Annual Technical Report 2009 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Egypt (CWS/ATR/PI/2009/EG)

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

Please see the attached table

table_1_I_changes

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

In 2009 the patents from IPC section
- A human necessities have been 2.89%
- C Chemistry 55.45%
- B Performing operations; transporting 6.23%
- E Fixed constructions 5.91%
- F Mechanical Engineering ,lighting, heating, weapons, blasting 4.98%
- G Physics 16.85%
- H Electricity 5.6%
- D Textiles 2.49%

7.2% less filings received in 2009 than in 2008

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.)

The Egyptian Patent Office publishes three journals as follows :

1- The Egyptian patent gazette
2- The patent applications bulletin
3- The Egyptian patent Abstracts

These publications are published every month , and we send them to the universities, industrial companies, and research institutes in Egypt as well as the foreign patent offices abroad.

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

Official notices and changes to office procedures are done through the Egyptian Official Journal of Patents.

These Official notices, and many other patent related notices, are also put directly on the IP Egyptian Internet site under the Patent notices section The Egyptian Patent Office web site (www.Egypo.gov.eg.)

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

The Egyptian Patent Office has a data base containing the Egyptian applications and patents grants .
- The Office has a DVD and CD-ROM collection containing published/granted patents for US , WO , EP , GB , etc.
- We used paper , Microfilm , Microfilm Jackets , tapes , HD , and DVD as mass storage for our Applications and Patents . Egyptian patent specifications are published on CD-ROM and on the
IP Egyptian web site. Patent specifications of Egyptian designated PCT applications are no longer republished by IP Egyptian at the granting stage following their original publication by WIPO.

- The Office continues to receive foreign patent specifications on CD-ROM and DVD. The following databases and information are available through the IP Egyptian internet site:


- This database contains bibliographic and status information about innovation patent applications filed in Egypt

Word processing and office automation

Current standard desktop software includes Microsoft Windows XP and Vista with Microsoft Office 2007.

All office action is done on the application or Patent Produced Automatically from our data base as word processing.

We check all patent abstracts provided by the applicant besides amending them when necessary to ensure that the abstract represents a useful search tool.

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

The Office's publication system provides the following functions:
• production of the Egyptian Official Journal of Patents as a PDF file. The journal is published on IP Egyptian's website;
• production of patent certificates and original register entries; and
• production of notices for patent applicants or their agents.

The other part of the Office's publication system is mainframe based and produces:
• camera ready copy of the Egyptian Official Journal of Patents;
• patent certificates and original register entries; and
• notices for patent applicants or their agents.

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

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

Examiners redraft applicant-prepared abstracts of non-PCT national applications when they are found to be deficient to the extent that they are unable to fulfill their function. The abstracts of PCT national phase applications are not reviewed as these have been thoroughly evaluated in the international phase

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 are classified into the latest edition of the International Patent Classification. As of 1 January 2006, IP Egyptian implemented the use of IPC 8 (reformed).

Bibliographic data and full-text processing

Bibliographic data, abstracts of Egyptian documents (checked by examiners) can be searched from the Egyptian Patent Office data base.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

EGPO applies effectively the Automated IP Management Software (AIPMS) supported by WIPO. AIPMS is a fully automated system that includes the following steps: registering patent applications, sustentative examination, technical and legal examinations, granting patents, issuing formal gazettes, inquiries, statistics, and annual fees. All applications documents in paper form are scanned on the automatic archive system. Then the documents forms are adjusted according to WIPO standers, and connected to the bibliographic database.
Patent applications that are received on paper form are scanned by use EPOscan. After scanning step, the application contents are indexed and transformed to WIPO standard form, and then the application is connected to the bibliographic database through AIPMS by its number as PDF. All bibliographic data and attached documents are available to EGPO officers to carry on the necessary procedures via AIPMS, and search is conducted by patent number, title of invention, name of applicant, and abstract. External users can access to granted patents only via EGPO website.

Updating

AIPMS has been enhanced to keep up with the latest development. EGPO is to apply (XML) to facilitate document transfer to other international patent offices.
All PCT applications entering the national phase are downloaded directly from WIPO website via AIPMS. Technical examiners benefiting from the International Searching Reports in their work by EDI-System.
Technical examiners have access to all to up-to-date PC sets with high internet speed to enable them to do their work with high quality.

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

Technical searching can be carried out on combination of terms from different headings . IPC terms can be searched too.
To assist with IPC classification, examiners have access toTACSY and IPCCAT

External databases

We have a list of some external databases that we use regularly, including Esp @cenet, JAPIO,USPTO, Patentescope , Journals, EPOQUE Net. Our official policy is that a world-wide online search should be carried out as whole or part of every patent search done in this Office.

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

Registration and legal status information are stored in the Egyptian Patent Office database

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

We have a big collection of patent documents from many countries in our library such as DE, US, FR, GB, EPO, etc.

The available collection includes also various pamphlets ,manuals and other publications such as law reports, official journals of the Egyptian Patent Office and of many different countries, magazines, etc. These collections are located in our main building and are therefore secure

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 Egyptian Patent Office searches and advisory services are continuous.
We have a Web site for our Office which includes published patents and searchable database where we can find the bibliographic data for any granted patent . Also, it includes all information needed to register patent and others , the web site is : (www. Egypo.gov.eg)
We made 397 state of the art searches for users.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

EGPO published PCT national phase information is available in PATENTSCOPE® Search Service.

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

Please see the attached document

table_2_VIII_training

Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)

The regional training center in the Egyptian Patent Office has continued to receive trainees from Arab countries such as Sudan, Jordan and Syria.

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

Hosting expert from US Aid to discuss the latest upgrades to select the Egyptian Patent Office as an Office for international search and for international preliminary examination.

Holding workshop on reinforcement of the IP value and improvement of negotiation skills for granting patent licensing in different universities inside Egypt for awareness of IP information

Hosting expert from EPO for training the employees in the EGPO on using the "EPOQUE net system" between EPO and EGPO.

Hosting group from the Swedish patent office to complete training program which was held in Sweden

Applying and activating the needed equipment for EPOQUE net databases.

Furthermore, the Egyptian Patent Office has continued in participating in several exhibitions, to give seminars and to host visits

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

Includes a presentation about the beginning and development of the Egyptian Patent Office, its duties, affiliated departments. It also views a list of the office publications such as, the official Patent Gazette which present the patent applications status (acceptance, refusal, granting, etc) and Egyptian Patent Abstracts. Also views a list Annual report, Publications, statistics and statistics to INPADOC.
Also provides database for the issued Egyptian patent which include bibliographic data and for some international Patent Offices.
Also provides the intellectual Property law No. 82 for the year 2002. Beside all international agreements related to Patents, Utility models, topography of Integrated circuits designs and undisclosed information protection.
Also provides technical examiners in the EGPO use the “Examination Procedures Manual”, which is based on “The PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines” but customized to Egyptian Law. For implementing the procedures of this Manual, EGPO applies a series of electronic forms which are used for recording the actions of the examiners and transmitting information to patent application. In addition, a procedural manual details workflow inside EGPO, and “filing guidelines for applicants” contain all the information an applicant may need to know about procedures for filing patent applications.
Also provides EGPO has established the project of Focal Points network (FPs net.) to connect universities and research centers to industrial entities, so the latter can benefit from researches and patents Through FPs applicants can pre-register their applications via the EGPO website Aiming at achieving the ultimate benefit of granted patents, EGPO tries to connect inventors to corresponding industries to meet the latter needs.
The website for EGPO (www.egypo.gov.eg & e-mail: patinfo@egypo.gov.eg)

X. Other relevant matters