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Annual Technical Report 2009 on Industrial Design Information Activities submitted by China (CWS/ATR/ID/2009/CN)

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 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

In 2009, SIPO received 351,342 design applications, a 12.3% increase compared to 2008, while designs granted were 3
3
249,701, with a 76.3% increase.

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

No statistics.

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

Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/tjxx/
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/statistics/

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

Nowadays, SIPO not only promotes the electronic publication of patent information on the Internet, but also keeps the traditional medium of paper.

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

Patent gazettes for designs
Patent gazettes for designs are published in paper and TIFF formats once a week with the bibliographic data, representations, legal status, indexes, etc.
Design patent offprint
Design patent offprint is printed by color digital printing technology, and published together with the gazettes once a week.
Certificates of design patents
Certificates for design patents are issued periodically.

Mass storage media and microforms used

The above-mentioned documents are stored in the medium of DVD and HDD.

Databases and office automation

The Design databases are set up to provide search service for examiners, which can also be accessible on the official website.

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online industrial design gazettes and to other sources of industrial design information, including download of bulk industrial design data

Design gazette: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zwgs/zlgb/
Design Search: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zljs/

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)

Design patents are classified according to the International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification) without using any other classification systems.
Reclassification activities are not developed.

Bibliographic data and processing

The bibliographic data and representations of design patents granted since 1985 are provided.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

File building

The bibliographic data and representations of design patents granted since 1985 are added to the search file, which can be retrievable from the design databases.

Updating

The search file is updated weekly or every two weeks.

Storage, including mass storage media

The above-mentioned file is stored in magnetic disk arrays and backuped with magnetic tapes.

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

Via data exchange and purchase, SIPO collects the design documentations, and among these JP, KR, US and WO files are added in the search file:

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

D-System
CN, JP, KR, US and WO files are included in the databases. It provides with search entries of bibliographic data and image comparison capability. Examiners can access the system by B/S to retrieve the desired information.

External databases

No activities.

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

Electronic Filing System (EFS)
SIPO launched the EFS in 2004 in order to provide online filing service for applicants.
China Patent Management System Ⅲ（CPMSⅢ）
CPMSⅢ is designed to administrate workflow and assist formality examination.
Computer Aided Examination System
The system includes patent examination subsystems for designs, which can help examiners to perform the examination.

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

Examiners can access the Intranet with 10Gbps core switch and 100Mbps link to desktops for the network resources.

VI. Administration of industrial design information products and 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)

Planning, administration, automation, security

Patent Documentation Library
Patent Documentation Library offers documents reading, inquiry, search, replication and training services and is equipped with 60 computers for the public to access SIPO's intranet and Internet information resources.
Intellectual Property Library
The Intellectual Property Library collects domestic and international intellectual property books, journals and electronic publications.
Science and Technology Library
The Science and Technology Library collects domestic and international technical books, journals and electronic publications commonly used in the patent examination.

Collection management, preservation

Books are preserved with the storage number and classifications and put on shelves.

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)

The public service provided by SIPO includes:
Call center
The center offers information consultation to the public free of charge by face-to-face, telephone, online and mail.
Official website
The official website of SIPO offers search and inquiry services in both Chinese and English. Over 3 million records of Chinese patent data since 1985 are made available to the general public. In 2009, the official website of SIPO received 4.06 billion hits in total.
Local Patent Information Center
SIPO has set up 47 local patent information centers across the country and provided them with patent data. These centers provide search and inquiry services for the public.
Local Patent Receiving Offices
SIPO has set up Local Patent Receiving Offices in 24 cities all over the country in order to accept patent filings and provide inquiry service for the public.

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

SIPO provides the following website for the online filing http://www.cponline.gov.cn/.

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

Chinese: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zlsqzn/sqq/;
English: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380173.htm；
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/about/examinationAffairs/200804/t20080416_380170.htm。

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

Information Products
"China Patent Specification" optical disk, which collects images of designs since 1985.
"China Patent Abstract Databases" optical disk, which collects bibliographic data of designs since 1985, such as the inventor, publication date, priority, abstract, legal status, etc.
"China Patent gazette" optical disk, which provides gazettes information weekly (see http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zwgs/zlgb/).
"Design" optical disk, which covers design representations since 1998, using electronic scanning technology to present the representations in black/white, gray-scale and color.
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/xxcp/zlwxgp/200804/t20080407_370310.html
Search services
SIPO offers the following search systems on its official website for the public to retrieve designs:
Patent search: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zljs/

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

By 2009, SIPO has collected 41 kinds of industrial design information products from 26 patent organizations, including gazettes and specifications in the form of paper and DVD.

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

By 2009, in the medium of DVD, SIPO has mutually sent design representations to 23 authorities, design gazettes to 19 authorities.

VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

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

On June 3, SIPO co-organized with the USPTO, JPO and OHIM the International Forum on Protection of Design in Shunde, Guangdong.

Training courses for national and foreign participants

In 2009, the training of SIPO kept growing rapidly. 111 training seminars were held to new examiners, patent agents, enterprises, academia, local government officials and IP judges, with 42,624 trainees in total.
In 2009, SIPO added more long-distance learning courses, including 11 video pre-exam courses for patent agents, 12 video lectures on specific topics and 8 multimedia courses. By the end of 2009, 10 sub sites of long-distance learning had been set up, including Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Wenhua College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and China Petroleum & Chemical.
In 2009, 951 students studied DL101 courses and the number increased by 11.6% over last year.

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

In 2009, SIPO continued to increase its technical assistance to developing countries. These activities have expanded the cooperation areas, enhanced the partnership and thereby spurred China's all-round international cooperation in the IP field.
In December, SIPO joined WIPO in holding Training Course for African Senior IP Officials at CIPTC with participation of 24 officials from African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and 28 officials from l'Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI).
From September 7 to 12, 10 plus 3 (ASEAN, China, Japan and Republic of Korea) SMEs and IP Seminar was held at the CIPTC with 22 participants from 16 Asian countries and organizations.
In 2009, under the Developing Countries Cooperation Fund, SIPO provided training for GCC and OAPI.
In April, four GCC patent examiners received a two-week patent examination training in SIPO.
From April 11 to 26, 10 examiners from National Office of Industrial Property of Viet Nam received examination training in SIPO.
In June, OAPI Director General led a six-member delegation to China for a week-long on-site observing and training.
From August 18 to 24, upon invitation of ARIPO, SIPO sent three experts to Maputo, Mozambique for ARIPO Traditional Knowledge Seminar, giving lectures to the representatives on traditional Chinese medicine and other issues.
From December 9 to 20, SIPO provided training on Chinese IP system for delegations from Pakistan, Cuba, Thailand, Mongolia and Vietnam. Some delegations also visited Beijing, Tianjin and Guangdong IP administrations.

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 industrial designs

Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/zcfg/
Chinese：http://search.sipo.gov.cn/sipo/zljs/searchflzt.jsp
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/laws/

contain the Annual Report of the Office

Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo2008/gk/
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/laws/

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

Chinese：http://www.sipo.gov.cn
English：http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/

provide open source codes related to industrial design information systems