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

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, demand for Registered Community designs was depressed by companies' reaction to the global recession.
The total number of designs received was down sharply in
the first quarter.
While there was a steady improvement during the rest of the year, by the year end, the total number, at 76,400, was still 4% lower than in 2008.

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

Significant progress was made in streamlining the design registration process via the introduction of a new Community design e-filing tool, which has been adopted by between sixty and seventy per cent of users.
But further work is needed to fulfil the full promise of e-filing and make the application process more consistent and quicker.

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

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/OHIM/statistics.en.do

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

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/RCD/RCDBulletin.en.do

The Community Designs Bulletin contains RCD registrations, entries made in the Register and renewal information (Article 73 CDR and Articles 14-16 CDIR).

The following items can be found in the Community Designs Bulletin:

Registered Community designs
Entries in the Register subsequent to registration
Renewals and information on expired registrations

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

http://oami.europa.eu/bulletin/rcd/rcd_bulletin_en.htm

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

RCD Bulletin

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/RCD/RCDBulletin.en.do

RCD ON-LINE

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/databases/searchRCD.en.do

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)

Classification System: Locarno classification

EuroLocarno
EuroLocarno is a list of products based on the Locarno Classification, the international classification for designs prepared under the aegis of WIPO. EuroLocarno has been prepared by OHIM for the purposes of classification of the products indicated in RCDs as well as in RCD applications. Over 11,000 terms are available in all the official languages of the EU.

IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

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

In-house systems (online/offline)

The OHIM uses for internal searches two systems not available to the public: EURODESIGN and QFMAN

External databases

Searching Registered Community Design: RCD ON-LINE
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/databases/searchRCD.en.do
Classification: Locarno classification - EUROLOCARNO
http://oami.europa.eu/search/eurolocarno/la/en_el_search.cfm?
Representative consultation service:
http://oami.europa.eu/FRP/RequestManager?transition=start&source=Log-in.html&language=en&application=FRP

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)

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)

E-filing is a service provided by OHIM, which enables users to apply for a Community Design online.
OHIM provides a business-to-business solution for its larger clients where, based on an agreed transfer mechanism across the Internet, our clients can send their Design applications directly from their own back-office systems directly to OHIM.
https://secure.oami.europa.eu/rcd/efiling/?lang=EN

E-renewal is a service provided by OHIM in order to enable users to renew an RCD online.
https://secure.oami.europa.eu/RCDERW/RequestManager?language=en&source=externalApp&transition=RenewalForm&application=RCDERW

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

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/forms/electronic/fileApplicationRCD.en.do

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.

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/RCD/regProcess/regProcess.en.do

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

OHIM has a policy of openness and transparency. A range of search tools allow a fast and user-friendly lookup of designs, and provide information about classifications or help in the search for representatives. Links to all the databases, including RCD-Online.


http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/OHIM/multimedia/RCD-Online.en.do
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/databases/searchRCD.en.do
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/RCD/RCDBulletin.en.do
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pahttp://oami.europa.eu/FRP/RequestManager?transition=start&source=Log-in.html&language=en&application=FRPges/QPLUS/databases/eurolocarno.en.do

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

OHIM continued to take part in a wide range of cooperation activities with the national trade marks and designs offices of EU member states during 2009. These activities included technical cooperation, training and organisation of seminars.
An important underlying thread for many of these activities was the desire to harmonize practice in order to make things easier for users.

The OHIM Cooperation Fund with a budget of €50m, is designed to promote further harmonization, modernise national IP offices, and make things easier for users of the European trade mark and design systems.

A Management Board for the Fund was appointed in September 2009 to advise OHIM’s President on the identification of projects, the allocation of spending, and the rules that should govern the management of the Fund.

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/OHIMCooperationFund.en.do

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)

Relations with IP users.
Listening to users and taking action on their feedback is one of the most important priorities for OHIM.
The process of "listening" takes a variety of forms ranging from working with user groups, carrying out surveys, visiting key users, and carefully analysing both complaints and information requests.
OHIM staff participated in a variety of conferences, seminars and exhibitions which allowed informal exchanges with users and colleagues from other IP offices in an effort to improve standards. We also welcomed a wide range of visitors during 2009 including groups of users from different countries.
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/cooperationProjects.en.do
www.handsoffmydesign.com

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

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/OHIM/news/eventsArchive2009.en.do

Training courses for national and foreign participants

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) maintains close links with all interested parties in order to ensure cooperation and harmonization across Europe as well as to ensure the best possible delivery of its services.

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/networks/networks.en.do

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

The Office is the primary provider of trade mark and design expertise in the framework of the EU- China project on the protection of IPR (IPR2). The aim of this project is to assist the Chinese authorities in the strengthening of their IP systems, notably their enforcement. The project is a multi- annual one and is funded by the European Commission and the Chinese authorities. OHIM has the leading role as provider of expertise in trade marks and designs. Activities included providing advice on IP matters to European businesses based in China, and to visiting senior officials from the EU. The Office also maintained bilateral contacts with the responsible trade mark and design agencies (CTMO and SIPO) and hosted Chineses trainees.

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

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/RCD/legalReferences/legalReferences.en.do

contain the Annual Report of the Office

http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/OHIM/OHIMPublications/annualReport.en.do

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

OHIM Service Charter
In order to fulfil its role of managing the Community trade mark and design systems, OHIM needs to be a quality-focused, highly productive, user-friendly, and cost-effective organisation.

The OHIM Service Charter defines these objectives in terms of what users can expect, by setting out concrete and measurable standards in three key areas – accessibility, timeliness and quality of decisions - which guide the service policy of the Office:
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/serviceCharter/serviceCharter.en.do

OHIM User Satisfaction Survey
The objective of the User Satisfaction Survey is to identify areas of improvement and to enable the Office to set appropriate priorities to enhance its services and to measure overall satisfaction.
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/USS.en.do

provide open source codes related to industrial design information systems

DS-XML is created for the exchange of data on Designs.

Its latest version is the DS-XML version 1.1 published in October 2009 covering the information for eFiling, publication and dissemination of Design Register's data and the version 1.0 has been adopted as WIPO International Standard 86 aka ST.86 in February 2009.

http://www.tm-xml.org/DS-XML/DS-XML_xml/index.xml

contain industrial design-related news regarding the Office

ALICANTE NEWS is a newsletter, edited by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and published on the second last Wednesday of every month.
The aim of ALICANTE NEWS is to provide up-to-date information on OHIM-related matters, as well as on other general IP issues, to the users of the Community trade mark and design registration systems.
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/OHIM/OHIMPublications/newsletter.en.do

X. Other relevant matters