Dear Sirs!

I would like to welcome everybody who opens this 2005 Annual report of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks. The past year was commemorated by an important event for our office — the 50th anniversary of the Committee for Inventions and Openings – Rospatent.

Summarizing the results of the year 2005, I would like to stress the fact that the activity of Rospatent in each of the main directions falling within the scope of it’s competence was inseparably connected with the orientation towards the promotion of strong, global Russian economy, based on knowledge, encouragement of investment into the realization of innovations and stimulation of business.

A strategy of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks system development up to the year 2010 was elaborated by us in 2005. It determines not only the main goals, directions and objectives of the development, but also the main means for their achievement. The realization of the main strategic objectives of the Rospatent’s system development will, in our opinion, help build a leading organization in the field of intellectual property on the international scale, with qualified staff potential and an effective system of intellectual property legal protection. Activity of such an organization, in turn, could contribute to an increase in competitive ability of the Russian economy based on leading technologies and doubling the GDP by the year 2010.

The concrete results of the work undertaken during the year are detailed on the pages of this Report.
I just want to take note that in 2005 the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks continued the work on the improvement of the existing intellectual property legislation. During the reported period we have elaborated and sent to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation proposals on the amendment of the provisions of the Patent Law of the Russian Federation, Federal Law “On the Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Databases”, Federal Law “On Copyright and Related Rights ”, Federal Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”, and the proposals on the amendment of Rospatent’s normative acts aimed at the regulation of specific aspects of legal protection of trademarks and transfer of rights.

The work on the modernization of the automated systems of our office has also been continued. In 2005 a unique automated system of search based on the images of trademarks (the only one in the world) was put into operation; an Authorization center for the certification and generation of electronic keys, supporting the work with electronic documents signed with an electronic signature, in the field of legal protection of industrial property objects was also put into operation; the system of paperless electronic interaction between Rospatent and WIPO on the applications and registrations under the Madrid system of international trademark registration was created. During the past year Rospatent’s website started providing access to open electronic registers of industrial property objects: inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, appellations of origin of goods and well-known trademarks.

As from January 2005 our office has began providing open access to the register of trademark applications, which allows for an indication of their current status.

Last year was marked with the continuation of work on the execution of the new Rospatent’s functions of control and supervision in the field of legal protection and exploitation of intellectual property objects, patents, trademarks and results of intellectual activities, involved into economic and commercial circulation.

The work of Rospatent in the year 2005, in general, was rather productive. Undoubtedly, it contributed to the gaining of authority of our office in the country and in the world. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the conscientious participants of this process.

Best wishes,

Director General Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks Boris Simonov

Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

1.1. Legal Protection of Inventions and Utility Models

In compliance with the Patent Law of the Russian Federation the examination of the applications for inventions was carried out, as in previous years, in two stages: formal examination — in the division of formal examination, and examination as to substance — in eleven branch divisions, which form three departments (chemistry, physics and mechanics).

The year showed an increase in the amount of applications for inventions and utility models, however the average term of their examination was kept 12 month, and in several directions — 9 months.

The most considerable increase was seen in respect of applications for utility models. Though the amount exceeded the planned figures, it was managed not to exceed considerably the average consideration term in respect of these industrial property objects as well.

In 2005 the main work aimed at the improvement of the processes of the examination of applications for inventions and utility models was carried out in three main directions:

• development of methodological examination support;

• improvement of technological examination support;

• quality control system improvement.

Development in these three directions comprises the main potential of quality improvement and reduction of examination terms in general.

The analysis of enforcement practice helped outline a number of methodological aspects, which are not fully covered by existing legislation. The outlined loopholes became the objects of numerous studies aimed at the development of the examination methodology.

Examination as to the Substance Requires Discussion

The studies resulted in the development of proposals on amendment of legislation of different levels including the Patent Law of the Russian Federation and the Regulations on the composition, filing and consideration of applications for inventions. Work concerning the improvement of the systematic supplying of the examination of the applications for inventions, particularly in respect of medical inventions has been carried out. It resulted in the development of respective recommendations.

The difficult situation in the field of utility models' protection was the reason for special attention to the development of Provisional methodological recommendations on the issues of the consideration of the applied decisions as utility models.

The analysis of the enforcement practice concerning the mentioned intellectual property objects resulted in the development of a program for the methodological supply of the examination.

Studies on the ways of solution of the problems arising in respect of changes to the applications have been carried out in 2005. Besides, methodological recommendations for the consideration of applications for inventions and utility models, which do not meet the patentability criteria in the sense of the articles 4 and 5 of the Patent Law of the Russian Federation, were being developed.

The results of these studies were discussed on October 12 and 13, 2005 at the International Scientific and Practical Conference on the Outstanding Issues of the Theory and Practice of Intellectual Property Protection, devoted to the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a legal successor to which is Rospatent.

The results of the year shown by the examination divisions of Rospatent proved the appropriateness of the reorganization, which allocated the divisions into three departments. The closeness of the subject­matter of the applications for inventions in each division of a department allowed for an improvement as to the process of distribution of the applications between divisions; an outline of the common problems in methodology and processing; a simplification in their solution; a unification of the methodological approaches to consideration of bordering applications and a deeper system of quality control, based on examination and analysis of the processing and the decisions rendered on the applications with objects requiring identical methodological approaches. At the same time it became possible to bring closer the functions of control and analysis of the examination quality with the functions of training and development of methodological supply of the examination within each department, as well as in the whole Institute.

