Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2007 submitted by Bulgaria (SCIT/ATR/PI/2007/BG)

Click here to print the ATR form.

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
  In the year 2007 239 patent applications were filed (291 in 2006), 24 of them through PCT route.
The total number of applications for UM registration were 224, 214 of them from Bulgarian applicants, including 107 applications for patents for inventions and UM which has been transformed into applications for UM registrations and 107 applications for UM registrations -16 of them parallel to the applications for patents for inventions. The number of applications for UM increased (133 in 2006)
3 European applications were granted temporary protection in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.
26 applications for Supplementary Protection certificates were filed.
In 2007 263 patents for inventions, 20 patents for UM were granted.80 UM were registered after the amended Bulgarian Law on Patents and UM registration entered into force.
1027 European patents were validated for the territory of the R of BG.
By the end of 2007, 2046 patents for inventions and 268 patents for UM were into force.
The EP patents into force in the territory of BG were 1795.
In 2007, 313 patents lapsed, 26 of them were restored

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide statistics related to patents
  http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/about_bpo/bpo_statistics07en
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.)
  Official publications on paper
The Official Gazette of the BPO is the basic official source of information about all IPRs. 14 issues of the Gazette were issued -12 regular and 2 extraordinary (included only trademarks and industrial designs)

Abstracts of BG patents and utility models registrations - the English version of the patent and UM section of the Official Gazette. 12 issues were published and they included bibliographic data according to WIPO St. 9, transliterated names of Bulgarian applicants, inventors and owners; English translation of titles and abstracts; drawings/chemical formulae.
Both Bulgarian and English versions are available on www.bpo.bg -Information and publications
The Annual Report 2007 of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria was published in Bulgarian and English languages and is available on the Office's website.
Statistics also were published on the Office's website
Inventory of the Office's information resources - yearly updated and published on the Office's website

  Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information
  The Official Gazette of the BPO includes announcements about all IPRs. In the year under review in the Official Gazette were published:
Applications for patents for inventions 192, Granted patents for inventions 264
European patent applications in provisional protection in Bulgaria 3, European patents, validated on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria 1027;
Applications for Supplementary protection certificates 26;
Granted patents for utility models 26 and Utility Model Registrations 80;
Applications for new plant varieties and animal breeds 50, granted certificates for new plant varieties and animal breeds 36;
The Official gazette includes chapters for trademarks (4534 applications and 5717 registered trademarks were published) and for industrial designs (231 applications and 283 registered industrial designs were published).
In N 1 the full list of patent attorneys was published.
Every three mounts the up-dated list of patents in force on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria was published.
In the Gazette were published the entries in all State Registers and the changes in the legal status of all IPRs, as well as indexes and colour reproductions of images of trademarks and industrial designs.

  Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)
  Patent documents were stored on paper, CD/DVD ROMs

  Word processing and office automation
  In 2007 the subscriptions of 292 granted patents for inventions and 48 certificates for utility models registration were issued using Eposcan Tecnique, OCR, Word (MS Office 2003) and Pagemaker.
The Official Gazette in its part for inventions and utility models is available on the office's website as from N 1/06 in pdf files.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data
  http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=167&Itemid=269 - access to the Office's Official Bulletin
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=150 - - access to the Office's Annual Reports
http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/about_bpo/bpo_statistics07.pdf - - access to the statistics
http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/cpl/spravka_za_fonda_08.pdf - - access to the Reference Inventory of the Office's information resources
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

   Abstracting, reviewing, translating
  All applications and granted patents for inventions and utility model registrations were published with abstracts on the first page. The abstracts were entered into Common Software database on Bulgarian and English languages.
As from N 9/2007 of the Official Gazette the publications for granted patents for inventions includes bibliographic data and main claims.

  Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), and reclassification3 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)
  In 2007 the VIII edition of International Patent Classification, advanced level was used to classify the new applications and currently published documents.

  Bibliographic data and full-text processing
  In 2007 510 specifications of patents for inventions and utility models (255 of them in systematical order and 255 in numerical order), 193 first pages of published applications for patents, 204 refused applications and 8 applications deemed to be withdrawn for non payment of taxes were lodged into Bulgarian patent file.
In the systematic file on paper were also lodged 1020 EP patents in force on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

  File building
  The Central Patent Library has continued to maintain and update the spesialized files

  Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
  The search file for examination consist of patent documents from BG, DE, GB,RU.
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

  In-house systems (online/offline)
  EpoqueNET on-line from 5 PC based Work Station via Petnet-2

  External databases
  All databases were accessible through EpoqueNET.
The most frequently used are:
International Patent Classification vers.8;
ECLA - EPO Classification;
EPODOC - EPO Documentation;
EPOS - EPO Synonyms
EPUS EPO-USPTO Class concordance
EUREG - European Patent Register
NPL - Non Patent Literature
WPI - World Patent Index (Derwent)

  Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
  The BPO's administrative management system is Common Software, v. 3.3.2. Soprano_CS is in process of implementation in the framework of the EPTOS Project.In 2007, Soprano_CS v. 4.28.02 was installed in the test mode.

  Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
  Common software is running on the same hardware platform, EPTOS as well in version P5.

  Existing online thesauri; their structure, presentation and usefulness for computerized searches
  NIPIES - national network for cooperation and exchange of information about the protection of the IPRs.
VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products 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)

  Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings
  The Central Patent Library (CPL) belongs to the Patent Office - it is a department of the Information Technologies, Information Activity and Services Directorate.
There are no special requirements for the library use.
There is free access to the library's reading room.
The Client Service Facility in the library's reading room consists of 4 computerized working places for consulting and printing patent documents stored on CD/DVD-ROMs and available in the specialized patent databases in internet.

  Collecting, acquisitions, preparation
  CPL holds comprehensive collections of domestic and foreign patent documents and other relevant material in the field of the industrial property on different media - paper, CD/DVDs.
The library's documentation consists of:
- national patent applications and granted patents for inventions and utility models (utility model certificates - in accordance with the Law on Patents and Utility Models Registration in force in force as from 09.11.2006) on paper (since 1953) and, in addition, on electronic media - ESPACE PRECES series (since 1992) and on DVD -facsimile copies (1953-1992);
- EP translations (validated European patents designating BG) - T3 publications - since 2004 (the Republic of Bulgaria joined the EPC in 2002);
- over 20 million patent documents from 30 countries and two international organizations (EPO and WIPO) stored according to the IPC classes along with a numerical collection comprising more than 4000 documents on microfilm;
- patents'/utility models' full text collections on CD/DVD and "access" discs from 28 countries and two international organizations (EPO and WIPO);
- full set of the Official Gazette of the Patent Office since 1955 as well as the Official gazettes and indexes of the patent offices of 40 countries and three international organizations (EPO, WIPO and OHIM);
- all the seven editions of the IPC and the subject-matter indexes;
- specialized theoretical literature - laws, reference books, guides, books, periodicals/IP magazines etc.
- collection of trade marks and industrial designs dossiers (national and international route) - for internal use only
In addition, the library provides electronic access to the BG full text documents (from No 16 598 - since 1973) available via EPO esp@cenet service and to the bibliographic data of all national patent applications and patents granted along with the European applications designating Bulgaria and European patents validated in the territory of Bulgaria available via theOffice's internal network.
The acquisition of patent documents (on paper and electronic media) is based on the mutual exchange of patent documents between the member states of the Paris Convention.

  Collection management, preservation
  The paper collections are stored according to the IPC classes and countries of origin in special storing rooms. The electronic collections are numerical and are stared in special boxes in the library reading room. All the documents can be used on request in the reading room.

  Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country
  The CPL is the unique patent library in the country and provides all available patent documents for consultation on site at the library reading room.
Copies of all kinds of documents can be made for the clients.
In the framework of the Bulgarian Industrial Property Network (BIPN) which includes 2 PATLIB centres and 8 university IP Points, the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office as well as other documentation (IPC, CD/DVDs, information and promotional material etc.) are being regularly sent to the members of the network.

  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)
  Services provided at the Office's patent library - mostly free of charge:
- provision of all kind of documents (patent specifications and official gazettes on different media, classifications, periodicals, theoretical literature etc.) in the reading room;
- provision of information regarding the classification systems, legislation - national and foreign, international organisations and treaties, application and grant procedure;
- assisted searches for all IP rights in different IP resources, including internet databases of EPO, WIPO and the national patent offices some of the automated searches are subject to payment in accordance with the Price list of the Patent Office;
- legal status information;
- information about IP representative and fees;
- consultations in the field of patent information and documentation and on how to use them;
- hard copies of all kind of documents - chargeable in accordance with the Pricelist approved by the Patent Office.
Services on request - chargeable in accordance with the Price list of the Patent Office:
- Infringement search for patent rights in Bulgaria
- Subject search
- Prior art search
- Patents family search
-Name search
- Legal status search
- Patent family search
- Number search
- Preliminary expert opinion on infringement of patent rights
- Information concerning patent procedures in foreign countries
-Issuance of different types of certificates
-Copies of documents
Services under the Special Search Programme - chargeable according to the Tariff of Fees of the Patent Office:
- Novelty search
- Patentability search
- State of the art search
- Search prior to raising objections against the patentability of the invention applied for, a patent invalidation request (except for patents granted by the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria), or a request for cancellation of a utility model registration
- Freedom to operate search in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria
- Searches in the national database - by name, number, IPC classes, legal status incl. licenses pledges, distraints and inclusion in the bankrupts estate
- Searches in foreign databases: by name, number, IPC
- Patent family searches
- Monitoring of predetermined technology fields

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications
  none

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.
  http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115&Itemid=356 - national procesures
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=357 - official forms to be used before the Patent Office
http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/patents/ep_general_info.pdf - European applications - procedure
http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/patents/pct_general_info.pdf - PCT applications - procedure

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., patent search service(s) and patent databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
  http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=292&lang=bg - information services and products
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=43 - databases
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 Official Gazette was monthly distributed to 75 Bulgarian and 47 foreign subscribers.
The bibliographic data and abstracts,translated in English, for all patent applications, granted patents and utility model registrations, published in the Official Gazette from N 1 to N12 2007, has been sent to INPADOC-EPIDOS- Vienna and to the European Patent Office Branch in the Hague to be integrated in BG esp@cenet server.
159 patent specifications were processed and sent to Hungary to be integrated in the CD-ROM-ESPACE-PRECES collection.
The Annual Technical Report for 2007, and the annual statistics on all IPRs administrated by the BPO were prepared and sent to WIPO and EPO.

  Medium used for exchange of priority documents
  Priority documents can be filed on paper.

  Medium allowed for filing applications
  According to BG legislation the application can be filed only on paper. Applications forms are available on the Office's website.
VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office's website wherever appropriate)

  Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means
  Training courses and seminars for different target groups took place in many Bulgarian towns: "Innovation - key factor for competitiveness and success of SMEs"; "Information days of export", jointly organized with The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA); "Protection of industrial property", with cooperation with "Arsenal" Ltd., Kazanlak; Training for officials of The Commission for establishing of property acquired from criminal activity; Seminars regarding Legislation changes - in partnership with Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce.
Other events organized by the BPO were: conference "Inventiveness,entrepreneurship and innovations in the context of EU membership of Bulgaria", Varna and discussion on round table "Problems of IPR Enforcement- Legislation Changes", Varna.

  Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
  The Bulgarian Industrial Property Network enlarged - two information and consultation centers (IP-points) at the university level were established in Naval Academy "Nicola Vapzarov" in Varna and in State University of Library Study and Information Technologies, Sofia. The experts from the BPO assisted the staff of Patlib centers and IP-points with consultations and provided patent documentation.
To improve IPR awareness BPO created and promoted more than 200 publications and announcements in the field of IPR in national newspapers, radio stations, magazines, TV programs, popular websites, including Focus- Agency and Radio station.
The BPO presented its information activities and services at the International Fair, Plovdiv
Visits
Experts from BPO visited Patent office of China, the Institute of industrial property of Portugal to exchange best practice in the field of working with European Structural Funds, and National Institute for origin and quality of France (INAO), also they took part in SCIT/SDWG/8, March 2007, Geneva, WIPO; Electronic Publications Days - Vienna, EPO; Patent Information Conference - Riga; PATLIB 2007 - Sevilja, Spain.
URLs:
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.):
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=434&Itemid=386 - e-learning
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=437&Itemid=387 - courses, seminars and conferences
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=272 - forthcoming events
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 patents
  National legislation
Bulgarian Law on patents and UM registrations is available on
http://www1.bpo.bg/images/stories/laws/paten_and_ums_law07.pdf
Draft legislation on IP rights
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=196&Itemid=282
International Conventions and Agreements
http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=127

  contain the Annual Report of the Office
  http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=150

  contain patent-related news regarding the Office
  http://www1.bpo.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=2&id=3&Itemid=169
X. 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.

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