Annual Technical Report 2002 on Patent Information Activities submitted by Israel (SCIT/ATR/PI/2002/IL)

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

6308 new applications (national applications and entries into the national stage of international applications) were received in 2002 against 6769 in 2001.

1474 patents were granted in 2002 against 1833 in 2001.

patent+application+and+registration+2002 - Patent Applications and Grants

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

Principal areas of growth: biotechnology, industrial chemistry, medical devices.

patent+application+by+subject+2002 - Patent Applications by subject, 2002

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.)

Accepted patent applications (after examination) are laid open to public inspection at the Office library. Applications and patents are not printed.

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

The Patents and Designs Journal (PDJ) is published monthly and contains
bibliographical information on new applications (A0) and abstracts of accepted
(published) applications.

The PDJ includes lists of patents granted, patents renewed and patents void.

Judicial decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and his deputy are published in Hebrew on the IPO web-site.

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

– Israel patent specifications are stored in paper form only. Bibliographical material is stored on computer. We have begun this year to transfer the Patents Register to a computer database.

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

Abstracting, reviewing, translating

Patent Examiners prepare abstracts of accepted applications for the PDJ. The IPO does not translate applications. Accepted applications and their abstracts are published in the original language (Hebrew or English). Almost all accepted applications are in English.

Classification and reclassification 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)

Classification of all applications according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) 7th edition in use from 1.8.2000.

Bibliographic data and full-text processing for search purposes

Bibliographic data for search purposes is listed according to first listed applicant or owner and according to priority number. Search results are not always complete at this stage.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

Storage, including mass storage media

Paper search files of Israel applications (with search results), updated by the examiners.

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

CD-ROM’s from USPTO and ESPACE are maintained and considered part of the available search file.

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

In-house systems - Israel patents may be searched by number, first-listed
applicant/owner or priority number. The data base is not complete and has not been checked for reliability.

External databases

– External databases - our examiners search free sources on-line - USPTO, ESPACE, and fee sources on line: Delphion, Chemical Abstracts.

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

A very basic administrative support system has been established for recording
payments, renewals, status of files and location of files.

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

The IPO automated system comprises a network of Intel Pentium Processor PC Win 95/98 workstations connected to Novell and NT servers.

The current Information System of the Israeli Patent Office is an obsolete, DOS environment system. Today, with the support and financing of WIPO, a new, state of the art Information System is being built.

The new system will be built with Microsoft Visual Basic NET technology.

The new Information System will contain bibliographical data and drawing and will support the work of the Patent Examiners as well as other administrative activities such as correspondence and publications.

VI. Administration of the industrial property office library 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)

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 public may inspect Israel patents and accepted applications, as well as abstracts of patents or applications from the US, Great Britain, France and Germany, in the Office Library.

The library collections are on paper and copies may be made or ordered.

Assistance is provided to visitors for searching Israel patents on the internal
database (by owner or priority number) or in a card index arranged by IPC.

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

The IPO does not at this stage produce machine-readable information.

Medium used for exchange of priority documents

Medium used for exchange of priority documents - paper only.

Medium allowed for filing applications

Medium allowed for filing applications - paper only.

Implementation of the Statement of Principles Concerning the Changeover to Electronic Data Carriers for the Exchange of Patent Documents (please provide a status report on the extent to which your Office has changed over to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents)

Patent Journals are exchanged with several Patent Offices.

VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries

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

Assistance to developing countries - In 2002, as in previous years, the IPO received trainees from developing countries under the WIPO training program.

IX. Other relevant matters

 

1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.

 

2.Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.

 

3.Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.