CWS.ATR.PI.2011.SK

Annual Technical Report 2011 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Slovakia (CWS/ATR/PI/2011/SK)

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

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year

Patents

There were 256 patent applications filed with the IPO SR in 2011 that is decrease by 9.2 per cent in comparison with 2010. PCT applications form 7.0 per cent (18 applications) of all applications.

The number of applications filed by domestic applicants (223) decreased by 5.1 per cent and applications filed by foreign applicants (33) decreased by 29.8 per cent. The largest share in the number of patent applications filed by foreign applicants (33) had the Czech Republic (11), the U.S.A. (5) and Germany (4).

317 patents were granted in 2011 that is decrease by 15.7 per cent in comparison with 2010.

From January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 there were 22 supplementary protection certificate applications filed. All of them were filed by foreign applicants; the most of them were from Germany - 7, and from the U.S.A. - 4. 11 supplementary protection certificates were granted in 2011.


European Patents

In 2011, 10 European patent applications were filed with the IPO SR.

2.274 translations of European patent specifications were published in 2011 that is 19.8 per cent more than in the previous year.

There were 12,266 valid patents entered in the Patent Register of the IPO SR by December 31, 2011; 3,613 of them were national patents granted; 8,653 were European patents with designation for SR.


Utility Models

There were 426 utility model applications filed with the Office in 2011. This number increased by 10.1 per cent in comparison with the previous year. The number of applications filed by Slovak applicants increased by 14.4 per cent (350 applications). The share of Slovak applicants in total number of 426 applications is 82.2 per cent.

Increase by 33.2 per cent occurred in the number of registered utility models (377).

On December 31, 2011, there were 1,630 utility models valid in the Slovak Republic.

For comparison, here is the statistics on filed patent applications, utility model applications, registered utility models and on granted patents in 2005 - 2011:

Patentandutilitymodelstatistics_2011 Patentstatistics_IPC_2011

Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year

Patents

Applications in the field of Engines and Pumps (10.94 per cent), Transporting, Conveying and Storing (10.55 per cent) and Electricity (9.38 per cent) had the largest share.


Utility Models

The most registered utility models were from the field of Building (14.32 per cent), Transporting, Conveying and Storing (10.34 per cent), Electricity (6.63 per cent).

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to patents

URL to Annual Technical Reports on Patents:
http://www.upv.sk/?vyrocne-technicke-spravy
http://www.wipo.int/cws/en/atrs/

URL to Annual Reports of the IPO SR:
http://www.upv.sk/?annual-reports

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)

Main types of publications of the Office:

Patent Documents (codes of documents according to the WIPO ST.16):

-Published patent applications (A3)
-Patent specifications (B6)
-Supplementary protection certificates (without code)
-Translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (T1)
-Corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (T2)
-Translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (T3)
-Corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (T4)
-Translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (T5)
-Published utility model applications (U1)
-Registered utility models without change (Y1)
-Registered utility models with change (Y2)
-Corrections of patent documents (A8, A9, B8, B9, U8, U9, Y8, Y9, T8, T9)


Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR"

Patents and utility model information forms part of the Official Gazette - "Vestník ÚPV SR", covering all industrial property rights in one publication. IPO SR publishes official version of the Official Gazette in electronic form on CD ROM in PDF format. In 2011 the Gazette had a circulation of 130 copies, of which 44 were distributed monthly by subscription. Other copies were sent free of charge to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO SR, to information and consulting sites INNOINFO, within the frame of industrial property information exchange to foreign offices and as statutory copies according to the act as well. In 2011 the Office ceased the publication of online version of the Gazette in the Internet. It was replaced by its electronic version in PDF format, which is available via Internet address http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky.

The following numbers of documents were published in the Official Gazette in 2011:

165 published patent applications
322 granted patents
396 published utility model applications
350 registered utility models
16 applications for granting SPC's
13 granted SPC's
5 translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK
2 274 translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK
12 corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK


Distribution

The Office distributed Slovak patent specifications in a paper form to patent information centres and contact and information points of the IPO SR to build territorial funds of national patent documentation and to the IPO of the Czech Republic within the frame of international exchange. The Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" was distributed within the frame of mutual exchange to 30 countries including organisations EPO and WIPO last year.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information

The Gazette contains announcements on granted patents and patent applications, including translations of European patents and patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK, announcements on applications for supplementary protection certificates and granted supplementary protection certificates and announcements on utility model applications and registered utility models, arranged in following main chapters:

PATENTS
-list of published patent applications (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data and abstracts of published patent applications with an image, where available (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of granted patents (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of granted patents (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-suspended patent application procedures
-patents lapsed by reason of abandonment
-lapsed (expired) patents
-patents lapsed by reason of failure to pay renewal fee
-refused patent applications
-revocations of patents
-partial revocations of patents
-assignments and transfers of rights to patents and patent applications
-changes of rights of disposal to patents and patent applications (lien)
-changes of rights of disposal to patents and patent applications (termination of lien)
-license offers to patent applications and patents
-license contracts registered or granted to patents
-the termination of force of license contracts to patents
-patents registered in the register after declassification
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

UTILITY MODELS
-list of published utility model applications (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of published utility model applications (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of registered utility models (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered utility models (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of registered utility models with the extended term of validity (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of registered utility models with extended term of validity (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-abandoned utility models
-lapsed (expired) utility models
-utility models lapsed by reason of failure to pay renewal fee
-cancelled utility models
-partially cancelled utility models
-assignments and transfers of rights to utility models
-changes of the rights of disposal to utility models (lien)
-changes of the rights of disposal to utility models (termination of lien)
-license contracts registered or granted
-termination of force of license contracts
-registered utility models in the register after declassification
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

EUROPEAN PATENTS
-list of available translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available corrected translations of patent claims of European patent applications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available corrected translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-list of available translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (numerical series with classification symbols)
-bibliographic data of available translations of amended European patent specifications with designation for SK (arranged according to International Patent Classification)
-suspended procedures on European patent applications by reason of withdrawal
-conversions of the European patent applications to national applications
-abandoned European patents
-revocations of European patents
-partial revocations of European patents
-lapsed (expired) European patents
-European patents lapsed by reason of failure to pay the maintenance fees
-assignment and transfer of the rights to European patents and European patent applications
-changes of the rights of disposal to European patents and European patent applications (lien)
-changes of the rights of disposal to European patents and European patent applications (termination of lien)
-license offers
-license contracts registered or granted
-termination of force of license contracts
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

SUPPLEMENTARY PROTECTION CERTIFICATES
-bibliographic data of published applications for granting supplementary protection certificates (arranged according to document numbers)
-bibliographic data of granted supplementary protection certificates (arranged according to document numbers)
-suspended procedures on applications for granting a supplementary protection certificate
-refused applications for granting a supplementary protection certificate
-published applications for extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates
-extended terms of validity of supplementary protection certificates
-revocations of extended terms of validity of supplementary protection certificates
-suspended procedures and refused applications for extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of granting contrary to Article 3 of the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009, respectively No. 1610/96
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of lapse of basic patent before expire of validity term
-declaration of invalidity of supplementary protection certificates by reason of revocation or limitation of basic patent
-change of validity term of supplementary protection certificate as amended by Article 17 (2) of the Regulation (EC) No. 1610/96 of the European Parliament and Article 17 of the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1768/92
-assignments and transfers of rights for applications for granting the supplementary protection certificate
-lapsed supplementary protection certificates
-license contracts registered or granted to supplementary protection certificate
-assignments and transfers of rights for the supplementary protection certificate
-changes in data of applicants for granting the supplementary protection certificate
-changes in data of owners of the supplementary protection certificates
-corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)

Patent documents are available in paper form in the Office’s library, also in electronic form in the Office’s web site and on ESPACE ®-PRECES CD-ROM by the end of 2008 only (CD-ROM contains patents from the Region of Eastern and Central European States). ESPACE ® ACCESS PRECES (complete bibliographic information) is used as an index to these fulltext CD-ROMs.

Word processing and office automation

Text processing and office administration automation is ensured by application of databases of patents, utility models, European patents and supplementary protection certificates.

(New) techniques used for the generation of patent information (printing, recording, photocomposing, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), etc.)

MS Office 2003, FineReader 10.0, Adobe Acrobat 10 Professional SK, Quark Xpress Passport 7.5, Corel Draw 11, Adobe InDesign Standard CS5, Photoshop CS5.5, EPSON Scan 3.74 SK are being used for text processing, photocomposing and printing.

For the digitalization of patent documents scanner Fujitsu fi-4340C and software tools Eposcan 1.03.08 (scanning and indexing of documents) were used, along with Wipost33 EPO 1.04.00 (conversion of scanned and indexed documents to BAC format according to the WIPO Standard ST.33) and ST.33 to PDF in version dated 23rd February 2007 (conversion of documents from BAC format to PDF 1.3).

SLEX99 – Lexicon of Slovak Language contains following parts: Short Dictionary of Slovak Language, Slovak Dictionary of Synonyms, Rules of Slovak Grammar, used for the data processing. The photocomposing and printing is carried out by the Office.

The Desk-Top Publishing technology is being used for data and images processing, for the Gazette and first pages of patent documents.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data

ON-LINE DATABASES
http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage.
National databases are:
-"Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters", gives public access to information from national registers of industrial property rights and are updated daily http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en

-“Patent documents of the IPO SR” - SK and CS patent documents including bibliographic data and also complete patent documents, utility models documents and European patents documents with designation of SR
http://data.indprop.gov.sk/Patenty/index.php?jazyk=sk&typdokumentu=patenty&new=1

-“Classification Systems” http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia contains classifications used in Slovakia and abroad :

Patent classifications
http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia-patenty

including various additional information.

-Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" may be viewed on the address http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette - each issue is available as a one PDF file containing the whole issue. At the same time it is divided into PDF files containing only selected parts of the gazette, e.g.: patents, designs, trademarks or official announcements. In the archive on this webpage are available the previous volumes also in PDF format. The older volumes are gradually being added.

In the part ”Foreign on-line databases” there are links to the most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/?zahranicne-online-databazy#patenty.

ON-LINE ORDERS
http://www.upv.sk/?online-orders

The IPO SR provides electronic order forms for Official Gazette, magazines Intellectual Property and E-zine, expert publications of the IPO SR and IPO CZ, Annual Reports, patent documents and searches (see the part „Products and Services“, chapter VI).

III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

Abstracts printed on the first pages of patent documents as well as a part of official announcements are revised and in case of need corrected by the Office’s experts before publication of patent and utility model applications. Abstracts appear only in case of patent application and utility model application publications in the Official Gazette. The English translation of abstracts are being sent to the European Patent Office for the publication in the database Espacenet.

Classification¹, preclassification² (if applicable), and reclassification³ activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

Patent applications and utility model applications were classified, preclassified (i.e. preliminarily classified at the subclass level) and reclassified by Office’s experts according to the simplified scheme of the eleventh edition of the International Patent Classification. The WIPO Standards ST.8 and ST.10/C were also used for these purposes. Classification of applications was conducted before the publication of the application, while final specification of the classification symbol can be done during the search of the application. Patent applications were preclassified by allotting subclass symbols to route a patent application to the appropriate examiner or for statistical purposes. Reclassifying of applications according to the current edition of the IPC was carried out after entry of a new edition of the IPC core level into force.

The IPC 2011.01 had been used in the Office for classification the Slovak patent documents until the end of 2011.

Software tools to operate the Slovak version of the IPC in standardized electronic form in the Internet were implemented within co-operation with the WIPO. The tools simplify preparation of Slovak translations of the IPC issued annually after changes effective since 2011. Slovak editions of the IPC in the electronic form were made accessible to public and the Office employees on the site http://mpt.upv.sk/ or http://ipc.indprop.gov.sk.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

The WIPO Standard ST.9 is used for patent and utility model bibliographic data coding in all relevant outcomes or records. All bibliographic data are being processed in electronic database form. The fully searchable data are updated and made available to the public daily in the Internet.

Digitalisation

In 2011, the Office continued in regular monthly digitalisation of new entries of national patent documentation, corrected documents to relevant patent documents issued by the Office, translations of patent claims of European patent applications and translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK. The Office also continued the production of Official Gazette on CD ROM.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The patent documentation search file used by the patent examiners and the technical public contains patent documents from 26 countries, the EPO, the WIPO and the OAPI, patent gazettes from 17 countries, including the EPO and the WIPO and the non-patent literature (22 titles of technical periodicals and 9202 titles of special literature).

Updating

Updating of patent documentation search file is performed regularly according to current technical possibilities.

Storage, including mass storage media

The basis of the patent fund forms the collection stored on the paper medium (cca 10 millions documents). However the majority of the patent documentation is currently received on electronic carriers. In 2011 the regular annual accession of optical discs reached 641 pieces of optical discs with full texts and bibliographic information concerning the patent documents.

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file

IPO SR is maintaining the patent documentation collection stored in paper form, which forms, as a part of PCT minimum documentation, the basis of search files within the range:
-from 1950 to 1992: the documentation DD (from 1958), DE (from 1951), CH (from 1944), FR (from 1945), GB (from 1967), PL (from 1963), SU (from 1941), US (from 1960) and the documentation EPO (from 1978) a WIPO (from 1978)
-from 1919 to the present: national documentation SK and formal CS
-from 1993 to the present: national documentation CZ

Since 1993 the Office has been receiving patent documents stored on optical discs from following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, France, Georgia, Italy, Japan, Canada, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, United States of America, United Kingdom and from international organisations EPO, OAPI and WIPO.

In 2011, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR received patent and utility model gazettes, as a part of the available search files, from the following states and organisations: Armenia, Bulgaria, Benelux, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Ukraine, USA and EPO a WIPO.

V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

In-house systems (online/offline)

The Office keeps and creates national search database of granted patents, registered utility models and supplementary protection certificates, which serves for searches and purposes of proceedings on patent applications, utility model applications and applications for granting and extension of validity term of supplementary protection certificates. Nowadays, selected data are also available to public via Internet.

It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for granted patents, published patent applications, registered utility models, utility model applications, European patents with designation for SK and supplementary protection certificates.

Following search CD-ROM are being used through the local CD-ROM network by the Ultranet 2000 system:

IPO SR Official Gazette
ESPACE - ACCESS EP - A (by 2009)
ESPACE - ACCESS EP - B (by 2009)
ESPACE - ACCESS - EPC (EUROPE) (by 2006)
ESPACE - PRECES (by 2008)
ESPACE - ACCESS - PRECES (by 2008)
ESPACE - ACCESS - RUSSIA (by 2001)
ESPACE - BULLETIN (by 2009)
PAJ
legal and economic information, encyclopaedia and statistics
translating dictionaries

External databases

Searches carried out in the STN on-line service (e.g. CAS), access to EPOQUE, Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPI) available within the EPOQUE, EPO Global Patent Index and the like databases.

Using the EPO Internet database Espacenet and other free available databases of national offices (e.g. Czech patent and utility models databases, USPTO national database, IPOUK national database) and WIPO search system PATENTSCOPE.

Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)

The Office automation management system – software “INVENTIO” contains registers of patents, European patents with designation for SK, utility models, supplementary protection certificates and PCT registry (data since 1993 – patents, data since 2003 - European patents with designation for SK, data since 1992 – utility models, data since 2002 - supplementary protection certificates and data since 1995 – PCT applications filed with IPO SR as a receiving office).

Administrative management system is based on Lotus Domino and Fabasoft eGov Suite.

Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

Equipment used:
LAN is built on base of the Cisco technology, Fast ETHERNET 1000/100/10 Mbit/s, WINDOWS 2003 / 2008 Server; MS SQL Server 2005 / 2008; workstations PC Pentium, Windows XP / 7, thin client WYSE V10, WYSE S10, HP t5740.

Linux Red Hat Enterprise 4.0,
Informix Dynamic Server 10,
Citrix XenApp 5.0 FP3,
Ultranet – Ultra Console 2000

SAN HP MSA 1500 CS, SAN HP MSA P2000, G3
HP Storage Works MSL SDLT 5026 series library, MSL LTO 4048,
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.06.11

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products 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)

Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings

In 2011, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 1 338 users and 1 311 of it were from the public. In total there were provided 6 412 borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 23 006 copies of patent documents and other industrial property documents for the manual and computer search purposes, as well as copies from technical periodicals and other associated and non-patent literature were made. In 2011 there were performed 59 patent searches and 40 searches on bibliographic data. Since January 1, the Office provides new service for public – international patent search, as an alternative of searches on state of the art for inventions or technical solutions. The service is for all those interested in protection for a product or technology by patent or other means of industrial protection before their placing on the market.

The Office’s reading room serves as a WIPO deposit library as well. The deposit library fund includes 142 volumes of publications issued by WIPO, which are available for study in reading room.

The Office’s reading room including the search workstation opens daily from 8:00 to 15:00.

All online services and other basic information are available via Internet address of IPO SR: www.upv.sk.

Collecting, acquisitions, preparation

In the last year were processed 6 255 patent documents in paper form and 641 optical discs containing full texts and bibliographic information relating to patent documents as well to made them available for search purposes. The entire acquisition of patent documents amounted to
1 770 377 documents, out of which 1 764 122 entries represented documents in electrical form. Other new entries, for instance Official Gazettes of the foreign offices (22) and miscellaneous associated literature, were processed on the monthly basis.

The patent literature (patent documentation and official gazettes) were acquired within the frame of mutual exchange and the non-patent literature mostly by purchase or as a gift.

Collection management, preservation

A list of the complete patent documentation was regularly updated on the Office’s web site.

Non-patent literature was processed, stored according to librarian rules and made available via in-house database system “Knižnica” to the staff.

Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country

Patent Information Centres and Contact and Information Points

Since 2003 the Office has established 10 contact and information points, while four of them are the Patent Information Centres. They are located in state, regional and district libraries as well as in the Slovak National Library (SNK) in Martin and Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI) in Bratislava. A list of centres and points is available on the Office's web site http://www.upv.sk/?partners.

The main goal of patent information centres is to provide complex information services in the field of patent, trademark and industrial design information, search services, consultation and methodical assistance concerning the searching of information, making copies of required patent documents, printing records from electronic form etc. Every patent information centre serve as a contact and information point.

The main goal of contact and information points of the Office is to inform the public about where can apply for protection of the results of creative activity, and particularly to inform the general public about the existence of the national institution, which protects immaterial goods, industrial property.

The Office supported the activity of centres and contact and information points by regular sending Slovak patent specifications in paper form and the Official Gazette in electronic form, as well as all information materials and recourses made available to the public, publications published by Office, information pamphlets, documents and forms relating to applying for protection of industrial property rights, access to offices databases via Internet etc.

The co-operation with patent information centres and contact and information points within the PATLIB network continued also in 2011. Representatives of centres participated at the conference organised by the Office in April on the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Day and at two-day meeting of the Office's electronic services users in May. Moreover representatives of centres acting in CVTI SR Bratislava and SNK Martin participated at the conference PATLIB, which took place in the Hague.

The European Patent Office included the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information in Bratislava in the pilot project of re-orientation of PATLIB centres. The goal of the project is introduction of new innovative and supporting services and co-operation with regional organisations to support innovations. In 2011 the PATLIB centre in CVTI continued in activities of EPO pilot project.


Information and Advisory Points for Innovations (InnoInfo)

The mission of InnoInfo centres http://www.upv.sk/?information-and-advisory-points-for-innovation-innoinfo operating in the regions of Slovakia is to orientate especially the small and medium sized entrepreneurs in the field of innovations and industrial property. InnoInfo centres are established in business incubators, regional advisory and information centres, regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at the Universities of technical orientation.

Co-operation with InnoInfo centres continued also in 2011 particularly in the field of education and seminar organisation. The seminar "Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Protection" took place in the premises of University Technology Incubator in Bratislava in the end of January. Local entrepreneurs and representatives of institutions for science and research support met at the two-day event Intellectual Property Protection in Prešov in May. The topic of September seminar organized by Regional Advisory and Information Centre in Prešov was Monitoring Technology and Competitiveness through Patent and Trademark databases. The Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Trenčín organised the Brokerage Event ELO SYS 2011 in October and in November co-organised the seminar on innovations financing possibilities for small and medium enterprises.

Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)

The Office library provides following services to the public:

-methodical and consultation assistance for the public
-general information provided by Office's experts
-lending service (patent documents, Official Gazettes, special monographs, patent associated literature and reference literature) in the reading room
-sale of special monographs and periodical publications ("Intellectual Property" in paper, Official Gazette "Vestník ÚPV SR" on CD-ROM) upon request or on the place
-reprographic services upon request or on the place
-sending of copies of patent documents upon request
-searches on state of the art, international patent search, searches on patent families, bibliographic data upon request in written or on-line form
-on-line searches in Office's databases for patents, European patents with designation for SK, utility models and supplementary protection certificates and self-service during a personal visit
-monitoring of the state of selected technical fields upon request (permanent sending of documents)
-registry information provided in the reading room
-CD-ROM workstations available in the reading room


Patent information on the World Wide Web:

-general information
-information about Office activities (seminars, training courses, etc.)
-application guide and forms
-administrative fees
-relevant laws
-Annual Reports
-extracted data from register
-patent specifications (meanwhile since 1993)
-Official Gazette (PDF form)
-order forms (searches, patent documents, Official Gazette, special literature)
-products and services
-7-th edition of the IPC (fully searchable)
-core level of the IPC 2006 and IPC 2009 (in PDF format only)
-IPC 2009 - IPC 2012 in standardized electronic form
-patent classifications and related information
-annual technical reports on patent information (2002-2011)


Information Centre

Within their professional consultancy activities, the Centre staff provides the public with the necessary IPR-related information personally, by telephone (+421 48 4300 131), mail or e-mail infocentrum@indprop.gov.sk or by fax. The Information Centre includes also "Helpdesk" providing information about electronic on-line filing.

Information Centre provided totally 7 115 information in 2011. 5 545 information was provided by the telephone, 304 information was provided personally, 1 067 by e-mail, 197 by post. 1605 information thereof concerned registry data, 911 were of general nature, 449 related to fees and 622 information concerned patents, 247 utility models and 17 supplementary protection certificates as such. Information Centre was moved to the premises freely accessible to public in order to improve the accessibility particularly in handling with personal consultations with the Office visitors. Concurrently the processes for services providing were optimised by joining the Information Centre to department providing search and consultation services related to industrial and legal information.


Workplace of the IPO SR in Bratislava

Workplace of the Office, which was opened in 2004 offered information relating to filing applications for industrial property rights subjects last year. In the workplace, there is a filing room.


Pre-diagnostics of industrial property rights
http://www.upv.sk/?prediagnostika-priemyselnych-prav

To increase the industrial property awareness, to support innovations, creativity and competitiveness of small and medium enterprises are the primary goals of industrial rights pre-diagnostics performed by the IPO SR experts since 2008. During 2011 the Office employees visited 49 companies from all Slovakia. Although filing applications is not the primary goal of the pre-diagnostics totally 105 applications in 4 year were received since introduction this service.

URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications

Electronic filing (eOLF a PCT-SAFE)
http://www.upv.sk/?electronic-filing-of-applications

The Office's on-line filing room enables filing of the European patent applications, international PCT patent applications and national patent and utility model applications in electronic form. (For more information see the part „Medium allowed for filing application“, chapter VII).

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.

Webregisters
http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its homepage. Most frequently used databases are "Data extracted from Registers" also called as "Webregisters". Webregisters give public access to data extracted from patent, utility models, European patents with designation for SK, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) registers, which are kept by the Office with the possibility of simple and advanced search or browsing results. Data concerning in particular pending patent, utility model and SPC applications, all filed applications or granted patents, SPCs and registered utility models in the register are daily updated.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., patent search service(s) and patent databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

Products and services

URL addresses providing basic information concerning the information services offered and information products issued by the Office and other relevant information relating to their accession and utilization

-Official Gazette http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette

-patent documents http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

-magazine “ Intellectual Property” http://www.upv.sk/?dusevne-vlastnictvo
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products

-IPO SR and IPO CZ publications http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie
http://www.upv.sk/?other-products

-E-zine IPO SR http://www.upv.sk/?e-zine-upv-sr

-on-line order forms http://www.upv.sk/?online-orders

-price list http://www.upv.sk/swift_data/source/pdf/Cennik.pdf

-data extracted from register http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers

-patent documentation fund http://www.indprop.gov.sk/swift_data/source/dokumenty/patfondy.pdf

-IPO SR reading room http://www.upv.sk/?other-services

-searches http://www.upv.sk/?searches

For more information relating to services offered by the Office, see the part “Information services available to the public“, chapter VI.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information

Regional co-operation

In 2008 IPO SR stopped participation in the joint ESPACE® - PRECES CD-ROM
project (patent specifications of BG, CZ, HU, LT, LV, PL, RO and SK).

International co-operation

Bibliographic data and abstracts of the published patent and utility model applications, granted patents and registered utility models in English were supplied to the Espacenet and INPADOC database in electronic form.

In 2011 the co-operation with EPO in data on industrial property subject matters changing area was extended. Bibliographic data and Slovak patents copies in electronic form providing for the database system Espacenet freely accessible to public on the address http://sk.espacenet.com/ was updated with data and copies of published patent and utility model applications, registered utility models and European patents with designation for SK with translations in Slovak language in electronic form and including data of legal status of said industrial property subject matters since 1993. Since September all said data have been updated regularly every month.

In 2011 continued the mutual exchange of patent documentation and official gazettes between the IPO SR and other offices also international organisations, including the EPO and the WIPO.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

Priority documents have been supplied to applicants on request in paper form.

Medium allowed for filing applications

Patent and utility model applications are filled in paper, fax or electronic form.

The IPO SR enables except on-line filing of European patent applications, European PCT applications and international PCT applications also receiving national patent and utility model applications including subsequently filed documents relating to proceedings on patent applications, utility model applications and applications for translations of patent claims of European patent applications and of European patent specifications with designation for SK in electronic form.

Electronic filing of national applications increased by 16 per cent and of European patent applications and international PCT applications increased by 28 per cent in comparing with the previous year. The translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK increased by 117 per cent in comparing with the previous year.

The number of subsequent documents to patent and utility model applications and translations of European patent specifications with designation for SK increased significantly by more than 70 per cent in comparing with the previous year.

Also the Electronic Filing User’s Days had a significant share on this positive balance. The Office organized the Electronic Filing User’s Days for the 7th time and goal was to teach the users to fill electronic forms, to show them new functions for making documents filing easier and also to exchange experiences from the said area.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means

Intellectual Property Course
http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?education

IPO SR continued the education programme Intellectual Property accredited by the Ministry of Education of the SR also last year. From September 2010 to May 2011 the Modules:

A – Basics of Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright,
B – Creativity, its Management, Marketing and Economy, and
C – Information on Intellectual Property, were running.

22 graduates finished the Modules in June 2011. 25 participants entered the education programme from September 2011; 19 participants are external and 6 internal. This proves that the interest of public in education in intellectual property protection area has been increasing permanently. Final theses of graduates are available in the Office’s reading room as study materials for public.

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)

World Intellectual Property Day
http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?ipo-sr-activities-for-smes

The IPO SR employees and invited guests, including the Vice-President of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market Christian Archambeau, celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD) on April 27, 2011. Its central idea was Designing the Future. The Opening was preceded by Ceremonial granting the Patent Instrument to the University of Žilina in Žilina; the document related to the 10,000th patent granted by the Office. Working part of the WIPD 2011 at the IPO SR consisted of the Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia XI. It was aimed at issues of public relations and related marketing tools to reach more effective communication with target groups. April 27, 2011 was also the Open Day at the Office for everybody who wanted to obtain the information on intellectual property issues and on Office’s activities.

International Seminars

In December 6, 2011 the IPO SR organised in co-operation with the World Intellectual Property Organization the Seminar Strategic Use of Trademarks for Business Development. More than 50 participants from all Slovakia – patent attorneys, small and medium enterprises or universities representatives – attended the Seminar. In December 20 – 21, 2011 the Regional Meeting of Experts on Traditional Knowledge Issues in Transitional Economy Countries was organised in Košice by the Office in co-operation with the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

Co-operation with Universities

The Office in co-operation with the Technical University of Košice (TUKE) and the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (SCSTI) organised in the premises of University Library of TUKE the 3rd year of the Conference Intellectual Property Protection at Universities on November 10. The Conference was aimed particularly at expert public such as Universities scientific and pedagogic employees, students of technical, natural and also humane sciences; more than 70 participants, particularly from Košice Universities, took part in the Conference. Also co-operation with the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica related to preparation of expert seminar in the premises of the Faculty of Economy in Banská Bystrica (15.4. and 29.4.2011) within the Project Module 6 Intellectual Property Protection on the base of the Co-operation Agreement between MBU and IPO SR.

New portal - WWW.PATENTOVAT.SK

In the beginning of April 2011 the Industrial Property Office of SR in its effort to increase the public awareness on intellectual property importance and protection made a new internet portal – www.patentovat.sk – available. The portal is for public. Its goal is to popularise intellectual property and to provide information on industrial property protection and related services and products of the Office.

Editorial Activities

The Office publishes classifications, collections, expert monographs, acts and related commentaries, promotional and information brochures, leaflets or translations of WIPO and EPO original publications providing valuable information on industrial property field to public. The major popularisation activities of the Office last year included:
- Annual Report of the Industrial Property Office of SR, for the first time in electronic and web;
- The Collection from the Conference Intellectual Property in Slovakia XI, (CD);
- The Collection from the Conference Intellectual Property Protection at Universities III (CD);
- Regulations on Industrial Property Protection in SR, 5th edition;
- The Magazine Intellectual Property, in colour, web version with quarterly delay;
- Publication Value Exchange;
- Publication At Home with Inventions;
- Information brochures:
Making a Trademark
Looking Good
Learn from the History, Create the Future
Your Own World of Intellectual Property
Poster (10 Deadly Sins of Inventor – WIPO)
Bookmark – www.patentovat.sk

Exhibitions

The Office in its premises opened the exhibition FAIRPLAY DESIGN (studio: Industrial Design: Ferdinand Chrenka and his students; AFAD Bratislava) on the occasion of the WIPD. The Industrial Property Office has worked on events Researchers Night 2011, which took place simultaneously in several cities in Slovakia. The Office also participated in 63rd International Trade Fair Ideas – Inventions – New Products IENA 2011 in German Nuremberg in the common stand of patent offices “Internationales Patent-Informationszentrum”.

IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

provide information on legislation related to patents

-legislation in force http://www.upv.sk/?legislation-in-force

-related legislation http://www.upv.sk/?related-legislation

-invalid legislation http://www.indprop.gov.sk/?neplatne-pravne-predpisy

-multilateral treaties http://www.upv.sk/?multilateral-treaties

-EU legislation http://www.upv.sk/?eu-legislation

contain the Annual Report of the Office

http://www.upv.sk/?annual-reports

if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR

Information relating to subjects of industrial property rights

Office's Web page contains basic information which are useful for the applicant by filing the application of particular type of industrial property right, such as application forms, legislation, instructions of the IPO SR, information for applicant, administrative fees, contact to expert assistance, etc.:

Patents http://www.upv.sk/?Patents

SPC http://www.upv.sk/?supplementary-protection-certificates

Utility models http://www.upv.sk/?utility-models

Designs http://www.upv.sk/?designs

Topographies http://www.upv.sk/?topographies-of-semiconductor-products

Trademarks http://www.upv.sk/?trademarks

Geographical indications http://www.upv.sk/?designation-of-origin-and-geographical-indications

contain patent-related news regarding the Office

http://www.upv.sk

X. Other relevant matters