Annual Technical Report 2005 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by Russian Federation (SCIT/ATR/ID/2005/RU)

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The expression "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models. Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.

I. Evolution of registration activities

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

During the past year there were no changes to the procedures for filing industrial design applications. All examination decisions are prepared and forwarded for publication in electronic form.

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

Table 1 shows the rate at which applications were filed and Russian Federation patents granted for industrial designs.

In 2005, the number of applications for industrial designs received increased by 113.44 per cent in comparison with the previous year. The increase was largely the result of growth in the activity of foreign applicants. The number of foreign applications received increased by 23 per cent.

The sharpest increase in the number of applications was for classes 19-08 “Other types of printed products (Printed matter, including advertising materials) and 9-03 “Boxes, tins, containers and preserve cans”.

Table1

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes

Publishing, including printing, copying techniques and electronic printing

Application materials for industrial designs (list of essential features) are converted into electronic form and transmitted in XML format for further use in examination and subsequent publication.

Technical equipment, which allows ready printed items to be produced in the form of printed editions and facsimile (photo) copies, is used for printing and production purposes.

Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of industrial design information

During 2005, 2,469 announcements were published for registered RF industrial design patents.

In the reporting year work was done to convert the Rospatent Official Gazette Industrial Designs into electronic form. In January 2006, the first issue of this Gazette was published on CD-ROM with a search system.

In 2005, the following official publications were issued:

 Industrial Designs Official Gazette on paper – 12 issues;
 Annual index to the Industrial Designs Gazette on paper - one volume;
 Russian Industrial Designs electronic Gazette on CD-ROM - 12 disks;
 A set of Russian Industrial Designs for the period 1993-2004 on DVD – one disk.

Table 2 shows the number of orders in 2005 for annual sets of official publications on paper and CD-ROM with current acquisitions and retrospective collections.

Table2

Mass storage media and microforms used

Data are stored on paper, diskettes and optical disks, as well as in the form of databases or data files.

Databases and office automation

As part of the comprehensive program to modernize the automated systems of Rospat-ent, in 2005 the following work was done:
 a single automated system for prosecution by agreement (“Agreements” automated system) was produced for all intellectual property subject matter;
 the automated system “electronic publications of official Rospatent editions for in-dustrial property subject matter” was introduced, assuring the transition to the paperless offi-cial publication of data on industrial designs, on CD-ROM and the Internet;
 the creation of open registers of Russian patent documents for all types of industrial property was completed.

In 2005, the CD-ROM collection continued to grow with the inclusion of disks from the Industrial Designs database, with documents providing protection from 1993 to 2005.

III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of industrial design information according to the classification systems applied

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification (please indicate whether industrial designs are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)

Information on industrial designs is classified in accordance with the Eighth Edition of the International Classification of Industrial Designs (ICID) (Locarno Classification). The Russian-language version of the ICID was published in 2004.

Bibliographic data and processing for search purposes

Two-figure INID codes are used to index bibliographical data on standard forms and in the automated system.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The industrial designs collection consists of individual publications or general gazettes, grouped according to the ICID indexes (Japan) or gazette issues (Bulgaria, Hungary, Switzerland, etc.). In addition, the Library has a collection of industrial designs from 11 different countries, consisting of materials containing publications from national gazettes and a translation of the name of an industrial design into Russian. This collection is grouped according to the ICID indexes with collections of varying depth for each country.

Updating

The collection is updated by means of the inclusion of current documentation on industrial designs of the Russian Federation and documentation received from foreign partners of Rospatent as part of the international exchange system.

Storage, including mass storage media

Storage conditions for the collections correspond to the types of information carriers used:

 patent documentation on paper is stored in cases on shelves;
 on microcarriers – in metal boxes, files-film libraries (microfilms) and in metal cabinets (microfiches);
 on CD-ROMs – in catalog racks.

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

Information on industrial designs is received by the Federal State Institution (FGU) Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS) All-Union Patent Technology Library (VPTB) Division, both in the form of special gazettes and also sections of industrial property gazettes from 48 countries and two international organizations.

V. Activities in the field of computerized search systems for industrial designs

In-house systems (online/offline)

The in-house system used since 1991 is the Russian Federation Industrial Designs Automated System, which is used for information searches on national industrial designs during the examination of applications for such designs. The system in question contains an information file of national patents and applications, as well as graphics files with illustrations of industrial designs and an International Classification of Industrial Designs automated subsystem.

 the automated system “electronic publications of official Rospatent editions for in-dustrial property subject matter” was introduced, assuring the transition to the paperless offi-cial publication of data including on industrial designs, on CD-ROM and the Internet;
 the creation of open registers of Russian patent documents for all types of industrial property was completed.

Rospatent uses the following databases on CD-ROM and DVD optical disks:

 The Russian Industrial Designs electronic Gazette on CD-ROM;

 A set of Russian Industrial Designs for the period 1993 to 2005 on DVD (contains information on approximately 25,000 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2005 inclusive);

Rospatent’s Internet resources include the following databases:
 industrial designs database (contains information on 22,000 patents for industrial designs from 1993 to 2005 inclusive);

 the ICID database.

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

FIPS uses an automated databank (ADB), the basic functions of which are to store information on applications received and to automate the prosecution control processes. The ADB also enables statistical information to be obtained, together with characteristics of the application examination process and the payment of fees, and the annual reports of Rospatent to be compiled. Operation of the prosecuting system under the UniVerse Database Management System (DBMS) allowed a range of new tasks to be accomplished, in particular in dealing with questions on introducing elements of electronic document management and preparing outgoing correspondence at the examiner’s desk.

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

 Compaq DL380 Server – two units
(OM – 2 GB, processors – 2, external memory – 200 GB)
- Compaq DL580 server – one unit
(OM – 8GB, processors – 4, external memory – 300 GB)
 Compaq 586, Р ММХ, PII, P4, Fujitsu-Siemens workstations - 80 units

Switching equipment:

Equipment for ISDN lines
SmartSWITCH 6000; 3Com CoreBuilder 3500; Cisco

Software:

SINIX, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

Carriers used:

DLTtape IV, SDLT magnetic tapes.

VI. Administration of industrial design services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering designs, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Collection management, preservation

The collection of industrial designs is divided into national and foreign sections:

- official gazettes;
- (artistic) design periodicals;
- advertising prospectuses and catalogs;
- thematic collections of publications contained in national gazettes from a number of foreign countries;
- method-related and reference literature.

The collection of national and foreign journals concerned with design and new types of production contains a total of more than 34,000 copies.

A special collection of advertising prospectuses and catalogs linked to exhibitions, as well as advertising for new goods and other items, is being set up. This collection contains approximately 44,200 copies of publications.

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

For work with information relating to industrial designs, a special room has been equipped in the FGU FIPS VPTB Division:

In 2005:

- the gazettes issued constituted approximately 11,500 storage units;
- a total of 10,600 subject-based collections were issued;
- approximately 9,000 copies of design journals were issued;
- more than 17,000 copies of advertising prospectuses and catalogs were issued.

For information users in the field of industrial designs, services are provided for the performance of various types of information searches.

Information on industrial designs registered in the Russian Federation is issued on CD-ROM, in the form of an electronic gazette containing complete information in the Industrial Designs Official Gazette on paper (including illustrations) and available on the Rospatent Internet site. Disks are distributed together with the MIMOSA software, which searches bibliographical data, ICID indexes, a list of essential features, and also combinations thereof.

Internet access is granted to industrial design databases and also to the ICID.

In 2005, a retrospective set on DVD was provided for the period 1993 to 2004.

In addition to the Rospatent FIPS, a patent information service is provided by the Rospatent Information Publishing Center (INITS). In 2005, a publication entitled Industrial Designs of Foreign Countries was issued (arranged by subject – according to the 32 classes of the ICID). This publication contained information on industrial designs registered in Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America, for 2004.

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of industrial design documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of industrial design information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes

In 2005, as part of the international exchange system, 54 annual sets of the Official Rospatent Industrial Designs Gazette were sent, on paper, to 50 countries.

In 2005, the following were received:

- 127 copies of individually published gazettes on paper;
- 313 copies of gazettes with sections on industrial designs on paper.

Exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., data contained on CD-ROM or magnetic tape

In 2005, one annual set of the electronic Industrial Designs Gazette was sent abroad to one country.

The FGU FIPS VPTB received:

- 327 copies of gazettes published individually on CD-ROM;
- 84 copies downloaded from the Internet;
- 320 copies of industrial property gazettes with sections on industrial designs on CD-ROM.

VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries

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

In 2005, three events were held in Moscow, organized directly by Rospatent or with its active participation:

- a Conference and Round Table as part of the Eighth International Industrial Property Exhibition “Archimedes-2005” at Sokol’niki, devoted to the legal protection of industrial property subject matter in the innovation process;

- On the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day Rospatent held a scientific and practical conference on the “Problems of the protection, defense and use of intellectual property subject matter” and, within that framework, three “round tables”;

- The main event of the year was the International Conference on the Problems of the Theory and Practice of Intellectual Property Protection, devoted to the 50th anniversary of the formation of the State Inventions Committee – Rospatent.

IX. Other relevant matters