In connection with the transition in 2006 to the new standard of the International Patent Classification (the 8th edition of the IPC), a set of works on the development of software for the use of the new edition in the technological processes of the Federal State Establishment “Federal Institute of Industrial Property” (FGU FIPS) has been carried out. Besides, a reclassification of the respective patent documentation, training of the examiners and other preparatory work have been carried out and allowed for a transition to the 8th IPC edition as from January 1, 2006.

Computer Search is Now the Main Tool of an Examiner

During the year a number of works on the improvement of the technological support of the examination of applications for inventions and utility models has been carried out. Among the directions of the development of the examination technologies there are:

• improvement of the procedure of consideration of petitions for transforming the applications;

• improvement in the forms of the outgoing correspondence;

• improvement of the flow of the documentation in respect of the processing of the applications.

Furthermore, different activities have been carried out allowing for a redistribution of functions not falling directly within the examination process, and also for an increase in the efficiency of planning the examination works with an aim to decrease the average duration of patent examination and increase the rhythmical pace of the sending off of the decisions on the applications.

In 2005 the technological schemes and procedures of filing and consideration of applications for patents on secret inventions have been elaborated and the work on such applications has been adjusted.

During the year 2005 activities on the further transition of the examination divisions towards work with electronic files on applications have been continued. These activities were based on the works on the creation of electronic working places for the examiners on the base of the existing automation elements, allowing working with the electronic archive of the applications, including the preparation of the outgoing correspondence and transfer of the data for the publication. Final introduction of automated working places will allow reaching a principally new level of technological equipping of the examination processes and significantly increasing its efficiency.

The main indicators of filing of applications and issuing protection titles for inventions and utility models are represented in statistical tables 1.1.1–1.1.9 and Annex 3.

Table 1.1.1

Table 1.1.2

Table 1.1.3

Table 1.1.4

Table 1.1.5

Table 1.1.6

Table 1.1.7

Table 1.1.8

Table 1.1.9

1.2. Legal Protection of Industrial Designs

In 2005 the number of applications for industrial designs increased by 13.44% compared to the previous year. To a big extent this increase is due to an increased activity of the foreign applicants. The number of the foreign applications increased by 23%.

With the aim to ensure similar approaches in the decision of the issues related to the unity of the industrial designs the formal examination of the applications as well as the examination of the patentability of the industrial design is carried out in the industrial designs division. By the end of the year 2005 the average duration of examination from the moment of filing of the application to the examination decision has been reduced to 10 months.

All the examination decisions are prepared and transferred for publication electronically.

2005 was the last year of publication of the official Rospatent's bulletin “Industrial Designs” on paper. Starting from January 2006 only the electronic version of the bulletin will be published.

The tendency that the great amount of applications for industrial designs contains word designations is being sustained. They are mainly labels and packages. The practice of examination of the patentability of such designs is adjusted, taking into consideration the experience of the foreign countries studied within the Scientific and Research work “Unprotected Industrial Designs in the Legislation of Foreign Countries” carried out in 2004. In 2005 a Scientific and Research work “Study of the Issues Concerning the Amendment of the Patent Law of the Russian Federation in respect of the Industrial Designs” has also been carried out. The work is planned to be finished by the end of the first half of 2006. The results of the research will be used in 2006 in the preparation of the proposals on the amendment of the Patent Law of the Russian Federation, aimed at more adequate legal protection of industrial designs, meeting the interests of the designers of the appearance of the products. Such amendments will allow for conformity of the level of legal protection of industrial designs in the Russian Federation with the level of the legal protection granted to industrial designs in the European Union.

Dynamics of filing of applications and issuing of Patents of the Russian Federation for industrial designs are summarized in Tables 1.2.1–1.2.3, other indicators may be found in Annex 3.

Table 1.2.1

Table 1.2.2

Table 1.2.3

In the year 2005 the examination of applications for trademarks and service marks was carried out in compliance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin” (hereinafter — the Law).

The year 2005 showed an increase in the number of applications in comparison with the year 2004 by more than 15%, while the duration of their consideration remained 12 months.

The work aimed at the improvement of quality and the perfection of the processes of examination and registration of trademarks was being continued in the reported period.

To this end, a number of normative documents aimed at development of uniform approaches to the application of the norms of the Law by the examiners has been elaborated in 2005. In particular:

• on the application of criteria of presence of an acquired distinctiveness of the sign;

• clarifying approaches to the examination of sign which are (or contain elements of) objects of copyright or personal non­property rights;

• on the attribution of sign to the category of false or misleading the consumer in respect of the product or the producer.

The work on the preparation of proposals for the improvement of the Law and the Rules for compiling, filing and examining applications for the registration of trademarks and service marks was continued in 2005. The intermediate results of this work were discussed at the International Scientific and Practical Conference on the Urgent Issues of the Theory and Practice of Intellectual Property Protection (October 2005).

The decrease of labor­consuming character of the examination processes was pursued by means of improvement of applications processing technology and realization Rules on introduction of changes into the application documents.

