Since January, 2017, the system has been available to a wide range of users.

- In 2016, the electronic document flow system for trademarks and service marks, TM-ADMIN, operated reliably.

- In 2016, applications to register trademarks continued to be received electronically using the electronic filing service. Users of the service are given the opportunity to work in the new interface of the system.

In 2016, software was enhanced to optimize the processing of fees, including automation of the search for payment documents confirming payment of fees for the examination of the claimed designation, and for the registration of trademarks.

In 2016, EGR TZ and EGR OTZ records continued to be completed.

As of the end of 2016, the registers contained:

- EGR TZ: 486,195 registrations;

- EGR OTZ: 178 registrations.

In 2017, work involving expert departments is slated to continue on automating the comparison of claimed terms of goods and services on LEXINTU-2017, containing all terms included in ICGS (11-2017), distributed by generic groups of names of goods and services.

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

Electronic interaction with applicants on FIPS website.

In the year under review, in order to increase the number of applications submitted electronically, the following measures were taken:

- the reliability of electronic filing systems was enhanced, and the ease of use thereof;

- the opportunity to use software services for electronic filing was provided;

 - use of electronic filing of applications was promoted;

- practical classes were held on completing application documents for registering trademarks electronically;

- monthly thematic meetings on using electronic filing systems were held;

- consultative support for users of electronic filing systems;

- support of the ‘Answers to frequently asked questions’ section on the FIPS website, on working with electronic filing systems;

- posting of video clips on working with electronic application filing systems;

- on the FIPS website, the ‘Autoconfigurator’ software tool was made available to download for setting up workstations of users of electronic application filing systems, including automatic installation of the chain of certificates;

- organizing electronic filing of applications via TISCs.

In 2016, 30,059 applications were submitted electronically for all types of public services through the services on the FIPS and EPGU websites, of which 19,002 were for State registration of trademarks and service marks, i.e. 38% of the total number of trademark applications, excluding applications filed under the procedure for international registration of trademarks in accordance with the Madrid Agreement. Compared to 2015, the share of electronic trademark applications increased over 10 per cent.

In 2017, it is planned to continue work on developing electronic filing systems and promoting the use of electronic filing and electronic interaction among applicants and patent attorneys. This will broaden the range of users of electronic filing systems, and maintain the growth in the number of applications filed. Efforts will mainly be aimed at developing a means of inter-system interaction with large patent attorneys and other organizations, as well as expanding the range of users of electronic application filing systems by increasing the number of browsers supported by the systems, providing the opportunity for the electronic trademark application filing system to work with one of the free, but Russia-certified, versions of crypto-provider, and enabling work with universal electronic cards (UEC) with extended periods of validity for electronic signature certificates (three years).

Inter-agency electronic interaction.

Much attention was paid to the participation of Rospatent in programs initiated by the government of the Russian Federation:

- Unified State and Municipal Services Portal (EPGU);

- Inter-Agency Electronic Interaction System (SMEV), including the transition to electronic interaction with the Treasury;

- Creation of basic State information resources (BGIR);

- Participation in the establishment of a unified e-government infrastructure by connecting Rospatent’s automated systems to the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA).

In 2016, a Consolidated Plan for the transition to electronic provision of public services was developed and approved.

As part of the implementation of the Consolidated Plan, information on all Rospatent services has been updated in the Federal Register of Public Services (FRGU), and descriptions of 26 public services have been made available on EPGU.

Technical requirements for the development of interactive forms of filing applications for 20 services have also been sent to the Ministry of Communications. As of December 31, 2016, it has been possible to file applications for eight Rospatent services with EPGU, while a further 12 services are carrying out testing of interactive forms. The new forms are expected to be launched on EPGU during the first quarter of 2017.

Interaction with the federal executive authorities is provided using the inter-agency electronic interaction system (hereinafter, ‘SMEV’). Version 2.4.4 of the SMEV web-service was developed and registered in a production environment in compliance with methodological guidelines for the development of eleсtronic services and use of electronic signature technology in the course of inter-agency electronic interaction.

In 2016, the type of information on registered intellectual property subject matter was developed and registered in the production and test environment of the Inter-Agency Electronic Interaction System (SMEV 3.x).

