Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2009 submitted by Czech Republic (CWS/ATR/PI/2009/CZ)

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 comparison with the year 2008, there were changes in patent and utility model activities as follows:

National patent applications 881 in 2009 + 3 % compared to 2008 (854)
Utility model applications 1382 in 2009 + 16 % compared to 2008 (1183)
PCT international applications 52 in 2009 - 41 % compared to 2008 (88)
Grant national patent 1293 in 2009 + 1 % compared to 2008 (1280)
Registrations utility model 1178 in 2009 + 12 % compared to 2008 (1046)
Supplementary protection certificate, application 20 in 2009 - 15% compared to 2008 (23)
European Patent Office granted 27691 in 2009 + 5 % compared to 2008 (26254)
IPO CZ received EP translations 3412 in 2009 - 2 % compared to 2008 (3513)
EP patents valid in CZ 11356 in 2009 + 28 % compared to 2008 (8851)
National patents valid in CZ 10470 in 2009 - 2 % compared to 2008 (10746)
National utility models valid in CZ 6490 in 2009 + 4 % compared to 2008 (6410)

  Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
  As regards the representation of individual segments most of patent applications concerned measuring, optics, photography, transporting, organic chemistry, building, health and amusement, engines and pumps, inorganic chemistry, and horology, medical, dental and hygienic prep., regulating, computing.

Regarding utility model applications, most of them came from the sectors of building, measuring, optics, photography, lighting and heating, transporting, personal and domestic articles, foodstuffs and tobacco, conveying and storing and electricity.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide statistics related to patents
  Since 2000 the Annual Reports and statistics are available on the Office's URL:
http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/annual-report/annual-report.html
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.)
  Lists of patent documents are published in the Official Bulletin of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic. Starting from 2007 this is published weekly in an electronic form only (updated on Wednesdays). It is placed on the Office's website (http://www.upv.cz/en.html). The standard content of the chapters regarding published patent applications, granted patents and registered utility models is:
- published patent applications arranged according to the number of applications and according to IPC symbols including list of applicants;
- granted patents arranged according to the number of patents and according to IPC symbols including list of owners;
- registered utility models arranged according to the number of registration of utility models and according to the IPC symbols including list of proprietors;
- official decisions, legal status and announcements;
- corrections; and
- alterations.
No prior registration or subscription to view the Bulletin is needed. The information as published should be the authentic one for legal purposes. As from No. 1/2000, the Official Bulletin has been available on the web site of the IPO CZ as an electronic book in PDF format.

  Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information
  Office notices are published weekly in the electronic Official Bulletin of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic. Notices are also published on the Office's website.

  Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)
  Used mass storage media are hard discs, magnetic tapes for backup and paper.

  Word processing and office automation
  The digitizing texts of Czechoslovak and Czech patents from 1913 continued within the framework of technical co-operation with the European Patent Office has been executed.
Since No. 1 to actual national patent document and actual registered utility models are available in electronic and printable form on the Office's website
Patent information in electronic form are available on the Office's website (http://www.upv.cz/en.html)
The title pages of national granted patents can be found at the address:
http://isdv.upv.cz/portal/pls/portal/portlets.pts.frmt
and full documents of national patent applications, granted patents and registered utility models and European patents valid in the territory of the Czech Republic can be found at the address:
http://isdv.upv.cz/portal/pls/portal/portlets.spis.formular

  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
  The Official Bulletin
http://internet.upv.cz/cs/publikace/vestnik-upv.html (Czech version - since 2000)
http://internet.upv.cz/en/publications/ipo-bulletin.html (English version - since 2007)

The public Czech patents and utility models database - basic search:
http://isdv.upv.cz/portal/pls/portal/portlets.pts.frm

The public Czech patents and utility models database - advanced search:
http://isdv.upv.cz/portal/pls/portal/portlets.pta.formular?lok=en
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

  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)
  The 8th edition of IPC classification, Advanced Level, has been used since January 1, 2006.
All patent documents published since 1970 were reclassified to this edition of IPC classification.
Other classification systems are not used.