The achievement of the mentioned goal is helped by a number of activities carried out within the program of the modernization of the automated systems of Rospatent:

• finalization and approbation of a new automated search system for the examination of trademarks;

• completion of a set of works within an international project, allowing for an electronic exchange of notifications within the Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Marks and the Madrid Protocol based on development of a paperless technology of data exchange with the WIPO on international trademark applications.

Furthermore, the creation of an open register of national trademark applications filed with Rospatent from January 1, 2005 is aimed at the increase in the quality of the examination. It allows not only to inform the public of such applications, but also to receive prompt information from the interested persons on the possibility of collisions between an applied sign and previously registered trademarks.

Dynamics of filing applications for the registration of trademarks and service marks are summarized in Tables 1.3.1 and 1.3.2. Other statistics may be found in Annex 3.

Table 1.3.1

Table 1.3.2

*Without regard for International applications filed under the Madrid Agreement

1.4. Legal Protection of Appellations of Origin of Goods

Examination of applications for registration and (or) granting of rights for the use of appellation of origin is executed in compliance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin” (hereinafter — the Law).

In 2005 a great amount of Rospatent's work related to applications examination was devoted to the issues of settlement of the interaction with such executive bodies as the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation. The abovementioned ministries are named in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 17, 2004 ? 481 as the authorities competent to give resumes which are attached to the application stating that the applicant produces within a geographical place the goods, special properties of which are defined by natural conditions and/or human factors specific for that area.

The year 2005 shows a two times decrease in the number of applications for the registration and (or) granting of right to use an appellation of origin, while the number of registered appellations of origin has increased almost four times. It can be explained by the fact that the version of the Law of December 11, 2002 states that applications can only be filed with the abovementioned resume of a competent authority, denominated by the Government of the Russian Federation. The competent authorities were only denominated in September 2004.

Young Specialists Take Active Part in the Examination Process

The work on the public awareness of the role and importance of appellations of origin, the need for their legal protection and enforcement was continued in 2005.

To this end a consultation with the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Energy, the administration of the Vologda Region, National foundation for protection of consumers was organized in Rospatent in February 2005.

The continuation of this work is meant to be aimed at drawing attention of regional authorities, with a view to preserve traditional productions, the need to use additional stimulation for their development, particularly by attracting respective investment, which can be obtained from the accompaniment of the goods produced in the region by the use of appellations of origin.

Table 1.4

1.5. Registration of Contracts for the Use of Inventions, Utility Models, Industrial Designs

The data on the number of registered contracts on the transfer of rights in the protected industrial property objects and the grant of rights for their use is shown in the Table 1.5.1.

Table 1.5.1

*The number of patents under patent assignment contract is 1825.

The total number of the contracts registered in 2005 decreased in comparison with 2004 by 17.8% and amounted to 2122 contracts, which can be explained by a decrease in the number of the assignment contracts.

The decrease in the number of the assignment contracts is caused by the change in the registration technology — in 2005 each contract concerning assignment of several protection titles was given only one registration number, while the former technology provided for a separate number for each protection title. Taking into consideration the fact that the number of the assignment contracts in the reported year amounted to 1281, and the number of the patents transferred in these contracts amounted to 1825, the decrease in the number of the assignment contracts in the terms of the account system of the previous years can be considered insignificant.

The share of the contracts of the assignment of patents in the overall amount of registered contracts was 60.3%.

The overall amount of registered contracts increased in comparison with the previous year and amounted to 841 contracts.

At the same time, the number of non­exclusive license contracts increased compared to the previous year by 26.5% and amounted to 674 contracts, and the share of the non­exclusive license contracts in the overall number was 31.7%. The number of exclusive license contracts also increased (by 3%) and amounted to 167 contracts. The share of such contracts in the overall number of registered contracts was 7.8%

The overall number of the industrial property objects, the use of which was authorized by license contracts during the year, increased in comparison with the previous year by 11.2% and amounted to 2891 patent, including 2120 patents for inventions, 249 patents for industrial designs, 522 patents for utility models.

2005 showed a significant increase in the demand for inventions in mechanical engineering, chemistry and petroleum chemistry. An insignificant decrease was seen only in metallurgy, the other fields showed stable demand (table 1.5.2).

Table 1.5.2

A trend towards the decrease of the share of contracts in which governmental organizations, particularly enterprises, scientific and research institutes, design offices, higher educational institutions are the transferring parties was sustained. At the same time the amount of the contracts where they act as the receiving party increased by 0.7% in comparison with the previous year.

In the contracts registered during the year; natural persons acted as transferring party in respect of 954 industrial property objects, as a receiving party in respect of 277 objects; legal entities acted as a transferring party in respect of 1937 objects, as a receiving party in respect of 2614 objects.

Thus, the share of the contracts with natural persons acting as a transferring party decreased by 5.6% compared to the previous year, and as a receiving party — decreased by 6.7% (the data shown in the table 1.5.3).

Table 1.5.3

1.6. Registration of Assignment Contracts and License Contracts on the Right to Use Trademarks and Service Marks

The total number of trademarks in respect of which in 2005 there were registered assignment contracts and license contracts increased by 21.6% in comparison with 2004 and amounted to 10114 trademarks.