SMEV 3.x was integrated in a test environment with types of information from the Federal Tax Service (FNS), ensuring the receipt of extracts from the Unified State Registers of Legal Entities (ЕGRUL) and Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP).

In 2016, work was carried out to modernize the ‘Personal Office’ service of the FIPS internet portal in respect of integration with the Unified System of Identification and Authentication System (hereinafter, ‘ESIA’) in order to comply with the Guidelines on the use of ESIA version 2.5.

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

From Table 1, below, it is clear that the overall number of trademark registration applications filed in the Russian Federation in 2016 increased in comparison to 2015. The overall increase in application numbers was 5.34 per cent, due to a rise in applications received from Russian applicants. The number of applications from foreign applicants declined by 14.48 per cent due to a noticeable decrease in applications under international procedures (by 20.28 per cent).

Regarding the registration of trademarks, an increase of 28.22 per cent was seen. The increase in the number of registered trademarks in 2016 in comparison to 2015 occurred due to an increase in Russian applicants (of 40.70%), foreign applicants also experienced growth (by 16.84%).

Table 1

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 in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section - Regulation section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/brands_and_points/norm_doc_tz;
• Office Annual Report – Rospatent Annual Reports section:

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

• Links section: http://www.rupto.ru/links;

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/link_resources;

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

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/fonds/putevoditel;

• Information notices in the Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellations of Origin section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/brands_and_points/soob_tz.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK 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 2016, the All-Russian Patent and Technical Library Division (hereinafter, ‘VPTB’) of FIPS held 11 thematic meetings on training to work with the electronic filing system for trademark applications. These meetings were attended by 342 people from Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as from St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaluga, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Novokuznetsk, Obninsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ryazan, Sarov, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, who were representatives of various companies and organizations, and patent attorneys, and furthermore, 131 people participated in the meeting via video-conference, organized on the basis of 12 TISCs. In the computer room of the WTPTB FIPS department, practical training were held to work with the electronic filing service for registration of a trademark.

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

State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and the issuance of certificates for trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/reg_tz;

Recognition of a trademark, or a designation used as trademark, as a well-known trademark in the Russian Federation:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/obsheizvest_tz;

Access to documents of applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of such documents:

http://www.rupto.ru/activities/function/oznakomlenie_tz;

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to the State registration of trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and grant of certificates in respect of trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and duplicates thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/adm_reg_tz#adm_regl_tz;

• Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_482#I

• Requirements relating to documents included in the application for State registration of a trademark, service mark or collective mark, and accompanying documents and forms:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_482#II

• Procedure for converting an application for State registration of a collective mark into an application for State registration of a trademark or service mark, and vice-versa:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_482#III;

• Procedure for converting a collective mark into a trademark or service mark, and vice-versa:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_703

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to access to documents for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies of said documents (hereinafter, ‘Regulations, State function, trademark’, respectively), governing relations in respect of the provision of State functions by the Federal Intellectual Property Service (Rospatent):

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_608#adm-regl;

• Procedure for accessing documents relating to applications for State registration of trademarks, service marks, and collective marks, and issuance of copies thereof:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_607#poryadok;

• Administrative regulations for the provision by the Federal Intellectual Property Service of State functions relating to State registration of appellations of origin, and grant of exclusive rights therein, as well as grant of exclusive rights in previously registered appellations of origin, and issuance of certificates in respect of exclusive rights in appellations of origin, and duplicates thereof: 

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_698#adm_reg;

• Rules for compiling, filing and reviewing documents which constitute the basis for performing legally significant acts concerning the State registration of appellations of origin:

http://www.rupto.ru/docs/regulations/pr_minek_697#I;

• Specimen Applications and Requests, and Completed Examples section heading:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/file_library/obr_zaya#4;

•  Electronic Interaction with Applicants section/ Filing Applications for Trademark and Service Mark Registration section heading:

  http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/tm_ap_new;

• Fees section: http://www.rupto.ru/activities/dues/patduty/pat_poshl;
• Fee calculator: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/poshl_s/k_p;
• Frequently Asked Questions section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/about/right_vopr.

Questions concerning paper and/or electronic filing of trademark applications with FIPS were reviewed at 13 conferences, seminars and round tables organized and held by Rospatent in 2016 in eight regions of the Russian Federation. Details of these events can be found in Part 5(d).

Users of the FIPS website have access to user and technical documentation on setting up and operating an electronic application filing service for registering trademarks and service marks, and electronic correspondence: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/el_zayav/

Answers to frequently asked questions are posted on a section of the FIPS website.

Service users may contact the Technical Support Service during working hours at helpdesk@rupto.ru to obtain professional help from technical specialists.

Thematic meetings on electronic filing of trademark applications and maintaining electronic correspondence in the course of office work are held on a monthly basis.

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

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

In 2016, access was provided on the FIPS website to a database of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2016 (updated daily).

Throw the TM-ADMIN system for electronic document flow for trademarks and service marks examiners have an access to documents on the electronic processing of applications, including primary application materials, documents related to application correspondence, and structured data.

Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification

In 2016, the Trademark and Registration Division continued to participate in activities to improve the International Classification of Goods and Services for the registration of marks (Nice Classification, hereinafter ‘ICGS’), with the aim of establishing conditions for the use of the new WIPO standards in the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and improved international classifications for industrial property: 

- undertaking a range of work relating to the improvement of the international classification of goods and services as part of participation in the 26^th session of the Committee of Experts of the Nice Union (WIPO Headquarters, Geneva, April 25-29, 2016); preparation of proposals concerning amendments to the 11^th edition of the 2017 version of ICGS, to the 27^th session of the Committee of Experts on the Nice Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.

- translation of terms used in ICGS (11-2016) into Russian, and publication of a version of ICGS (11-2016) in three languages (French, English and Russian) on the Rospatent website;

- preparation of the official translation into Russian of terms used in the 11^th edition of the 2017 version of ICGS, ‘ICGS(11-2017)’, and publication of a version of ICGS(11-2017) in three languages (French, English and Russian) on the Rospatent website;

- translation into Russian and formatting of terms used in ICGS(11-2017) for the WIPO International Bureau support service, ‘Goods and Services Manager’/MGS Madrid Goods&Services Manager, and for the multi-lingual service of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) TMclass, and transfer of formatted materials to the WIPO International Bureau and EUIPO;

- work on the automatic classification of the entire 2016 input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications, submitted from the WIPO International Office under the sixth edition of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification).

 (ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

Since 2011, a procedure of automatic electronic classification of the figurative elements of the input stream of images of national trademark and Madrid registration applications submitted from the WIPO International Office, under the sixth edition of the International Classification of Figurative Elements (Vienna Classification) of Trademarks, has been used. This was made possible in 2006 when the SILOIZ system of linguistic description and search for similarities in figurative elements was introduced, itself a sub-system of the automated system, Trademarks in force in the Russian Federation (АS TZ RF).

Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)

The Trademarks and Registration Division participates in the regulatory and method-related settlement of issues in the consideration of applications for registration of non-traditional trademarks, and the publication of corresponding information. Moreover, information received through Rospatent’s involvement in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications is widely used.

III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)

Rospatent publications on trademarks are presented in Table 2.

Тable 2

During 2016, the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette has been posted on the website of the Federal State Budgetary Institution, the Federal Institute of Industrial Property, 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 2313-7452. Gazette documents are in PDF format. 

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

• Regulations on the Official Gazette of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/documents/russian_laws/order_rospatent/prikaz_rospat_176_08112016;

• Official Publications section: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/;
• Catalog of Publications and Databases in the Patent Information Products section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/.

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

The Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, is published twice per month.

The forms of notifications on trademarks published in the Rospatent Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, are listed below (national registration):

• extension of the term of validity of a trademark registration;
• change in the denomination, first name, surname or patronymic of a rights owner and/or place of business or residence;
• change of correspondence address;
• reduction of the list of goods and/or services for which a trademark is registered, for the information of the rights owner;
• change to the individual elements of a trademark, which do not alter its essential features;
• State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for all goods and/or services;
• State registration of an agreement on alienation of the exclusive right in a trademark for part of the goods and/or services;
• registration of a licensing agreement;
• changes (additions) to a licensing agreement;
• termination (premature) of a licensing agreement;
• registration of a sub-licensing agreement;
• changes (additions) to a sub-licensing agreement;
• termination (premature) of a sub-licensing agreement;
• registration of a commercial concession agreement;
• changes (additions) to a commercial concession agreement;
• termination (premature) of a commercial concession agreement;
• registration of a commercial sub-concession agreement;
• termination (premature) of a commercial sub-concession agreement;
• changes (additions) to a commercial sub-concession agreement;
• replacement of a national registration with an international registration;
• replacement of a national registration with an international registration for individual classes;
• recognition as completely invalid of the grant of legal protection for a trademark;
• recognition as partially invalid of the grant of legal protection for a trademark;
• premature termination of legal protection of a trademark, partially;
• premature termination of legal protection of a trademark, fully;
• cancellation of a decision to terminate legal protection of a trademark;
• recognition as invalid of a registration number;
• issue of a duplicate trademark certificate;
• division of an individual trademark registration;
• change to the list of persons having the right to use a collective mark;
• State registration of the transfer of the exclusive right in a trademark without agreement;
• State registration of a pledge (subsequent pledge) agreement;
• State registration of changes entered into a registered agreement;
• State registration of termination of a registered agreement;
• other changes relating to a trademark registration;
• correction of obvious and technical errors in Gazette publications.

In 2016, publication of notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration continued.

Forms of notification on international registrations:

• State registration of an agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• State registration of amendments to a registered agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• State registration of termination of a registered agreement on the grant of a right to use a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• State registration of a pledge agreement (subsequent pledge) of the exclusive right in a trademark protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• Correction of obvious and technical errors in Gazette publications relating to notifications concerning trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration;
• Other changes relating to registered trademarks protected in the Russian Federation by virtue of international registration.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site providing access to online publications:

• Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=bulletin&type=UsrTM;

• In the Information Resources section, International Classification for Goods and Services subsection:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=classification&type=UsrTM

Open Registers of Russian Patent Documents:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

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

Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Russian Federation

Register of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation

Register of Trademarks Well Known in the Russian Federation

Register of International Trademarks

Register of Russian Federation Trademark and Service Mark Registration Applications

Register of Applications for the Registration of Appellations of Origin of the Russian Federation

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

In 2016, access was provided to the texts of international and domestic classifications via the Internet:

- International Classification of Goods and Services (ICGS, tenth edition, version 10-2016) in three languages, including Russian, as well as the seventh, eighth and ninth editions of ICGS.

- International Classification of Figurative Elements of Trademarks (Vienna Classification), seventh edition, in Russian.

- Lexical and semantic identifier of goods and services (LEXINTU), 8 edition, in Russian with changed and corrected names of subsumption groups.

- Lexicographical information gazette of goods and services (LEXINFORM) for 2016, in Russian (two annual issues).

When examining the claimed designation as part of the process of forming an expert opinion, examiners use the TZ RF automated system sub-system, enabling them to analyze and select search results by similarity of verbal and figurative elements of marks, and prepare reports on the results. The search results are generated automatically thanks to intelligent indexing, and search instructions prepared by a group of search-engine specialists using the QSS sub-system of the RF TZ automated system which was introduced in 1989 to search for similar verbal elements of marks, and using the SILOIZ sub-system of the RF TZ automated system which was introduced in 2006 to search for similarities in the figurative elements of marks.

In addition, to examine trademarks an opportunity is provided to analyse information on the figurative elements of marks, both under the codes of the Vienna Classification, searching for data under the classifier’s headings, and also by the results of a search for similarity in figurative elements of marks in the sub-system of linguistic description and search for similarity in mark images, SILOIZ, search result volumes of which are orders of magnitude smaller.

In the course of work relating to the processing of applications and examination of designations claimed for registration as a trademark, examiners use the following databases and auxiliary tools available from external sources:

-ROMARIN (WIPO)

-Manager of Goods and Services/MGS (WIPO)

-Madrid Real-Time Status/MRS (WIPO)

-Madrid Portal for National Offices/MOP (WIPO)

-TMVIEW, TMCLASS (EUIPO)

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

In 2016, development of a continuous publication system from Rospatent’s Electronic State Registers (EGR) was completed. Since January, 2017, the system has been available to a wide range of users.

The main difference with the new publication system is the publication of patent information immediately after the information is entered into the EGR, thereby obviating the need to accumulate documents as content for the next Gazette.

The new patent information publication system enables immediate publication on the FIPS Internet portal of information on intellectual property subject matter entered into the EGR. This will make it possible to shorten the time for publication of intellectual property subject matter to several minutes after the information is entered into the EGR.

An advantage of the new publication system is also an increase in the efficiency of preparing the published materials by transferring the main preparatory work for the publication to the stage prior to entry into the EGR.

Advanced tools have been developed in the new system for ease of editing and providing effective monitoring.

Owing to the publication changes, amendments have been made to the Official Gazette- one Gazette will include a whole range of publication dates, and the Gazette will be a regular publication, updated on a daily basis.

Since information will be continuously entered into the EGR, Gazettes will be replenished, updated and posted in the ‘Official Publications’ section of the FIPS portal on a daily basis.At the same time, the Gazettes will be ‘closed’ in accordance with the current approved and customary issue dates thereof (once, twice, and three times per month). Gazettes thus issued will include documents with publication dates falling within the traditional interval between the Gazettes.

An ‘Official Publications’ section has been created on the FIPS website, where official publications will be posted, as well as publications based on official publications.

Official Rospatent communications, records of official publications containing information entered into the State Register, and lists of various types of intellectual property subject matter, Rospatent Official Gazettes, and official publications of international classifications, may be accessed in the ‘Official Publications’ section.

In the ‘Information Resources’ section, there are open registers and the information retrieval system of the FIPS Internet portal, which is updated on the basis of official publications.

In the ‘Official Publications’ section, searches are available by document number, type of intellectual property subject matter, type of document (application, registration information, re-issue, notices), classification, filing date, etc.

For ease of viewing documents, users are provided with the following options:

 - Displaying an abbreviated  (e.g. information on the author and right holder) or complete bibliography, with the option to reproduce/ hide it, as well as displaying all or selected parts of documents;

 - Displaying notification groups in the form of a list with a page view and the option to sort and filter notifications by date and type;

 - Download data for subsequent use: a document with complete information in PDF format and legally significant data with an electronic signature;

- Various navigational options will be available in the section, e.g. links to other related documents.

In addition, for the convenience of the user, it is possible to personalize the visualization of the documents according to the selected user profile or manually select the necessary parts of the document or notification groups.

As part of the development of a system of selective information dissemination, RSS feeds have also been added in the ‘Official Publications’ section of the FIPS Internet portal, by type of intellectual property subject matter, type of document and classifier for intellectual property subject matter where  one exists.

In 2016, subscribers were provided with the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette based on official Rospatent information on CD/DVD, with a search system. Frequency of 24 issues (disks) per year. 

For new subscribers, and also for the purposes of keeping patent collections up to date, the series of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazette published in previous years (2013-2015) were offered on CD/DVD.

In addition, users were offered sets of information on trademarks for 2005 to 2015 on DVD (13 disks), as well as an array of retrospective information on trademarks for 1991 to 2004 on one DVD.

All products on optical disks 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.

Hard-copy and online users were also offered the International Classification of Goods and Services, tenth edition, 2016 version (ICGS 2016) for registration of marks, as well as Additions and Amendments to the International Classification of Goods and Services which came into force as of January 1, 2016.

Furthermore, users were offered free online access to information publications facilitating trademark classification and searching:

The International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, eighth edition;

The Lexical and Semantic Identifier of Goods and Services (eighth edition) reference publication, which supplements “The Lexicographical Information Gazette of Goods and Services periodical”.

An analog of the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette was published on the FIPS Internet site, and registers were maintained of Russian trademarks and service marks, appellations of origin, trademarks well known in Russia, applications for Russian trademarks and service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia and an indication of their legal status. 

Aside from that, users are provided with free access to information on applications to register Russian Federation trademarks and service marks received after January 1, 2005.

Thematic databases based on official trademark information are prepared for users on special request.