  Bibliographic data and full-text processing
  Published patent applications, granted patents, a registered utility models are searchable by date of filing, publication, grant and registration, by priority date, by number of application, patent and registration, by name of inventor, applicant and proprietor and by IPC classification.
Search system in bibliographic data on web site makes it possible full-text processing.
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

  File building
  Patent library stores over 40 million patent documents from more than 20 countries including EPO and PCT documents. The collections of paper documents are arranged according to the IPC classification. The CD and DVD collections are also available.

  Updating
  The data is updated daily.

  Storage, including mass storage media
  The data is stored electronically (official databases, hard discs, magnetic tapes for backup) and in a paper version.

  Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
  The Office received foreign patent documents both in a paper and a digital form (generally).
Official bulletins of foreign offices are available in an electronic form or in a paper version (patent library).
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

  In-house systems (online/offline)
  The Office maintains the in-house search database of national applications of inventions and utility models, granted patents and registered utility models. The database is not accessible to the public but its structure corresponds to the public database. The following CD-ROM search systems also are used: CASSISS (US), ESPACE-ACCESS (EP) and ESPACE-PRECES (Eastern and Central European States).

  External databases
  The Office provides publicly free access to the database comprising the data concerning the patent applications since 1991, granted patents, European patents valid on the territory of the Czech Republic and the registered utility models on the IPO CZ website
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/online-databases/patent-and-utility-model-databases.html.

The Office regularly uses the "esp@cenet" database that offers the free access to more than 60 million patent documents all over the world. The database is maintained by EPO.

The Office also performs searches on the EPOQUEnet (including BIOSIS, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PUBCHEM) and the commercial databases as STN International, DIALOG, QUESTEL and ScienceDirect.

  Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
  The Office uses the internal information system (IS SyPP, starting from January 2004) to proceed the applications of patents, supplementary patent certificates, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks and geographical indications. The system is flexible and applicable enough to maintain official registers of all the industrial property rights. The system archives all incoming and outgoing communications of the Office, provides the information on the state of proceeding, legal status of registrations and statistical data. The system also processes foreign applications within PCT and the European patents valid on the territory of the Czech Republic. The data are transferred to the electronic Office's Bulletin and to the public search database. Starting from November 2002, the system is compatible with electronic filing recognizing authorized electronic certificates. The on-line filing system was launched in August 2006. Starting from January 2008, the system produces automatic electronic extracts from registers upon online request.

  Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
  Workstations - HP, processor 3 GHz, RAM 1 GB, HDD 160 GB. 300 workstations connected in the Office network are of the Office staff direct service. Thereof 50 computers connected in the Office network are intended for the clients of the Office and staff training service. The Office uses the ETHERNET network and computers run WINDOWS XP and MS OFFICE - 2003/2007 software and the ORACLE 10.1 database. The Office uses CD, DVD and magnetic tapes as data mediums.
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 patent and utility models applications as well as requests for grant of supplementary protection certificates (SPC) can be filed in person, by post, by fax or electronically or electronically with electronic authorised certificate to the Office. Wide range of other requests may be submitted electronically via user-friendly interface.
Bibliographic data of applications and requests are entered into internal information system SyPP manually if the application or request is filed in paper or automatically while using of the online filing facility. The applicants receive confirmation of filing via post upon their request or electronically in the case of the online filing. The applicants can follow up the procedure on their applications via the Office's website.

  Collection management, preservation
  Extended safety is secured via SSL. Backing up of data changes is done twice a week. Full back up of data is on weekly basis. Backed up files are preserved for 4 weeks.

  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 information centre and help desk operate during the working days. They provide the public with general information concerning patent protection.
The patent collections and the Internet access are available in the public reading room of the Office's library. The public reading room staff carries out personal assistance and consultations.
The Office's website provides a wide range of information including basic information on IP rights, filing and registration instructions, fee information and full texts of legal documents. All valid forms are printable. An Interactive facility for filing applications and submitting requests is available online. Entries can be downloaded and stored. The facility requires electronic authorized certificate, which substitutes signature.
The Office provides full range of brochures and guides free of charge. They can be downloaded in PDF format from the Office's web site, picked up in the office headquarters or sent upon request. The Office publishes its own books and the Industrial Property Journal (6 issues per year) reflecting the current issues of IP rights.
The Office provides searches on commercial basis.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of patent applications
  Online Filing:
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/on-line-filing.html
Online Filing - Forms:
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/forms.html

  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.
  Information on business procedure related to patents:
http://www.upv.cz/en/ip-rights/patents.html

Information on business procedure related to supplementary protection certificates (SPC):
http://www.upv.cz/en/ip-rights/supplementary-protection-certificates.html

Information on business procedure related to utility models:
http://www.upv.cz/en/ip-rights/utility-models.html

Guidelines for the Proceedings of the Industrial Property Office:
http://www.upv.cz/cs/publikace/metodicke-pokyny-pro-rizeni-pred-upv.html

Fees and payments:
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/fees.html

  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
  The Office's website:
http://www.upv.cz/en.html

Information on Services:
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/information-services.html

Publications:
http://www.upv.cz/en/publications.html

Patent and Utility models databases:
http://www.upv.cz/en/provided-services/online-databases/patent-and-utility-model-databases.html

Patent classification system:
http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/classsification-systems/classification-patents.html
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
  International and regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable patent information in Epidos is realized on Internet. Exchange of CD-ROM and DVD carriers continued. Czech patent documents in paper form were distributed to patent offices of five countries.
The Official Bulletin of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic is published exclusively electronically as of the beginning 2007. The Official Bulletin is published on a weekly basis (updated every Wednesday) instead of the monthly basis as it was before. The paper version has been discontinued. Electronic version of the Official Bulletin is available since 2000 (Czech version, English version is available since 2007) and accessible on the Office's web site:
http://www.upv.cz/cs/publikace/vestnik-upv.html (Czech version)
http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/ipo-bulletin.html (English version)

  Medium allowed for filing applications
  Patent applications could be filed in paper or in electronic form and in electronic form with electronic signature.
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
  Various courses and seminars (such as Searches in the Databases of IPO CZ, Disseminating IP Knowledge in Universities, PCT, Enforcement of Intellectual Rights, Role of Intellectual Property, in particular Trademarks and Geographical Indications, in Creating, Developing and Strenghtening a National Brand, Protection of IP Rights in China, Design Protection) were organized for the students and representatives of SMEs or research institutions; University students are regularly invited for excursions and guided tours in the Office's premises.

Every year, a two-year course of industrial property rights begins within the Industrial Property Training Institute - Office's own educational facility.

The Office cooperates with Regional Patent Information Centres (PATLIBs) on providing training and education.

  Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
  The fourteen-day training for 5 - 6 participants is hosted by the Office every year.

  Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
  The Office presented its information activities and products at the following exhibitions
and trade fairs:
International Machinery Trade Fair (Brno, CZ)
FOR INDUSTRY 2009 (Prague, CZ)
FOR ARCH 2009 (Prague, CZ)
TENDENCE 2009 (Prague, CZ)
AMPER 2009
Innovation 2009 (Prague, CZ)
IENA - Exhibition of Inventions and Innovations (Nurnberg, DE)
PATLIB 2009 (Sofia, BG)

The Office publishes the Industrial Property Journal every second months.

  Assistance furnished by offices to facilitate the changing over of receiving offices to electronic data carriers for the exchange of patent documents (see also fourth sub-item of item VI, above)
  The Office cooperates with Regional Patent Information Centres (PATLIBs) on information product dissemination.
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
  http://www.upv.cz/en/legislation/national/codes.html

  contain the Annual Report of the Office
  http://www.upv.cz/en/publications/annual-report/annual-report.html

  if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
  provide information on legislation related to supplementary protection certificates (SPC):
http://www.upv.cz/en/legislation/national/codes.html

provide information on legislation related to utility models:
http://www.upv.cz/en/legislation/national/codes.html

Guidelines for the Proceedings of the Industrial Property Office:
http://www.upv.cz/cs/publikace/metodicke-pokyny-pro-rizeni-pred-upv.html

contains FAQ:
http://www.upv.cz/en/information-sources/faq.html
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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