2815 trademark assignment contracts were registered, which resulted in transfer of exclusive rights in respect of 4550 trademarks, 3524 or 77.5% of which belonged to Russian rightholders and respectively 1016 or 22.5% were the trademarks of foreign rightholders.

License contracts (overall — 2991 contract) were registered in respect of 5574 trademarks, while the share of the Russian rightholders' trademarks amounts to 4310 or 77.3% and the share of the foreign rightholders' trademarks was 1264 or 22.7% respectively.

The trend towards the increase of the number of trademarks on which the rightholders granted the right to use (5574 or 55.1% of overall number of trademarks) in comparison with number of assigned trademarks (2815 or 44.9% of the overall number of trademarks) continued in 2005. Comparison with the similar data for 2004 (4395 or 52.8 and 3922 or 47.2% respectively) allows to say that the license and not the assignment of the trademark remains a more attractive form for the rightholders.

There was a significant increase in the activity of the Russian rightholders in the sphere of the registration of contracts in respect of trademarks.

The Table 1.6.3 shows that the share of the trademarks of the Russian rightholders, in respect of which contracts are registered, is stable and high (77.5% in 2005 vs. 70.7% in 2004). The number of the contracts registered in respect of the trademarks of Russian rightholders has also increased and amounted to 84.6% (vs. 80.4 in 2004).

There was a slight decrease in the activity of foreign rightholders. After a significant increase in the number of the registered contracts in 2004 (by 39.6%) the number of the trademark contracts of the foreign rightholders decreased by 5.3% compared to the previous year.

Analysis of the data of the correlation of the number of the registered contracts and the number of trademarks mentioned in the contracts shows that in 2005 the correlation between the registered contracts and the number of trademarks remained at the level of 2004 and was 1:1.6 (in respect of assignment contracts) and 1:1.9 (in respect of license contracts).

The Table represents the data on the number of trademarks in respect of which assignment contracts and license contracts have been registered in the period between 2001 and 2005 (Table 1.6.1).

Table 1.6.1

Comparative data on the belonging of the parties to the contracts registered in 2001­2005 to Russian and Foreign Persons is shown in Table 1.6.2.

Table 1.6.2

Comparative data on the number of registered contracts and the number of trademarks in respect of which the contracts were registered are shown in the Table 1.6.3.

Table 1.6.3

1.7. Registration of Computer Programs, Databases and Topographies of Integrated Circuits

The year 2005 confirmed a predictable increase in the number of applications to be filed for the official registration of computer programs, databases, and topographies of integrated circuits. Such an increase is conditioned primarily by a two­fold decrease in the amount of fees to be collected from applicants — holders of rights in the registration (since 2005 — the Official Fees).

There was a growth in the number of applications filed from all Federal Districts, with the exception of the Far Eastern Federal District.

Among the entities of the Russian Federation, Moscow remains a permanent leader — 1,379 applications (increase of 314 applications). St.­Petersburg takes second place with 353 applications filed (increase of 135 applications). There was a 88 per cent increase in the number of applications filed from the Sverdlovsk Region and 82 per cent — from the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Among the leaders are the Moscow Region (175 applications), Rostov Region (155 applications) and Samara Region (114 applications). There was a 20 per cent increase in the number of applications filed by universities of the country. Six applications were filed on behalf of the Russian Federation. 64 applications were filed by foreign applicants, including by those from the CIS countries.

As in previous years, in 2005 a two­month period for examining applications was strictly observed, including requests for the registration of contracts to transfer the exclusive right in subject matter.

Table 1.7.1

Table 1.7.2

1.8. Examination of Disputes Pertaining to the Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

In 2005, the activities of the Federal State Institution “Chamber of Patent Disputes” (hereinafter referred to as the “CPD”) were carried out in accordance with its function of the administrative settlement of patent disputes.

As the Result of Examination of Cases in the CPD, 1925 Cases Were Decided, Affirmed and Transmitted

As in previous years, the main purpose of the CPD was to ensure legitimate rights and interests of applicants and holders of protective titles for industrial property subject matter as well as legitimate interests of other natural persons and legal entities when taking decisions by an administrative order as to matters in the CPD competence pursuant to the Russian Federation Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin”.

A major portion of disputes pertaining to the legal protection of industrial property rights concerned trademarks and accounted for about 82.5 per cent of the total number of cases received by the CPD.

The overall pattern of oppositions and requests distributed in 2004 and 2005 according to the types of industrial property subject matter is shown in Table 1.8.1.

Table 1.8.1

As seen from the Table, there was a growth in the number of oppositions and requests received in 2004 and 2005, said number amounting to 2,024 and 2,104 respectively. It should be noted that the number of unexamined cases during the year 2005 decreased and amounted to 1,427 cases.

As a result of examining the CPD cases, 1,925 cases were decided, affirmed and transmitted.

Consolidated data on the receipt of oppositions and requests and the number of decisions made in 2005 according to the types of oppositions and requests are shown in Table 1.8.2.

Table 1.8.2

As seen from the Table, about 26.2 per cent of the total number of cases received by the CPD in 2005 were oppositions to decisions of the Examiner, i.e. prior to the grant of the legal proportion, 10.1 per cent less than in 2004; 23.7 per cent were oppositions to protection already granted, 5.9 per cent more than in 2004; and 31 per cent were requests to terminate the legal protection of trademarks and recognize a mark as a well­known one, 6.1 per cent more than in 2004.

Statistical data shown in Table 1.8.2 testify that a portion of disputes on oppositions to decisions of examiners of the FGU FIPS, on oppositions to protection already granted and on requests is nearly equal.

In the reporting year 21 cases were revoked at the stage of their examination. In addition, 434 cases were not accepted for examination due to non­compliance with the requirements for lodging oppositions and requests, as provided for by the “Rules for Lodging Oppositions and Requests and Examining Thereof at the Chamber of Patent Disputes”. In the overwhelming majority of cases a rejection to accept cases for consideration was due to the absence or incorrect furnishing of a document that confirms the payment of the prescribed fee for the examination of an opposition or request and due to the lodging of oppositions and requests in violation of the prescribed time limits.

Table 1.8.3 demonstrates the distribution of decisions made by the CPD with respect to different industrial property titles. It follows from this Table that the number of the CPD decisions made in 2005 with respect to trademarks was in excess of more than 5­fold than that made with respect to other industrial property titles.

Table 1.8.3

*The given indicators ignore participation of representatives of the Chamber of Patent Disputes in preliminary proceedings of arbitration courts and those of general jurisdiction as well as participation in proceedings where examination of cases as to substance was adjourned.

Table 1.8.4 shows the results of examining oppositions with respect to different industrial property titles, thus representing 55.2 per cent of satisfied oppositions and 44.8 per cent of denied oppositions. In so doing, there was a 3 per cent increase in the number of denied oppositions as compared to the year 2004.

Table 1.8.4

*The given indicators ignore participation of representatives of the Chamber of Patent Disputes in preliminary proceedings of arbitration courts and those of general jurisdiction as well as participation in proceedings where examination of cases as to substance was adjourned.

A structure of the CPD decisions with respect to different types of oppositions is shown in Table 1.8.5.

Table 1.8.5

As follows from this Table, with respect to examination of cases pertaining to oppositions to decisions of examiners, these decisions were cancelled in more than 20 per cent of cases, 10.5 per cent less than in 2004.

As to examination of cases pertaining to oppositions to decisions to terminate the legal protection of trademarks and requests to terminate the legal protection of trademark prematurely, the legal protection was held to be valid in 18.2 per cent of decisions made, 2.6 per cent more than in 2004.

Requests on early termination of the legal protection of trademarks for their nonuse constituted a major part of cases received and examined by the CPD. Relevant data are tabulated in Table 1.8.6.

Table 1.8.6

*The given indicators ignore participation of representatives of the Chamber of Patent Disputes in preliminary proceedings of arbitration courts and those of general jurisdiction as well as participation in proceedings where examination of cases as to substance was adjourned.

As a result of examining requests on early termination of the legal protection of trademarks for their nonuse, 489 requests were satisfied in full or in part, 22 requests were not satisfied and 215 requests were dismissed.

In order to enhance professional skills, the CPD personnel took part in a number of seminars and conferences held both in the Russian Federation and abroad on different topics in the area of settling disputes pertaining to the legal protection of industrial property rights. Two CPD employees have become post­graduate students at the RGIIS.

In the reporting year the CPD continued its work on the elaboration of proposals to improve legislation based on the study of procedures for examining oppositions and requests lodged with the CPD. Specifically, there were prepared proposals on the introduction of amendments in and additions to the “Rules for Lodging Oppositions and Requests and Examining Thereof at the Chamber of Patent Disputes”, the Patent Law of the Russian Federation and the Russian Federation Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin”.

In 2005, a start was made to hold meeting of CPD boards using an audio­ and video­recording. With this aim in mind, the Temporary Regulations for holding the meetings of the boards of the FGU “Chamber of Patent Disputes” using an audio­ and video­recording were elaborated and coordinated with the Rospatent administration. These Regulations will be specified on the results of analyzing the procedures for holding the meetings of the boards, and audio­ and video­recordings were suggested to take effect in all CPD premises to be rented for holding the meetings.

Table 1.8.7 shows data pertaining to the participation of representatives of the Chamber of Patent Disputes in proceedings in which courts made their decisions in 2005.

Table 1.8.7

As is evident from the Table, the number of cases in courts supporting lawfulness of decisions made by the CPD amounted to 250, whereas only 8 decisions made by the CPD were recognized by court orders as invalid non­statutory legal acts.

Moreover, the Rospatent personnel took part in 150 proceedings resulted in court decisions made by arbitration courts and those of general jurisdiction (Table 1.8.8).

Table 1.8.8

In a total of 38 proceedings, arbitration courts rejected to satisfy demands made of Rospatent; in 7 cases demands were satisfied. In a total of 89 proceedings, Rospatent was involved as a third party with no independent claims with respect to a disputable subject matter.

As a result of 4 proceedings with general jurisdiction courts, claimants were refused in the satisfaction of demands made of Rospatent. In a total of 12 proceedings, Rospatent was involved as a third party with no independent claims with respect to a disputable subject matter.

1.9. Rospatent Interacts With Federal Executive Authorities

Interaction with Federal Legislative and Executive Authorities performing law­enforcement functions in the commercialization of industrial property rights was carried out throughout the year. The total number of appeals and addresses amounted to 1,156.

In 2005, there were examined various appeals and addresses from the bodies of internal security (BIS) and the Office of public prosecutor, judicial authorities, the Federal Anti­Monopoly Service (FAS), including its territorial bodies, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, among which are appeals and addresses from various subunits of the Bailiffs Service (BS), the Federal Customs Service (FCS), including its regional administrations, and other State organs, regarding different issues in the intellectual property domain.

The greatest amount of appeals and addresses came from judicial authorities (228), BIS (155), FAS and its territorial bodies (34), the Office of public prosecutor (31), FCS (24).

1.10. Rospatent Interacts With Regions of the Russian Federation

In 2005, work with regions was in progress under the program of Rospatent cooperation with regions of the Russian Federation in an effort to ensure creation, legal protection and exploitation of the results of scientific and technological activities.

As in the previous years, the work was based on provisions of agreements and contracts to be concluded by Rospatent and the Federal Institute of Industrial Property with regional administrative and economic structures.

Works were in progress to maintain and expand cooperation with regions of the Russian Federation. For instance, there were prepared drafts of agreements to be repeatedly concluded with Administrations of Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk Region.

In accordance with various agreements, by the end of 2005 Rospatent cooperated with administrations of 20 Russian regions.

Under the established procedure, there was concluded an agreement on cooperation between FIPS and the key organization the FGU Mordovian Center of Scientific and Technological Information (CSTI) that was recommended by Administration of the Republic of Mordovia.

By the end of 2005 Rospatent concluded 36 contracts for cooperation with regional key organizations. In so doing, work was in progress to re­register contracts in connection with the termination of a period of validity of a part of contracts concluded with 9 organizations.

All in all, Rospatent and FIPS are bound by agreements and contracts with 33 Russian regions (see, Table 1.10.1).

Table 1.10.1

In accordance with the Program of Information Supply of Regions, in the reporting year for the first time the Mordovian Center of Scientific and Technological Information (CSTI), the Izhevsk State Technical University and the Kirov CSTI were provided with a free access through a web­site to full­text databases of specifications of domestic inventions of utility models.

Currently a free access through a web­site to full­text databases of specifications of domestic inventions of utility models has been provided to 113 institutions (see Table 1.10.2
).

Table 1.10.2

Under contracts on cooperation between FIPS and regional key institutions, in 2005 the Division “All­Russia Patent and Technical Library” (VPTB) performed the following works.

GPNTB SO RAN (Novosibirsk) and Rostov­on­Don State University were provided with 1251.4 thousand of patent documents of Germany, Japan, countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Baltic States on CD­ROMs.

Regional CSTI (a total of 31 institutions) were provided with a Bibliographic Index “Disputes Pertaining to Trademarks in the Russian Federation” (publications for the period of 1992–2004) and a list of bibliographic indices prepared by the VPTB Division in the period of 1991–2005.

In order to promote the educational process, the Ural State Technical University (Ekaterinburg) was provided with 15 sets of backlog domestic patent bibliographic information on optical disks (with a summary index).

The Khabarovsk CTSI was provided with lists of revealed domestic patent documents for the period of 1924–1993, which had been absent on optical disks produced by FIPS.

In November 2005, the VPTB Division organized a study visit for an employee of GPNTB SO RAN on the issues of maintaining patent collections and procedures for user servicing.

Employees of Bashtechinform (Ufa) and the Mordovian CSTI (Saransk) were provided with advice on the organization of training in the fundamentals of intellectual property, handling of patent information and patent studies.

One of the main directions stipulated by provisions of contracts on cooperation between FIPS and regional institutions consists in the explanation and promotion of the patent legislation and training of experts in the field of protection and use of industrial property rights.

In the year under review, a total of 34 conferences and seminars dealing with intellectual property challenges were organized in the Russian regions with the participation of Rospatent and FIPS personnel.

In the Central Federal District

• March 17, 2005 — Tver (the Tver Regional Universal Scientific Library Named After A. M. Gorky), Seminar «Access to Information Resources in Electronic Format. IPC Reform».

• March 17, 2005 — Orel (the Orel State Technical University), Seminar “Outstanding Issues of the Development of Innovation and Inventive Activities”.

• June 23 and 24, 2005 — Yaroslavl (the Yaroslavl CSTI), Seminar “Implementation of Rights in Intellectual Property Subject Matter Having Regard to Amendments in the RU Legislation. Licensing and Contractual Relations”.

• July 6, 2005 — Moscow (the Moscow Committee for Science and Technology), Conference “Innovation Potential of Moscow and Mechanisms of Its Efficient Use”.

• September 27, 2005 — Belgorod (the Belgorod State University), Seminar “Competitive Strength of Industrial Enterprises; Efficient Use of Mechanisms of Intellectual Property Commercialization”.

• October 26, 2005 — Tula (the Tula Regional Universal Scientific Library), Conference «Legal Regulation of Relations In Relation to Industrial Property Subject Matter, Their Implementation and Enforcement».

• October 27, 2005 — Tver (the Tver Regional Universal Scientific Library Named After A. M. Gorky), Seminar «Special Features of Drawing Applications and Correspondence with Examiners».

• November 9, 2005 — Kaluga (the Kaluga CSTI), Conference «Challenges of the Efficient Use of Intellectual Property Rights in Innovation Activities of Enterprises».

• November 29, 2005 — Moscow (Rospatent, FIPS, US Embassy in Moscow), Conference «Resistance to Piracy on the Internet».

In the North­West Federal District

• May 17, 2005 — Kaliningrad (the Kaliningrad CSTI), Conference «The Modern Legislation in the Field of Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement».

• May 24 and 25, 2005 — Arkhangelsk (the Arkhangelsk Regional Universal Scientific Library Named After N. A. Dobrolyubov), Seminar «Transfer of Rights in Industrial Property Subject Matter. Use of Trademarks in Domain Names».

• June 29, 2005 — Saint Petersburg (Rospatent, FIPS, US Embassy in Moscow), Conference «Intellectual Property Enforcement; Legislation Combats Against Piracy»

• June 30 — July 1, 2005 — Saint Petersburg (the Saint Petersburg Bar of Patent Attorneys, the Russian National Library “Collegiate Readins­2005”), Conference «Intellectual Property as a Tool of Market­Oriented Economy. Strategic Aspects of Intellectual Property Enforcement, Protection and Management In the Framework of Business Functioning”.

• November 10, 2005 — Saint Petersburg (ANKO «Intellectual Property»), Conference «Strong and Weak Trademarks».

In the Volga Federal District

• March 23 and 24, 2005 — Nizhni Novgorod (Rospatent, FIPS, US Embassy in Moscow), Conference «Intellectual Property Enforcement; Legislation Combats Against Piracy».

• March 29, 2005 — Perm (the Perm CSTI), Seminar «Intellectual Resources in Entrepreneurship».

• March 30, 2005 — Izhevsk (the Izhevsk State Technical University), Conference «Intellectual Property — a Basis for Innovation Processes in Market­Oriented Economy».

• April 26 and 27, 2005 — Ufa («Bashtechinform» AN RB), Conference «Topical Issues of the Legal Protection and Commercialization of Intellectual Activity Results».

• May 16 and 17, 2005 — Tolyatti (the Tolyatti Institute of Technical Creativity and Patent Science), Seminar «Design Solutions, Protection and Profit­Making».

• May 26, 2005 — Kazan (the Tatarstan CSTI), Conference «Enforcing the Rights of Authors of Intellectual Property».

• June 15, 2005 — Perm (the Perm CSTI), Seminar «Intellectual Property — a Basis for Innovation Processes in Economy».

• September 20 and 21, 2005 — Saratov (the Saratov State University Named After N.G. Chernyshevsky), Seminar «Disputes to be Examined at the Chamber of Patent Disputes».

• September 26 and 29, 2005 — Sarov, Nizhni Novgorod Region (the Russian Federal Nuclear Center — the All­Russia Research Institute of Experimental Physics), Conference “The Branch Scientific and Methodical Conference of the Federal Agency for Atomic Power Engineering”.

In the Siberian Federal District

• March 23, 2005 — Omsk (the Omsk State Technical University), Seminar «Urgent Issues of the Theory and Practice of Industrial Property Protection and Certain Copyrights».

• September 20 and 21, 2005 — Novosibirsk (Rospatent, FIPS, US Embassy in Moscow), Conference «Intellectual Property Enforcement; Legislation Combats Against Piracy».

In the Ural Federal District

• April 27 and 28, 2005 — Tyumen (the Tyumen Regional Council of VOIR), Conference «Legal Means to Resist Counterfeiting in the Field of Intellectual Property Under the Russian Legislation».

• October 11, 2005 — Ekaterinburg (the Ural State Technical University), Seminar «Settlement of Conflicts in the Creation and Commercialization of Intellectual Property Subject Matter».

• October 19 and 20, 2005 — Chelyabinsk (OGPU «UralPatent), Seminar «Transfer of Rights in Intellectual Property — a Basis of the Innovation Process».

• November 24 and 25, 2005 — Ekaterinburg (Nonprofit Partnership of Patent Attorneys «Innovation», the Ural House of Science and Technology), Seminar «Enforcement of Rights of Patent Holders, Authors, Trademark Owners. Transfer of Rights in Intellectual Property as a Possibility of Commercialization Thereof».

In the Southern Federal District

• May 24 and 25, 2005 — Astrakhan (the Astrakhan Regional Scientific Library Named After N.K. Krupskaya), Seminar «Intellectual Property Under the Russian Federation Patent Law and the Russian Federation Law “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin”.

• June 1, 2005 — Rostov­on­Don (the Rostov­on­Don State University), Seminar «Problems of Intellectual Property Commercialization».

• October 28 and 29, 2005 — Astrakhan (the Astrakhan Regional Scientific Library Named After N.K. Krupskaya), Seminar «Patent and License Activities in the Astrakhan Region: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow».

• December 19 and 22, 2005 — settlement Nebug, Krasnodar Territory (OAO «Gasprom»), Conference «Inventive and Rationalization Activities in the ??? «Gasprom» Organizations”.

In the Far Eastern Federal District

• October 27­28, 2005 — Khabarovsk (the Khabarovsk CSTI), Conference “Matters of Patenting Abroad. A Procedure for Filing Application Material in Pacific Countries (China, Japan, Korea)».

The main topics of 2005 seminars were:

• Transfer of Rights in Protectable Industrial Property Subject Matter.

• Author's Fee as a Tool of Innovation Policies of Enterprises. Property Rights of Authors of Employer's Inventions.

• Patenting of Inventions Abroad.

• Topical Issues of Trademark Registration, Grounds for Refusing Registration. A Trademark Illegal Use.

• Official Registration of Computer Programs and Databases. Legal Protection and Transfer of Property Rights in Computer Programs and Databases.

• Disputes to be Examined at the Chamber of Patent Disputes and Arbitration Courts.

• Intellectual Property Enforcement. Legislation and Its Application to Combat Against Counterfeiting.

1.11. Processing Appeals and Addresses of Natural Persons and Legal Entities with Rospatent and its Subordinate Organizations

In the year 2005, Rospatent and its subordinate organizations examined 1,280 appeals and addresses from natural persons (755) and legal entities (525) addressed to:

Rospatent	405
Other State power bodies	225
Organizations subordinate to Rospatent	650

As compare=d to the year 2004, the amount of appeals and addresses reduced by one­fourth.

Geographically, appeals and addresses originated from:

Regions of the Russian Federation	1194
CIS countries	69
Far­Abroad countries	17

The amount of appeals and addresses from CIS countries remained much the same as in the previous year, with nearly a three­fold decrease (from 49 to 17) in the amount of those from far­abroad countries.

However, a decrease in the total amount of appeals and addresses was accounted for the most part by a decrease in the amount of those from regions of the Russian Federation (from 1,588 to 1,194).

Table 1.11.1 shows the distribution of appeals and addresses from regions of the Russian Federation, according to Federal Districts.

Table 1.11.1

Federal Districts	Appeals and Addresses From a Federal District
Central	625
North­West	166
South	149
Volga	99
Ural	70
Siberian	65
Far Eastern	20

As compared to the previous year, against the backgrounds of decrease in the amount of appeals and addresses came from districts of the Russian Federation, in the year 2005 there was marked a certain redistribution of the amount of appeals and addresses from various districts, with the most pronounced change in the proportion of appeals and addresses from the Central District (a 5 per cent increase) and the Southern District (a 3 per cent decrease).

As to the types of appeals and addresses, they were distributed as follows:

• requests — a total of 915, of which 65 per cent were complied with, including 487 from natural persons (57 per cent were complied with); 428 from legal entities (73 per cent were complied with);

• complaints — a total of 320, of which 26 were recognized as justified (their reasons were associated principally with the procedure for examining applications for industrial property rights and registration of contracts as well as pertaining to the titles of protection and provision of patent information services; in so doing, the amount of appeals and addresses recognized as justified was essentially unaffected as from the year 2003);

• proposals — a total of 45, of which 3 accepted for the post­processing were concerned with improvements in the patent legislation and that in the field of copyright and related rights.

It is worth noting that the relationship of the types of appeals and addresses received in 2005 exerted essentially no effect as compared to the previous year (requests — 71.5 per cent, complaints — 25.0 per cent, proposals — 3.5 per cent).

Data on the amount of appeals and addresses received by Rospatent and its subordinate organizations for the period of 2001­2005 are tabulated in Table 1.11.2
.

Table 1.11.2

Groups in Which the Problems Raised in Appeals and Addresses are Classified	The Amount of Appeals and Addresses
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Patent Examination (Time Limits, Procedure, Examination Results, Office Work)	810	897	772	738	526
Inventive Activity	211	184	217	229	168
Protective Titles (Registration, Renewal and Restoration, Amendments, etc)	143	231	227	201	125
Legal Issues	172	101	86	142	121
Payment of Patent Fees	195	286	201	177	95
Contracts (Registration, Disputes Between the Parties)	42	54	31	25	84
Patent Information Services	107	92	102	75	54
Publication (Time Limits, Errors)	20	9	15	9	19
Registration of Discoveries	40	28	15	30	18
Training, Improvement of Professional Skills, Activity in Regard to Patent Attorneys, Issues of International Cooperation	28	3	6	7	6
Personnel Issues and Work of Patent Attorneys	—	—	—	4	4
Others (basically unrelated to the competence of Rospatent and its subordinate organizations)	34	29	29	65	60
Total	1802	1914	1701	1702	1280

An appreciable decrease in the amount of appeals and addresses in 2005 when compared to the previous years was, to the greatest extent, due to decrease in their amount as applied to the examination of applications for industrial property rights and also, to a lesser extent, due to that as regards payment of patent fees, matters concerning protective titles, inventive activity. This decrease in the flow of appeals and addresses was caused by a considerable work done by Rospatent with respect to clarification of amendments made in the laws pertaining to the intellectual property domain during the period of 2002–2003.

However, as in the previous years, the greatest amount of appeals and addresses was derived as applied to the examination of applications for industrial property rights. At the same time, during the period of 2002–2005 the trend was toward a progressive decrease in a proportion of appeals and addresses with a dominating reason (from 47 per cent to 41 per cent).

When compared to the previous years, there was a considerable increase in the amount and proportion of appeals and addresses pertaining to registration of contracts, which stems from the growth of the volume of incoming requests for their registration.