Annual Technical Report on Trademark Information Activities in 2015 submitted by Slovakia

Please fill in your items before submitting your report

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

In 2013 strategy of the Office´s activities by 2016 was adopted. It contains inter alia activities in the patent information area:

- To prepare the draft of the  conception of the Office´s information services  development by 2016 in accordance with the Strategic Plan of the Office;

- To  identify the WIPO standards related to public services and data  providing which are not or  are partially implemented at the Office and to  prepare the proposal for their implementation with the publication of their  content  in  Slovak  language for public;

- To prepare the proposal for implementation of new standardised processes and outputs of the Office  related to provided  services;

- To prepare the proposal for implementation of  new and modification of  existing public  services of the Office;

- To implement a new complex package of public services with relevant information materials and documents.

Evaluation of the period 2013 - 2016 in the area of information services and the  report on their status and perspectives is planned  for the end of 2016.

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

Since 2011 the Office has realised the Projects of the Cooperation Fund of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market/European Union Intellectual Property Office (OHIM/ EUIPO) aimed at more effective providing services to national offices experts and clients and harmonization of the practice of national offices in proceedings on applications of trade marks and designs.

In 2015 the tools realised through the mentioned projects were used actively and were available not only to national Office experts but also to public. These are tools eFiling, eServices and tools in applications CESTO (a common support tool for examiners), Quality (Centralising information on IP Office quality standards), Seniority and Similarity (IP Office assessments of similarity between goods and services), portals like TMview (trade mark search tool) and TMClass (trade mark classification tool).

IPO SR cooperated with OHIM/EUIPO to create an electronic tool to exchange data between the European Commission, OHIM/EUIPO, authorities performing the practical enforcement of IP rights and other parties concerned. The Enforcement Database to support the enforcement of IP rights is the base of the safe system of cooperation between IP right holders, custom authorities and police.  

More information is on the web site https://www.tmdn.org/.

In 2014 also the Project Common Central Database, implemented in OHIM/EUIPO and used by experts of the Office´s Call Centre to build so-called Knowledge Database, was launched. It means that questions about CTM/EUTM or RCD or related questions are transferred by the Office´s experts to OHIM/EUIPO experts to harmonise answers about CTM/EUTM or RCD.

Since 2012 the Office has been cooperating with industrial property offices of the European Union member states through the European Trade Mark and Design Network within the OHIM/EUIPO Convergence Programme aimed at harmonisation of practice and eliminating differences of national industrial property offices procedures on trade mark and designs and at gradual implementation of the Projects:

CP1 Harmonization of Classification

CP2 Convergence of Class Headings

CP3 Absolute grounds - Figurative Marks

CP4 Scope of protection of B&W Marks

CP5 Relative grounds - Likelihood of confusion

This cooperation resulted in agreements of the offices on common practice in publishing announcements of the Office on its main page such as joint announcements related to:

  •  Procedure for assessing the likelihood of confusion (relative grounds), where the common elements of the signs in question have no or weak distinctive character
  •  Procedure for determining the acceptability of terms for classification (set of criteria contained in this procedure helps to determine whether a term included in the list of goods and services of a trade mark application is in terms of classification sufficiently clear and precise)
  • Judgments of the Court of Justice - calls for harmonized interpretations of the general indications of class headings of the Nice classification
  • Procedure for assessing the scope of protection of black and white trade marks and trade marks in the gray-scale and so on.

In 2015 the project CP3 was successfully completed by adopting Common Communication on the Common Practice of Distinctiveness – Figurative Marks containing descriptive/non-distinctive words in the attached forms or combined signs containing descriptive words/words without distinctive character, which has been applied in the Slovak Republic from December 1, 2015.

Within the Operational Programme Information Society the Office in cooperation with the external company works on the Project Electronic Services of the IPO SR to prepare inter alia the new modern web registers of the Office. In 2015 the works continued under the agreed Schedule.