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a verbal designation, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for trademark similarities in the automated verbal search system RF TZ. 

Third party users have the opportunity, on submission of a designation of a figurative element, to place orders and obtain reports on the results of searches for similarities in trademarks using the SILOIZ system of linguistic descriptions of figurative elements.

In accordance with existing regulations for a number of organizations, such work was carried out free of charge.

In 2016, the Rospatent website provided online access to:

- registers of Russian trademarks;

- registers of trademark applications filed between 2005 and 2016, supplemented by information on the prosecution of applications filed between 2008 and 2016;

- registers of international trademarks with the indication Russia;

- the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazettes published in the last month.

Rospatent registers of Russian patent documents contain the following databases:

- a database of Russian trademarks (contains information on 554,000 Russian trademark certificates from 1925 to 2016 inclusive, updated daily);

- a database of trademarks well known in Russia (contains information on 177 marks from 2001 to 2016, updated daily);

- a database of trademark applications (contains information on 509,000 applications from 2005 to 2016, updated daily);

On the FIPS website, users are provided with access to the information-search system (IPS).

Users’ work with the information-search system

Examiners are able to work with all databases: trademarks, service marks, and international trademarks with the indication Russia.

Third party users’ access to the full-text databases of trademarks provided on a contractual basis.

As part of the cooperation agreements between Rospatent and relevant organizations, in 2016 free access was granted to:

● for trademark databases:

- 9 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 3 users of the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, Rosalkogolregulirovanie

● for all FIPS databases:

- 104 organizations of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs

- 234 organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

- 98 organizations of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service

- 16 organizations of the Ministry of Defense

- 95 organizations of the taxation service

- 60 users of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights

- 2 users of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Arms, Military and Special Equipment and Supplies, RosOboronPostavka

- 2 organizations of the Federal Customs Service

- 4 users of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations

- 12 users of the Federal Agency of Roscomnadzor.

Third party users are free to enjoy the following trademark databases:

- A database containing information on trademarks and service marks of the Russian Federation, No.501068, published in the Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Gazettes

- The ICGS database.

In 2016, internal and external users made more than 3,283,000 requests through the information-search system, related to trademark databases, of which:

- about 110,000 users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

- more than 3.173.000 - by other database users.

In 2015, users of trademark registers made approximately 56% of the overall number of requests (more than 40,628,000 requests).

Users’ Work with Rospatent Official Gazettes

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

In 2016, users made more than 54.110.000 page views of "Open Registries", of which:

- more than 352.000 - users of databases - employees of Rospatent / FIPS;

-more than 53.758.000 - other users of registries.

Access is provided to all Gazettes published since January, 2014.

The addresses of web pages of the Office’s site containing information on information products and services provided by the Office:

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

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/;

How to Access Publications and Databases subsection: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/publishing_activities/porayad_pr/;

• how to carry out a search – in the Information Resources section, Information-Search System:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/;

Databases:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_2/;

Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/;

• Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin Official Gazette in the Official Publications section:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/ofic_pub_ru/#page=bulletin&type=UsrTM

•  Information on how to access and use resources – in the Information-Search System section, Services:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/article_6/;

Support:

http://www1.fips.ru/wps/wcm/connect/content_ru/ru/inform_resources/inform_retrieval_system/article_4/;

Instructions for Using an Information-Search System:

http://www1.fips.ru/file_site/instr_search_2017.pdf

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

On the FIPS website, users can access information about the legal status of trademarks that is updated daily.

Moreover, in the Оpen registers of trademark registration applications, information on the stage of prosecution of applications is provided, which is updated daily. Data on statuses are generated on the basis of RF TZ automated prosecution system data.

Information on the legal status of trademarks is published in Rospatent’s Official Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, posted on the FIPS websites, and also in the FIPS Gazette, Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin, on CD/DVD:

- information on the State registration of trademarks;

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

Information is provided in the Information Resources section of the Office’s website on registrations with an indication of the legal status or stage of prosecution of the registered subject matter in the Open Registers: http://www1.fips.ru/wps/portal/Registers/.

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

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

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

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

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 TRADEMARK INFORMATION

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

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

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

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

Other activities

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

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

Assistance to developing countries

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS