Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2015 submitted by SAUDI PATENT OFFICE

1. General overview of recent developments in patent information activities carried out by the Office

A1- Statistics:  changes in terms of application filings and grants with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

• In 2014, the number of filed patent applications was 788 applications; while in 2015 the number of filed patent applications totaled 2406 applications, it is to be noted that there is an increase in the number of filed applications by 205% over the previous year.
• In 2014, the number of filed industrial design applications was 679 applications, while in 2015 the number of filed industrial design applications totaled 824 application, it is to be noted that there is an increase in the number of filed applications by 21% over the previous year.
• In 2014, the number of granted patents totaled 561 patents, while in 2015 the number of granted patents totaled 763 patents, it is to be noted that there is an increase in the number of granted patents by 36% over the previous year.
• In 2014, the number of issued industrial design registration certificates totaled 1034 registration certificates, while in 2015 the number of issued industrial design registration certificates totaled 869 registration certificates, it is to be noted that there is a decrease in the number of issued industrial design registration certificates by 16% over the previous year.

More statistics can be found through the following link:

http://SPO.GOV.SA/

B1- New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description:  aims, partners, tasks

• The Saudi Patent Office is currently working on converting patent applications to XML FULLTEXT WIPO ST.36.
• The Saudi Patent Office is currently seeking to provide a special search engine for published patent and industrial design registration certificates.

C1- Other matters and useful links (URLs):  annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.:

The annual report of the Saudi Patent Office can be found through the following link:

http://SPO.GOV.SA/                

2. Services and activities related to patent information carried out by the Office:

• Prior Art Search:

This service provide a Priority search of an idea of invention provided by searching the prior arts in various databases of patent information and    scientific search engines. It is a free service provided by the Saudi Patent Office to help the owners of ideas to evaluate and study the feasibility of a concept and identify the published documents that may affect the possibility of obtaining a patent.

• Pharmaceuticals search:

It is a paid service provided by the Saudi Patent Office for pharmaceutical companies that wants to know about the state of a drug product at the Office in terms of protection and legal status through searching in the national databases.

• Intellectual Property Awareness:

A Service provided by Saudi Patent Office which aims to train users to search in the databases of national patent information and how to E-file a patent application at the Office. Also, train users to draft a patent application in accordance with the Saudi patent law, in addition to participating in events, specialized exhibitions and lectures to raise awareness of intellectual property.

- Saudi Patent Office uses an e-filing system.

- Saudi Patent Office uses the International Classification (IPC) for patents.

- Saudi Patent Office uses Locarno classification 9^th edition for the classification of industrial designs.

- the customer service department in the Saudi Patent Office help the inventors and applicants and offer them assistance through (toll free- live support-email-Twitter-text messages) to solve any problem they might have.

A1. Sources of patent information provided by the Office:

Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to external users, conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.):

• Search engine for published patents (SPO database):

It is a search engine available for public through which patent applications – bibliographic data – patent first page – specification page are published.

Official Gazettes:  main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URL), etc.

• E-newsletter: through which (Amendment - modification -correction) that occur to the bibliographic data of applications are published.

Information products and patent document collections (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external collections and databases:

• thomsonreuters: a patent search engine for examiners.
• PatBase: a patent search engine for examiners.
• ProQuest Dialog: a patent search engine for examiners.

B3. Patent Information Standards:

The Saudi Patent Office is currently seeking to apply the standards issued by the WIPO for patent information, which is:

• WIPO Standards (ST3) for country code.
• WIPO Standards (ST6) for numbering published documents.
• Publication of patent information by encoding the published documents compliant with WIPO Standard ST.16.
• Conversion of patent applications to searchable documents by full-text according to WIPO Standard ST.36.

4. ICT support to services and activities related to patent information carried out by the Office:

Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) – URLs:-

• E-filing:

The Saudi Patent Office uses an e-filing system for patent applications, as well as the formal and substantive examination procedures and issuance of formal and substantive examination reports, in addition to granting procedures.

E-services provided by the Saudi Patent Office:

• Issuing certified true copy.
• Amendment and addition to the bibliographic data of applications.
• Change of ownership.

5. Promotion activities aimed to support users in access and efficient use of patent information:

• Participating in international patent databases.
• Distributing pamphlets about patent information.
• Designing infographics that shows patent statistics.
• Holding workshops about searching in patent information.
• Analyzing and publishing annual reports of international patent offices.

6- International cooperation activities in the field of patent information:

International exchange and sharing of patent information in machine-readable form, e.g., priority documents, bibliographic data, abstracts, search reports, full text information:-

• Exchanging International patent information with the world intellectual property organization (WIPO) to publish it through PATENTSCOPE.
• The Saudi Patent Office aims to exchange patent information with commercial companies that are specialized in patents.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to patent information:

• The Saudi Patent Office seeks to sign an agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organization to get the publishing program "WIPO publish".
• Participating in international activities and agreements about intellectual property.
• Accession to the ARABPAT agreement, which aims to exchange patent information between the Arab Patent Offices.
• The Saudi Patent Office has signed a CPES agreement with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China about sharing the examination reports between patent offices around the world.

Other activities:

Cooperation with the relevant authorities:-

• Organizing training session at the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
• Visiting the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China.
• Meetings for cooperation with the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property.
• Working on a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Patent Office and the European Patent Office.
• Taking advantage of distance education programs organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Regulations and Legislation:

• Updating the Regulations of patent, layout designs of integrated circuits, Plant Varieties and Industrial Designs law in accordance with the terms and provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the Treaty Patent Law (PLT).
• Studying the accession to the Hague treaty.
• Studying the change of patents, layout designs of integrated circuits, plant varieties and industrial designs law.

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.