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

Plans about trade mark information relate to implementation of a new system for making data from the Office registers available on the internet (Webregisters II) interconnected with European and international  systems (eSearch, TMview, Romarin,etc.).

Maintenance and updating the search system for trade marks – Acsepto® containing bibliographic data and images of national, international trade marks  and Community trade marks.

The projects and activities mentioned in the item above were realised in the co-operation with the OHIM/EUIPO.

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

During 2015 the Office received 3,316 trade mark applications, what represents increase by 6.8 per cent in comparing with the previous year.
When compared with 2014, the number of domestic trade mark applications increased by 3.3 per cent to 2,537.

In 2015, 1,626 international trade mark applications were filed under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement.  It represents increase by 2.7 per cent when compared with 2014.

Total number of registered national trade marks increased by 5.9 per cent to 2,620.

The number of domestic registered trade marks increased by 5.1 per cent (1,991), the number of trade marks registered for foreign applicants increased by 8.6 per cent  to 629.

By December 31, 2015 there were in the Slovak Republic 48,382 valid national trade marks registered by the Office and 78,952 international trade marks.

For comparison, there is the statistics on trade mark applications and registrations of the years 2011 – 2015:

Trade mark statistics_2015.docx

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

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

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

Trade mark-related news
http://www.upv.sk/

Useful links
http://www.upv.sk/?linky
http://www.upv.sk/?dalsie-uzitocne-linky

Intellectual Property Magazine
http://www.upv.sk/?dusevne-vlastnictvo

IPO SR and IPO CZ Publications
http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie

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

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

Basic information for applicants related to IP subject matters applications are available on the website of the Office www.upv.sk. These are mainly application forms of particular type of industrial property right, legislation, instructions of the IPO SR and information for applicant, administrative fees, contact to expert assistance, etc. Below there are the individual areas of IP subject matters and relevant information sources with links to website of the Office, where they are available:

Trade marks http://www.upv.sk/?trademarks

What Is a Trade mark?
http://www.upv.sk/?what-is-a-trademark
Information for Applicants
http://www.upv.sk/?information-for-applicants
Legislation
http://www.upv.sk/?legislation-in-force
Administrative Fees - Trade marks
http://www.upv.sk/?administrative-fees-trademarks
Madrid Protocol Concerning the International Registration of Trade Marks
http://www.upv.sk/?madrid-protocol-concerning-the-international-registration-of-marks
Filing Abroad
http://www.upv.sk/?ochranne-znamky-prihlasovanie-do-zahranicia
Application Forms To Be Filled Out Electronically
http://www.upv.sk/?application-forms-to-be-filled-out-electronically
Renewal of international registrations(WIPO Marks E-Renewal System)
http://www.upv.sk/?madridska-dohoda-a-protokol-o-medzinarodnom-zapise-ochrannych-znamok
Madrid System Fees
http://www.upv.sk/?ochranne-znamky-sadzobnik-poplatkov-madridsky-system
Trade mark Classifications
http://www.upv.sk/?ochranne-znamky-systemy-triedenia
Data Extracted from Registers
http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/searchForm.do?lang=en&register=oz
Downloads
http://www.upv.sk/?downloads
http://www.upv.sk/?ochranne-znamky-dokumenty-na-prevzatie
Contacts
http://www.upv.sk/?contacts

The Office does not provide services for electronic filings with electronic signature in relation to trade marks.
 
In the past the Office created and made available intelligent electronic forms in cooperation with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market that are now accessible on the website of the Office with the address: http://www.upv.sk/?elektronicky-vyplnitelne-formulare. Filings realised via these forms are not possible to sign with electronic signature/guaranteed electronic signature. This is the reason why they need to be filed in the paper form within the period of one month.

Request for entry of a sign as a trade mark into the Register
Request for entry of transfer of a trade mark
Request for renewal of a trade mark
Request for the amendment of the name/surname or the name/corporate name and address of the proprietor (applicant) of a trade mark
Oppositions against the registration of a sign
Request for revocation of a trade mark
Request for declaration of invalidity of a trade mark

For electronic filing there is the Office´s helpdesk available on the website of the Office  http://www.upv.sk/?uzivatelsky-servis-a-helpdesk. Within the helpdesk it is possible to obtain the information on electronic forms and electronic filing using them and also to solve possible problems.

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

The Office conducts the application file only in the paper form.

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

Goods and services are classified in accordance with the actual version of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification). In the IPO SR exist an obligatory classifying system of goods and services by applicant according the said Classification. The last version of the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification) is used as the code system of figurative elements of trade marks, which are classified by Office's expert.

The WIPO Standard ST.60 is used for trade mark 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.

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

Classification symbols were checked by internal electronic classification system.

In accordance with the Act No.506/2009 the applicant is obliged to indicate in the application the goods and services for which the trade mark is filed, according to the International Classification (Nice Classification) accompanied with the appropriate number of this Classification. But there is no obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification.

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

In case of processing non-traditional marks, the Office receives three-dimensional marks and colorful signs, which shall be within the application processed in two-dimensional representation.

Other activities

Information Centre
http://www.upv.sk/?information-centre

The Information Centre provided the clients of the Office with general information on IP protection for individual subject matters, on filing applications and related administration fees. Within the consultations also information on IP protection in the Slovak Republic and also abroad were provided (European patent, international application filed under PCT).

The information were provided personally, by phone (+421 48 4300 131), by post and e-mail address infocentrum@indprop.gov.sk.

In 2015 the Information Centre dealt with 7.903 requests for information; 6.128 thereof were provided by phone, 1.528 by e-mail, 245 personally and 2 by post.

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

To increase the IP awareness, to support innovations, creativity and competitiveness of small and middle-sized enterprises is a primary goal of the IP pre-diagnostics, which have been provided by the IPO SR experts since 2008. During 2015 the Office employees visited 30 companies in Slovakia. The most of them were from the self-governing regions of Bratislava (11), Banská Bystrica (6) and Nitra (4).

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.

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)

Publication of trade marks

The Office publishes announcements relating to published trade mark applications and registered/ renewed trade marks in the Official Gazette.

The following numbers of registered trade mark and trade mark application publications were announced in the Official Gazette in 2015:

2 624 published trade mark applications
2 545 registered trade marks without change after publishing an application
118 registered trade marks with change after publishing an application    
2 271 renewed trade marks

Official Gazette “Vestník ÚPV SR“
http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky
Trade mark information forms part of the Official Gazette - “Vestník ÚPV SR”, covering all industrial property rights in one publication. In 2015 the Gazette had a circulation of 100 copies, of which 19 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.


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

IPO SR publishes official version of the Official Gazette in electronic form on CD ROM in PDF format. The electronic version of the Gazette in PDF format is available via Internet address http://www.upv.sk/?vestnik-uradu-priemyselneho-vlastnictva-slovenskej-republiky.

The Gazette contains trade mark announcements arranged in following main chapters:

-    published trade mark applications (list of published trade mark applications and their bibliographic data including the list of goods and services arranged according to the application numbers)

-    registered trade marks without change after publishing an application (list of registered trade marks without change after publishing an application in comparison to applied sign and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)

-    registered trade marks with change after publishing an application (list of registered trade marks with change after publishing an application in comparison to applied sign and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)

-    registered trade marks based on trade mark applications resulting from the conversion of the  international registration to national application in accordance with the Article 9quinquis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement (list and bibliographic data of these registered trade marks arranged according to the registration number)

-    renewed registrations of trade mark (list of renewed registrations of trade mark and their bibliographic data arranged according to the registration numbers)

-    termination of the proceedings on trade mark applications

-    refused trade mark applications

-    terminated trade mark

-    international registrations of trade marks 

-    bibliographic data of registered trade marks replaced by an international registration according to the article 4 bis of the Madrid Agreement and article 4 bis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (arranged according to the international registration numbers)

-    changes of the trade mark proprietor (on the basis of the court decision)

-    trade marks declared invalid

-    trade marks revoked and declared invalid for certain goods and services

-    assignments of rights and other changes of owners

-    partial assignments

-    changes of rights of disposal to trade marks (lien)

-    changes of rights of disposal to trade marks (termination of lien)

-    registration of licensing contracts in respect of trade marks

-    termination of licensing contracts

-    registration of sub-licensing contracts in respect of trade marks

-    termination of sub-licensing contracts

-    changes of data concerning trade mark owners/ applicants

-    changes in the list of goods and services

-    changes of wording or reproductions of trade mark

-    changes in the representation of the trade mark

-    corrections of names, addresses, dates and mistakes

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

External databases

Internet databases in particular:

- Registered trade marks database of the IPO CZ, coverage: CZ

- WIPO Gazette of International Marks, coverage: worldwide

- WIPO International Trade mark Information Database ROMARIN, coverage: worldwide

- OHIM/EUIPO Community Trade marks Database accessible via e-search at the OHIM/ EUIPO portal, coverage: EUTM applications

- National database USPTO, coverage US

- National database IPO UK, coverage GB

- Research system TMview, coverage: OHIM/ EUIPO, WIPO and national databases of certain EU countries and also outside EU (coverage changes by the access of other countries)

- System on searching and classification of goods and services TMclass

- WIPO Global Brand Database - link: http://www.wipo.int/reference/en/branddb/, coverage: worldwide

See also foreign collections of gazettes, optical discs and databases as parts of the examination file mentioned in the Chapter 4.

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

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

IPO SR makes accessible various databases on its web site.
Freely accessible national databases are:

- "Data extracted from Registers" http://registre.indprop.gov.sk/registre/?lang=en also called  "Webregisters" give public access to data extracted from trade mark register, which are kept by the Office with the possibility of simple and advanced search or browsing results. Data concerning in particular pending trade mark applications, all filed applications or registered trade marks in the register are daily updated.
- “Classification Systems” http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia contains trade mark classifications used in Slovakia, links to other classifications systems for classifying trade marks used in the world and other useful information http://www.upv.sk/?systemy-triedenia-ochranne-znamky
- 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, trade marks 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 "International and EU databases" there are links to the most frequently used on-line databases http://www.upv.sk/?zahranicne-online-databazy#znamky.

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

- IPO SR Official Gazette http://www.upv.sk/?official-gazette
- 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
- IPO SR E-zine 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
- IPO SR reading room http://www.upv.sk/?other-services
- searches http://www.upv.sk/?searches
- search system TMview http://tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html?language=sk
- service CETMOS (Central European Trade Mark Observation Service) http://www.upv.sk/?cetmos
- Information centre http://www.upv.sk/?information-centre
- Contacts http://www.upv.sk/?contacts

The Office library provides following services to the public:

- providing general information and professional consulting assistance for the public
- lending service (Official Gazettes, special monographs 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
- on-line searches in Office’s search system, self-service during a personal visit
- searches in International Trade marks Database ROMARIN, in European trade mark databases CTM-online and TMview
- searches upon request - orders in written and on-line form
- registry information provided in the reading room

Trade mark and related 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
- Official Gazette
- order forms (searches, Official Gazette, special literature)
- Nice Classification (10-2015)
- Vienna Classification (7-th edition)
- trade mark classifications and related information
- annual technical reports on trade mark information (2002-2015)

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

Information on the legal status is in the internal register of trade marks. The Office provides information on the request in the form of an extract from the Register. In addition, data of this type are also published in the IPO SR database on the internet http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers but have only informative character and do not substitute the extract from the Register; similar to the system TMview where the data are mentioned  by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market based on the information from the  IPO SR within the common project.

Other sources

In addition the Office makes single captures of the Journal available monthly on the portal www.zbierka.sk

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

LAN is a net built on the technology Cisco, Fast ETHERNET 1000/100/10 Mbit/s, WINDOWS 2003/ 2008 Server, 2008 R2 Server, 2012 R2 Server; MS SQL Server 2005 / 2008 / 2012; working stations PC Pentium, Windows 7, thin client WYSE V10, WYSE S10, HP t5740, Zotac Zbox BI323.

Linux Red Hat Enterprise 5.0
Citrix XenApp 7.8

SAN HP MSA 1500 CS, SAN HP MSA P2000, G3, EMC VNX 5100
HP MSL LT04 4048, MSL LZ05 2024
HP open view Storage Data Protector version A.09.05

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The online trade mark database kept by the Industrial Property Office serves for national trade marks searches and purposes of proceedings on trade mark applications. Selected register data are available to the public in the Internet http://www.upv.sk/?databases-and-registers.

International trade marks searches were performed in the ROMARIN Internet database and in the Office management system “INVENTIO” for administration of international trade marks with designation for SK.

In the beginning of 2006, the Office implemented a new search system Acsepto. It enables performing the professional trade mark searches for designations of products and services in databases of national, international and European trade marks as well as in other selected trade mark databases.

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

The Office builds, keeps and completes regularly the examination file containing national trade mark applications and national registered trade marks, international trade marks with designation of the Slovak Republic under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol and trade marks conversed from Community trade marks applications or Community trade marks via the internal system Inventio.  Selected data are available to public in web-registers and are being updated daily.

It is possible to carry out searches according to bibliographic data in all the databases used for the trade marks.

Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file:Trade mark gazettes form also part of the available search files of the Office. In 2015, within the frame of mutual exchange, the IPO SR continued in receiving trade mark gazettes from the following states: Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

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

Official automated system for managing the industrial property subjects “INVENTIO II”contains registers of national and international trade marks (data since 1990 - national trade marks and data since 1947 - international trade marks).

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

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

In 2015, the Office’s reading room has been visited by 559 users. In total there were provided 2 728  borrowings of patent and other literature made available to the public and 880 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 2015 there were performed 484 trade mark searches and 31 searches on bibliographic data.

The Office’s reading room serves as a WIPO deposit library as well. The deposit library fund includes 257 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 9:00 to 15:00.
In 2015, within the frame of mutual exchange of industrial-property information, the IPO SR continued in receiving of trade mark information in the form of official gazettes. Non-patent literature was acquired mostly by purchase or as a gift and processed, stored according to librarian rules and made available via in-house database system “Knižnica” to the staff.

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, trade mark 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 resources 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.

Information and Advisory Points for Innovations (InnoInfo)
The role of thirteen INNOINFOs working in Slovak regions is to orientate particularly SMEs in IP protection. INNOINFOs are  placed in business incubators (Incubator Malacky and BIC Bratislava, spol. s r.o.), regional information and advisory centres – RPIC Komárno, Poprad and Prešov, regional chambers of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and at technical universities – Technical University of Košice, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and Institute for Competitiveness and Innovations, University in Žilina.

Four regional chambers of SCCI – Bratislava, Trenčín, Banská Bystrica and Košice – are the IPO SR partners within INNOINFO. Active cooperation of the IPO SR has been launched also with other regional chambers which are not included in the net but they showed an interest to become a part of it in future. These are RC SCCI in Trnava, Žilina and Prešov.

The first phase of cooperation is focused on providing partners with promotional and expert publications and contact persons training. During the second phase the trained persons provide consultations to SMEs how to distinguish and to protect the intellectual potential. They participate in organising seminars aimed at IP issues with the IPO SR experts as the lecturers.

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

The Office publishes classifications, miscellanies, expert monographs, acts and related commentaries, promotional and information brochures, leaflets or translations of the WIPO and the EPO original publications providing valuable information on industrial property field to public.

Publication activities of the Office during 2015 include:

  • Annual Report of the Industrial Property Office of SR 2014 – for the fifth time in electronic CD version. Also the web version of the Annual Report 2014 is available on the website www.upv.sk;
  • The magazine Duševné Vlastníctvo 1 – 4/2015 in the electronic version and the fifth edition in printed version; printed version of Duševné Vlastníctvo – Selection 2015 consisted of the core author articles supplemented with the category From Decisions of the IPO SR and From the Gallery of Creators.


For more information please see the list of publications issued by the Office http://www.upv.sk/?publikacie

WEBSITE OF THE OFFICE – www.upv.sk

The website of the Office allows the public to access quickly and conveniently to information and databases relating to IP. Selected data from the registers of patents, utility models, industrial designs and trade marks are updated at regular daily intervals (except EP). The website in Slovak and English versions also publishes information about upcoming conferences, seminars and other events. The website of the Office thus became not only the most complete source of information but also an effective means of communication to the public.

The number of visitors of the website proves the interest of public in such form of communication. On weekdays, the average number of accesses was 453; 215 during weekends, the year 2015 together amounted to 125,000 accesses. Every eighth visitor of the Office´s website regularly returns and about 52 per cent accessed the website using the favourites bar or directly by writing the address without using a searching tool. The most visited sub-pages were:
-     trade marks (121,917 accesses);
-     patents (64,044);
-     registers and databases (40,383);
-     utility models (18,348);
-     and designs with 11,133 accesses.

65.38 per cent of visits were from Slovakia, 6.01 per cent from the Czech Republic and the rest 28.61 per cent from other countries.

PORTALS www.patentovat.sk and FACEBOOK
In addition to the official website, the Office maintains the popularisation web portal www.patentovat.sk, linked to the social network Facebook. The site was renamed to The Industrial Property Office of SR - patentovat.sk to be searched better, which was positively reflected in the increased number of its supporters. In addition to the promotion of IP it serves as a contact point for public seeking necessary information and specific services of the Office.In 2015 the number of visitors and fans of Facebook site increased by 100; there were almost 300 fans in the end of the year.

PORTAL http://www.dusevnevlastnictvo.gov.sk/
In the end of 2015 in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of SR the portal http://www.dusevnevlastnictvo.gov.sk/ was restored and made available again on December 15, 2015.
Information portal is a digital platform to get basic information on IP subject matters. It provides information on copyright and related rights, on IP rights, law against unfair competition and also information on legal regulation of trade names, trade secret and know-how.

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

In 2015 the training Innovations Transfer Management aimed at patent databases, patent solutions and business plan for technology transfer at the Technical University in Zvolen was held. The IPO SR also organised the seminar International and European IP Protection for students of the European Law Students Association (ELSA). In November 2015 the IPO SR in cooperation with the WIPO and the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava organised the International Conference IP Protection at Universities VII. The Conference with the topic Intellectual Property – Academy & Business was for academics, PhD. students, students and all those interested in IP issues.

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

The Office also in 2015 continued in education on IP protection importance for pupils of elementary and secondary schools and also for academic community and entrepreneurs. 3 lectures were presented for elementary schools. 25 lectures were organised for secondary schools and universities; 6 of them were interconnected with the Office excursion and 1 was for directors and pedagogues of secondary and vocational schools. Business community showed the interest in lectures for which 11 training sessions were organised. Recently the IPO SR noticed and increased interest in IP protection lectures of secondary schools, universities, business community and professionals.

Education Programme Intellectual Property  

IPO SR provides the education programme Intellectual Property accredited by the decision of the Ministry of Education of the SR of April 30, 2014 and the accreditation certificate No. 1308/2014/44/1.

Three modules were realised in the school year 2014/2015:

Module A – Intellectual Property and Copyright Basics;

Module B – Creativity – its Management, Marketing and Economics;

Module C – Information in the Field of Intellectual Property.

32 participants completed these three modules successfully. From September 2015 20 participants including 4 Office employees continue in Module D – Industrial Property Law.

 

Participation at fair trades and exhibitions is another active form of providing information on IP protection. In 2015 the Office employees provided general information and consultations at four international fair trades – CONECO in Bratislava, Furniture and Living in Nitra, International Engineering Fair and Agrokomplex in Nitra.

The IPO SR representatives actively participated in the 5th year of the job fair JobExpo 2015 and also the 23rd year of the sales and presentation exhibition of products made by students of training colleges Young Creator 2015.

On September 25, 2015 the 9th year of the European Science Festival – Researchers´ Night – organised at the same time in 33 European states took place. The IPO SR participated in the event for the 5th time – in the Europa Shopping Centre in Banská Bystrica and in Stará Tržnica in Bratislava. The Office representatives discussed with visitors particularly IP protection issues and they also provided information materials issued by the Office. The visitors were interested particularly in quizzes prepared for basic schools pupils.

At the IPO SR premises there has been a mobile exhibition Intellectual Property in a Cube installed since April 2015. The project of attractive exhibition was financially supported by the WIPO. It is aimed particularly at secondary schools students but it attracts people of all ages. The object is the part of the IPO SR entrance area.

In September 2015, the Postal Museum in Banská Bystrica was for the first time in the history presented in the IPO SR premises through two parallel exhibitions. The Exhibition Inventors and Technical Artifacts on Slovak Post Stamps presents by album leafs Slovak post stamps with the 1st day of issue envelopes dedicated to important pioneers of science and technology and to technical artifacts.

The Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava on Czechoslovak Post Stamps is the name of the other Exhibition. This Exhibition presents the works of participants in 70s to 90s of the last century. It  was in the middle of November replaced by not less interesting Exhibition How We Lived before 1989 to commemorate the end of the totality period and democratic changes. The Exhibition does not evaluate the past period but represents it and evokes the visitors memories and inspires them to reflect.

Other activities

The World IP Day
http://www.upv.sk/?aktuality&clanok=svetovy-den-dusevneho-vlastnictva-1

As last year´s World IP Day (WIPD – April 26) fell on Sunday, the Industrial Property Office of SR employees and invited guests commemorated it on Tuesday, April 28. WIPD 2015 – Get up, stand up. For music – was opened by the ceremonial speech of the IPO SR President Ľuboš Knoth.
The formal part was followed by the regional seminar Business in the International Context organised by the IPO SR in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) and the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (SCSTI). The aim of the regional seminar was to provide information to entrepreneurs and expert public of the central Europe how to do a business via internet without violation of IP rights and what products and services of the international organisations WIPO and OHIM could be helpful in their businesses.

WIPD was also the Open Day of the Office. The Exhibition documenting traditions related to trade and catering in Slovakia was accessible in the Office during the Open Day. The IPO SR in cooperation with the Trade Museum Bratislava opened it in the end of 2015. Famous and less famous trade marks, brands and historical designs of various products were the part of the Exhibition, which was open to public till the end of April 2015.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

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

In 2015 followed the mutual exchange of trade mark information in the form of official gazettes between the IPO SR and other offices also international organization the WIPO.

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

CTM/EUTM searches

In accordance with the EU Council Regulation No.40/1994 on the Community Trade mark, the Office continued performing the searches about subjects of the Community Trade mark (CTM/EUTM) applications also during the previous year. Based on OHIM/EUIPO requests the Office made searches in databases of national and international trade marks with designation for the Slovak Republic, the results of which were regularly sent back to OHIM/EUIPO. Similarly as in case of the services provided to the public the search system Acsepto® has been used also for CTM/EUTM searches. It enables making searches of word, picture and combined trade marks within all designations applied for or protected in the territory of the Slovak Republic. Overall 795 searches on designations of products and services were made in 2015.

Project TMview

In 2015 the Office made Slovak trade marks available periodically in the search system TMview http://tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html. It is a database of trade marks of the EU member states aimed at searching and informative searches on interchangeability with references and links to national databases in languages of all participated countries and with the system TMclass for the assistance in classification of goods and services.

Assistance to developing countries

Based on agreements on data provision the Office sends monthly the data on trade marks published in the Gazette to companies Patentservis Praha and Thomson CompuMark.

Other activities

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS