Latest Intellectual
Property Resources News
|
Friday, 28 June 2002
- Intellectual
Property Opportunities - Patent Attorney - Sydney - Trainee Patent Attorneys - Melbourne
 Phillips Ormonde & Fitzpatrick is one
of Australia’s largest and most progressive firms of Patent & Trade Mark
Attorneys. Established in 1888, we employ more than 100 people in offices in Melbourne,
Sydney and Adelaide. We have the following positions available in our Melbourne and Sydney
offices.
Patent Attorney - Mechanical/Civil/Electrical/Electronics/Computer
Science Engineers
You will have an honours degree or higher degree in a field of Engineering and you will
need up to 5 years post admission experience in the patent profession. You will be
involved in all matters relating to intellectual property including the drafting and
prosecution of patent applications and advising across the full spectrum of portfolio
management. The successful applicant will be a team player with a high degree of
responsibility and initiative and possess in-depth knowledge of Australian, European and
US patent law and competence in the licensing of IP in a commercial environment.
Trainee Patent Attorneys -
Mechanical/Civil/Electrical/Electronics/Computer Science Engineers
You will be degree qualified in engineering at honours level. Experience working in
industry and handling intellectual property matters will be an advantage but is not
essential. The successful applicants will display strong interpersonal, verbal and written
communication skills. You will work with supervision and we provide access to training and
development in a friendly and professional environment. You will be required to undertake
study and sit examinations to gain the relevant qualifications.
Send applications by 12 July 2002 to:
Email: claudia.ginn@pof.com.au
Fax: +61 3 9614 1867
Mail: Claudia Ginn,
Human Resources Manager,
Phillips Ormonde & Fitzpatrick,
Level 21/367 Collins Street,
Melbourne 3000
Australia
- New EPIDOS News Now Available Online
 A
new edition of EPIDOS News [Issue 2/02] is now available online. The
headlines are:
Headlines:
ESPACE BULLETIN enhancements - ESPACE BULLETIN now includes an
automatic hyperlink from each record to the European Patent Register. It also now includes
data on EPO corrections publications.
INPADOC founding father wins international award - Wolfgang Pilch, the for
Technical Director of INPADOC, and the person most closely associated with the founding
and development of the INPADOC patent family database, has been named as the recipient of
the International Patent Information Award 2002. The award ceremony will take place in
Copenhagen during the EPIDOS Annual Conference this October.
News from Japan - 1. The Japanese Patent and Utility Model Gazette now includes an
English-language search interface. 2. This November, there will be the first EPIDOS users'
meeting on Japanese patent information. 3. The Japanese system of "patent term
extensions" is explained. News from EPIDOS-INPADOC - The INPADOC patent family
database now includes data from Tajikistan; the new WIPO number formats are explained;
information is provided on entry into the national phase of European patents in force in
the UK.
The Online European Patent Register - The Online European Patent Register, which is
part of the epoline range of products and services, give free access via the internet to
information about the grant procedure and legal status of all published European patent
applications.
To read the full version of EPIDOS news, click here.
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- STN - Enhanced Electronic Delivery of Results
STN have announced that a new e-mail delivery option will enhanced
electronic delivery of STN results with graphics for users of STN, STN Express with
Discover, and STN on the Web.
The "new e-mail delivery option offers multiple document formats with embedded
graphic renderings of structures and images, plus a link to the full text of the document.
You can select this option when using the PRINT command or establishing preferences for
e-mail delivery of current-awareness alert (SDI) answers".
You can choose to retrieve your answers in the following formats:
- RTF (Rich Text Format)
- PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format)
- Self-Extracting or Zipped HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
- Plain Text (ASCII)
To find out more, visit the STN website here.
| STN Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Wednesday, 26 June 2002
- Australia
- Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks
A notice from WIPO relating to recordal of trademark licences. "In a
notification addressed to the Director General of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), Australia has made the declaration provided for by Rule 20bis(6)(a)
of the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement, in accordance with which the law of
Australia does not provide for the recording of trademark licences, so that the recording
in the International Register of licences relating to an international registration of a
mark has no effect in that country".
Information Notice No. 26/2002 (Declaration
Made Under Rule 20bis(6)(a) of the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement and
Protocol: Australia)
| WIPO Website | IP Australia Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Tuesday, 25 June 2002
- Europe - Summary of the EPO Annual Report 2001 Released
The
European Patent Office (EPO) has
reported sustained filings growth in their 2001 Annual Report.
"The volume of applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) rose
again in 2001. Its 158 200 filings comfortably beat the previous year's mark of 143 000.
Applicants from Japan, the USA and Germany registered the biggest increase over 2000. In
terms of technical fields, the highest scorers were electronic communications, medical
technology and electrical components".
Read the full Press Release(English) or Press Release(German).
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- A "Warning" From The European Patent Office
"Due
to serious financial difficulties at an European level, our local Vienna-based ISP cannot
"guarantee" normal connectivity, but must rely instead on the continued support
of third-parties.
This ISP not-only provides the Vienna office with a fast connection to the Internet, this
website (www.european-patent-office.org) is hosted on their fast webservers with direct
access to the Internet backbone via the EuroRings network.
For the moment, both connectivity and hosting services remain up-and-running due to the
support of both the Receivers and Telekom Austria, who view the situation as an European
rather than specifically Austrian problem.
Nonetheless, we feel obliged to warn all our website users that our often praised
"normal service" may be temporarily interrupted, should our ISP's services have
to be shut down".
Sounds like grim stuff! To read more, visit the EPO website here.
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Monday, 24 June 2002
- Europe Asia Patent
Information Conference (EAPIC)
 The
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the European Patent Office (EPO) are co-organising the Europe-Asia Patent Information Conference
on 11 and 12 September 2002 in Singapore.
"Come and participate in EAPIC - a conference bringing together professionals,
decision-makers and partners of intellectual property!
Gain further insight into IP issues through practical workshops, presentations and
lectures by renowned IP professionals and distinguished university lecturers in the IP
field.
Meet representatives from European and Asian IP offices, research institutes and
universities, as well as private sector providers of patent information products and
services who will exhibit their products and services at EAPIC.
Bringing together patent offices and service providers to foster business opportunities,
EAPIC is the IP event you will not want to miss! Register now to enjoy a 5% early-bird
discount! (with full payment before 14 June 2002)"
To find out more visit the Conference Page on the IPOS website.
| IPOS Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- INAS
PRO Patent Analysis Software Now Available
IAL (UK) and WinsLAB (Korea) have announced the launch of INAS PRO
Patent Analysis Software, providing more advanced analysis options than currently
available INAS LITE.
"While INAS LITE is aimed at users requiring simple analyses with the minmium of
fuss, INAS PRO allows the user to incorporate additional customised fields for analysis,
e.g. "Broad" to indicate patents with very wide claims, "Cationic" for
patents related to particular chemical properties not easily derivable from IPCs and so
forth. Further mapping options are available such as radar (see below) and bubble maps,
each allowing 'drill down' to claims, abstract etc. of the underlying patents".
Free demo versions of PatSeeTM PRO, INAS LITE and INAS PRO software are
available from IAL.
The full on-line manual is obtained by clicking on the help button, or visit here. The method
for semi-automated downloading of free USPTO data for analysis using INAS is described here.
| INAS
Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Thursday, 20 June 2002
- USPTO
Announces Electronic Filing Partnerships
Press
Release USPTO Excerpt: "The Department of Commerce's United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the award of partnership contracts for the
electronic filing of patent applications as part of its strategic plan to five companies:
Aspen Grove, Inc., AutoDocs, LLC, First to File, Inc., LegalStar, Inc and LexisNexis. The
partnerships are "no cost contracts" which means that the companies will be
providing their services to USPTO customers at no cost to the agency". To find
out more, visit the USPTO website here.
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Japan - Proposed Changes to Examination Guidelines
 In view of the revised Japanese
Patent Law, which stipulates the requirement for disclosure of information on prior art
documents, which was "promulgated" on April 17, 2002, the Japanese Patent Office
has proposed revisions to the Examination Guidelines. These proposed revisions are
available from the JPO website here.
| JPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Tuesday, 18 June 2002
- Australia
- Virus Warning from IP Australia
IP Australia is advising its customers that an e-mail virus is
currently masking itself as being sent from the assist@ipaustralia.gov.au
e-mail address. "This virus has not originated from IP Australia's computer
system, but has selected the assist@ipaustralia.gov.au
address and message content as a host. It will appear to be a notification of
correspondence and uses a subject title of : "Reminder - New correspondence has been
added to your IP Australia Mail Box"
IP Australia are requesting that if you do receive an e-mail similar to that described
above, you can contact IP Australia's Customer Support Centre on +61 2 6283 2999 to
confirm the origin of the e-mail. Further technical information about the suspected virus
is available from here.
| IP Australia Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Monday, 17 June 2002
- USPTO Pulse -
June 2002 - Volume 10 Number 6 Now Available
 The June 2002 edition of the
USPTO Pulse is now available from the USPTO. The articles this month include:
- Director Rogan Unveils 21st Century Strategic Plan
- Reduction in Force for Trademark Operations - Late
last month it was announced that because of an unprecedented drop in trademark
applications, 135 trademark attorney positions will be eliminated.
- National Inventors Hall of Fame Has 16 Inductees for the Year 2002.
- The honorees join an impressive roster of 168 inventors inducted since 1973 and are the
30th class to be recognized by the museum.
- Tech Centers Host Forum 2002 - Technology Centers 2900, 3600 and
3700 combined efforts this year to hold a tech fair called, "Forum 2002-Where
Innovation and Information Meet!"
- The Politics of Trademarks - The International Trademark
Association (INTA), held its 124th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. from May 18-22,
2002.
- Another Patent Potpourri - Here's another chapter in the
attempts to improve refrigerator safety by eliminating the compressor in early
refrigerator designs.
- 29th Annual Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition - Five
members from the USPTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences assisted the American
Intellectual Patent Law Association by serving as judges in the competition.
To read Pulse, click here.
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Joint Project - JPO & The USPTO
The Japan Patent Office has recently announced that the Japan Patent
Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office have agreed in principle to
launch a joint project, "based on the common understanding that mutual
exploitation of the search and examination results of the other Office is one of the
useful measures to tackle increasing Offices' workload and to reduce duplication of
efforts". The JPO estimate that the examination project will be completed by the
end of 2003. The JPO make a special note that "NO agreement on any matters
related to MUTUAL RECOGNITION was made between the JPO and the USPTO".
| JPO Website | USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- WIPO
- The Enterprise Olympics
 "Organized by Enterprise Insight Scotland of the
Scottish Chamber of Commerce, this first Enterprise Olympics Challenge, a 24-hour problem
solving and enterprise challenge for 16-18 year old high school students, will pitch high
school teams against each other as they attempt to find a solution in response to the
challenge, which will combine science, technology and entrepreneurship on a common theme
that will have a global significance".
"The challenge will remain a secret until the day of the event. Each competing school
team will comprise of 8-10 students. A WIPO Award and certificates of merit will be
offered to members of the overall winning team in the global competition".
"This event will be launched from the International Space Station in a web broadcast.
Teams from some 15 countries will compete in real time in their own national competitions,
with each national winner presenting their solutions/projects to an international panel of
judges one-hour later. NASA will host the international judging panel in Houston, and Web
cameras will be used to view and communicate with teams across the world".
| WIPO Website | Enterprise Olympics Website
|
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Friday, 13 June 2002
- IPSS -
Intellectual Property Software and Services for Europe and North America
 Philip Jackson from IPSS has advise me of
the launch of their new software IPSSdotNET. The software provides a different approach to
managing your intellectual property database.
"We at IPSS are proud to be able to announce the launch of a very exciting
software development in the field of Intellectual Property Application and Prosecution
Processing and Record Management. IPSSdotNET is a complete network system that can be
fully configured to meet your own specification".
"The IPSSdotNET solution is a step beyond Client-Server systems and works as
follows; the database and software are installed on one of your servers, and that's it! As
long as the server is on your internal network, you simply use Internet Explorer to access
the system from any networked PC in your organisation. There is no need anymore for each
user to have the software installed on their PC - this is just time consuming, costly and
unnecessary. To enable you to take full advantage of this new technology, we don't charge
for numbers of users, so your licence will allow unlimited numbers of users easy access
whether they're browsing, searching or entering data. All they need is to be set up with a
Username and Password.
Tracking key dates and actions and retrieving status reports on your portfolio has never
been more user friendly and more easily accessible. Response times are fast even over a
conventional telephone line because you're using a web-type browser to look at your
database and not downloading data across a network".
If you are interested in finding out more about this service, visit the IPSS website or contact Philip Jackson from IPSS.
| IPSS Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Delphion
- Changes On The Way!
Delphion have announced that tomorrow (June 15) the will be launching a redesigned
website. The new website will add new features and functions to the existing
"Research" product. Delphion will also be announcing their newr
"Intellectual Asset Management" software solution and their expanded
"Strategic Services". For those who can't wait to find out what these changes
will mean, Delphion have provided some information on some of the "highlights":
New IAM and Services Home Pages and Content:
- Case Studies, White Papers and information about Intellectual Asset
Management
New Research Home Page with:
- Expanded search capabilities from the primary Research page
- Research-specific news, events and product information
The Delphion Integrated View:
- Pull-down navigation to instantly jump to and expand a specific section
(Claims, Family, US References, etc.)
- Email to a friend to send a link to a specific Integrated View along with your message
- Field Definitions at your fingertips by clicking the question mark next to any field
Search Forms with:
- Date selectors that allow user to define specific dates (year, month, day)
- Improved Show/Sort selectors, plus a new choice to show 500 matches per page
- Publication Number Formatting & Searching help with links on Quick/Number and
Advanced forms
- Ability to specify either Original US Class or Current US Class on Advanced and Boolean
forms
- Abstract/Title/Claims field on Boolean form
To find out more....well you will have to wait until 15 June....but then just visit Delphion.
| Delphion Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Thursday, 13 June 2002
- PCT
Newsletter June 2002 Issue Now Available Online
WIPO has just
published the June 2002 PCT Newsletter (No. 06/2002) and it is available online.
This issue includes:
- New PCT Contracting State
- Modified Request and Demand Forms
- PCT Pamphlet Front Pages; Representation of Special Japanese Characters
- PCT Information Update
- PCT-EASY Update
- New PCT Materials on the Internet
- PCT Seminar Calendar
A full list of contents is available here.
| WIPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Derwent Global Patent Sources New Edition
 Derwent have published a new edition of this useful text. It
is now available for purchase (US $115) from Derwent.
"This essential guide to understanding global patent information has
been designed to support the information needs of a wide range of users, from novice to
expert patent searchers. It is a comprehensive guide to the patent-issuing authorities
that Derwent covers including the US, World, European, Japanese and German patent
offices".
| Derwent Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Europe - Change of Practice Regarding Lapsed Patents
The EPO have decided that in order to avoid publishing
hundreds of pages with lapsed patents in the EPO Contracting States, they will no
longerinclude this data in Section II.5 of the European Patent Bulletin. It will be
made available via download as EXCEL files from the EPO. To visit the download site
at the EPO, click here
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise
- IPR-Helpdesk
Launch
 It is great the hear that the IPR-Helpdesk is back! They are
organising a free-of-charge event at the ‘Palais de Justice’ in Brussels, on 4
July 2002. This event aims to present the activities of the project, including introducing
the new website structure, Helpline, new Community diffusion and protection rules in
international research projects, etc.
"The IPR-Helpdesk project is based on the experience achieved in a pilot project
launched by the European Commission in 1998. The present IPR-Helpdesk is a European
Commission’s co-financed initiative under the contractual form of an
‘Accompanying Measure’ run by a Consortium of European organisations coordinated
by the University of Alicante (Spain), since 1 January 2002".
"The main objective of the IPR-Helpdesk is to assist potential and current
contractors taking part in Community funded research and technological development
projects on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, and in particular on Community
diffusion and protection rules and issues relating to IPR in international research
projects".
The IPR-Helpdesk’s launch event will take place at the “Palais de Justice”
in Brussels in the “Salle des Audiences Solennelles de la Cour d’Appel” on
4 July 2002. The event is supported by the following organisations:
- Conférence du Jeune Barreau de Bruxelles (Young Bar Association of Brussels).
- Eurochambres (Association of European Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
- UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe).
- UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Size Enterprises
For more information, visit the IPR-Helpdesk.
| IPR-Helpdesk Website |
Posted by Simon Ware.
Wednesday, 12 June 2002
Tuesday, 11 June 2002
- Draft
Implementing Regulations Under the EPC 2000
"The
European Patent Convention (EPC 1973) was revised at a Diplomatic Conference in Munich by
the Act revising the Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 29 November 2000. As a
consequence, it is necessary to overhaul the entire corpus of the Implementing Regulations
to the EPC (IRs). This exercise is one of fundamental importance, given that some
Contracting States are awaiting the text of these new IRs in order to complete national
procedures to ratify the EPC 2000. The draft Implementing Regulations under the EPC 2000
and accompanying Explanatory remarks are hereby posted on the EPO website for public
consultation".
To find out more on the purpose of the "revision exercise", click here
(EPO link).
If you have comments, they need to reach the European Patent Office by 12 July 2002 at the
latest. Full contact details are available here
(EPO link).
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- New Trademark.com
Website
Trademark.com has announced (9 June 2002) its new website at
www.trademark.com.
"The global data and user-friendly functionality you've come to depend on is now
presented with a new look and streamlined interface. Additionally, the site offers new
features easily accessible from the Trademark.com homepage:
• System Demo - providing a narrated overview of our searching and reporting
features.
• IP Resources - complete with an archive of e-bulletins, an e-bulletin registration
option, and links to informational intellectual property Web sites".
| Trademark.com Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- INCOM
PATWARE Announce New Software Tools
Just in from Thomas Eckert from INCOM is the announcement of some
interesting software tools for dealing with patent specifications.
PATWARE® PATVIEW:
- Professional Patent Document Viewer Software
- selected document can be displayed on the screen in several presentations
- Full pages, double page view, zooming and rotating are possible
- For the printing of documents PATVIEW supports the complete performance range of high
speed printers
PATWARE® BACON to TIFF Converter Software:
- For converting complete Patent CD or DVD
- TIFF Converter for BACON File Format
- Document Directory Selection
- Page Type and Page Range Selection
- TIFF CCITT/G4 output file format
- Multipage or singlepage TIFF output
- BACON to TIFF conversion
- Log page and log file
- Automatic conversion of directory
also available are :
PATWARE® BACON to PDF
PATWARE® TIFF to PDF
PATWARE® PATORDERC
- PATWWW Desktop Version
- Standalone software module for accessing documents from the ESPACENET over the internet
- no internet browser necessary
- easy installation
- documents are delivered as an email attachment or with as HTTP URL
To find out more visit INCOM's
website.
| INCOM Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Intellectual
Property Management Software I.P.M.S.®
 I
have just discovered some new Intellectual Property Management software from Ader Computer
Services & Trading Inc. "Intellectual Property Management Software I.P.M.S.®
is a helpware designed for the management of intellectual and industrial rights assisting
the rightowners and/or their representatives. It can organize all files, correspondences,
documents, and expenses in one single system operating in a multilingual environment.
Additionally, the "On line View" and the "Sending Instruction"
facilities permit the correspondence to be able to access the I.P.M.S.® database via the
Internet for consultation purposes or sending instructions for filing or else".
To find out more, visit their website
or contact Ms Seniz Durbin of Ader Computer
Services & Trading Inc.
| IPMS Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- STN - New "STN Easy For Intranets"
 STN
International have just announced that their online database network for science and
technology, will now be accessible through corporate intranets with the new "STN Easy
for Intranets" service. "This new STN service will enable information
professionals to create customized sites within their Intranets that make the 85 STN
Easy-accessible world leading scientific databases directly available to clients
throughout their organizations". Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) made the
announcement on behalf of STN at the Special Libraries Association annual conference being
held lasts week in Los Angeles, USA. For more information visit the CAS website to read the full press release.
| CAS Website | STN Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Friday, 07 June 2002
- CPA
- A New Look
 CPA
has just unveiled its new new corporate identity (6 June 2002). Though no change will be
made to CPA's name, CPA will sport a new logo and strapline: "Intelligent
Partnership, highlighting the synergies between the clients, partners and CPA
practitioners".
The website has also been re-launched to showcase the new look and
positioning. For those of you who are familar with their IP products and services:
domarque, Search International and Memotech will be re-branded with CPA placed in front of
each. TMDS (Trademark Directory Service), of which CPA owns a 80% share, has also been
re-branded with modern fonts and colours continuing the theme of uniformity and
association across the board. The best place to see CPA's new identity in action is at
their website.
| CPA Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- CPA
Strategic Alliance With Scandinavian Patent and Trade Mark Consultancy
CPA have just announced that it has entered a strategic alliance with
Zacco, an IP consultancy in Scandinavia. "The unique deal, following CPA's
strategy of developing a global network of leading IP firms, enables both brands to
increase their market share of the renewals business in Scandinavia, build a global
platform to pursue common goals and develop new business opportunities within other IPR
related areas such as licensing and domain names".
Zacco was formed following the merger of two patent consultancies from Norway and Sweden
with Danish IP house, Hofman-Bang, thus creating the "largest Scandinavian patent
consultancy", employing some 300 people.
"Computer Patent Annuities Limited Partnership (CPA) is the largest and most
experienced intellectual property (IP) service provider in the world. Formed by a private
partnership of Attorneys in 1969 to undertake all back office IP related work, CPA now
manages patent, design and trade mark renewals for over 30,000 clients worldwide. It has
offices in all the major IP centres (UK, France, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia with
representation in Japan and Korea) and employs over 400 people". More
information on CPA and their wide range of services can be found on their website.
| CPA Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Wednesday, 05 June 2002
- USA -
Patent Office 200 Years Old!
The USPTO is celebrating it's 200th Birthday this June. "In June of
1802, Secretary of State James Madison gave the Patent Office the status of a distinct
unit or division within the Department of State by putting Dr. William Thornton in charge
of issuing patents". To find out more visit the Bicentennial
Page at the USPTO website.
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Tuesday, 04 June 2002
- USPTO's
21st Century Strategic Plan
 Further to yesterdays report
on James Rogan's announcement of the USPTO's 21st Century Strategic Plan, the USPTO have
posted a web page devoted to this ongoing plan. The webpage
currently includes the "21st Century Strategic Plan" in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. It also
includes an "Introductory
Memo" from James Rogan.
"The United States Patent and Trademark Office's 21st Century Strategic Plan will
continue to evolve over the next several months. In the coming days and weeks, we will be
posting amplifications to the plan. This will include supporting documents, proposed rule
makings and legislation. To stay abreast of developments please plan to monitor the
USPTO's 21st Century Strategic Plan Web Page on a regular basis".
| USPTO Website | The 21st
Century Strategic Plan Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Australia - New Patent Solutions (NPS) News and Updates
 IP Australia have released their "Update 4" on the
New Patent Solution project. This update covers the disruptions to services expected this
month as they commence implementation.
"Implementation of Release 2.1 of the NPS project will occur in June. The
implementation will occur over three weekends.
Implementation of NPS Release 2.1 will occur on the first weekend. This will begin on the
Friday and continue over the weekend and access to IP Australia's online services, in
particular the on-line forms for filing innovation patent applications will be suspended.
During the second weekend, existing innovation patent bibliographic data will be migrated
into the new NPS system. Once again IP Australia will need to suspend the patents area of
online services from the Friday and over this weekend.
During the third weekend, access to the Patent Administration system (Patadmin), the
Patent Indexing system (Patindex) and online services will be suspended for two working
days (the previous Thursday and Friday) and the weekend. On the Friday, access to the NPS
system will also be suspended.
On the Thursday, when Patadmin is suspended, extensive use of the mainframe computer will
occur to retrieve data to migrate into the NPS system. Therefore users may experience a
noticeable decline in response times of other IP Australia mainframe systems including
TMARK and possibly ATMOSS.
Please note that while Patadmin access is suspended, no bibliographic information will be
available from Patadmin. Similarly when access to the NPS system is suspended, no
bibliographic information on new filings in the NPS system will be available. The
Australian Official Journal of Patents (AOJP) and the CD-ROM products in the State Offices
are available although these may not necessarily contain the most up-to-date information
in relation to particular patent applications."
Confused? Well if during June you need some assistance with Australian IP information,
contact IP Organisers for
assistance.
| IP Australia Website | IP Organisers Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Monday, 03 June 2002
- OHIM Trade Mark
Warning
OHIM have reported that in recent days, proprietors of published Community trade
mark applications or their representatives have been receiving a letter from a German
company called ZDR-Datenregister GmbH. The letter comes in three languages (German,
English and French) and offers to the registration of their trade mark in the
"Central Data-Register Community Trade Marks" for payment of 1.235,40 euro. OHIM
point out that "(t)his register has nothing to do with the OHIM's
Community Trade Marks Register or any of its official publications, such as the Community
Trade Marks Bulletin". For more information, please visit the Warning Page at
the OHIM website.
| OHIM Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Europe - EPO Expands
Four
central and eastern European states have now joined the European Patent Organisation.
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia have now ratified the European Patent
Convention (EPC) and will become members of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) on 1
July 2002. This means that the European Patent Office will in future be able to grant
patents for a total of 24 states. To read the full EPO Press Release, click here.
| EPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- USPTO To
Undergo Restructuring
The USPTO website today is reporting
that Commerce Under Secretary for Intellectual Property, James Rogan will unveil the USPTO
Restructuring Proposal on 3 June. "Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property, James Rogan, will unveil his strategic plan to transform the USPTO into a
quality-driven, highly productive, cost-effective organization, supporting an
international market-based intellectual property system. The plan emphasizes excellence in
examiner recruiting, hiring and training; greater use of electronic initiatives and
outside resources to process patents and trademarks; and a faster, less costly alternative
to the courts for challenging patents, which are strategies that reflect the values of the
President's Management Agenda".
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Hungary -
World Intellectual Property Day Events
 April 26 2002 was the World Day
of Intellectual Property and the Hungarian Patent Office has a report on how it was
celebrated in Hungary. "The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) of
UNO decided to proclaim 26 April the World Day of Intellectual Property in 2000. The
adepts of scientific and artistic creating power, i. e. the inventors and artists, as well
as institutions and experts managing with outstanding carefulness the intellectual works
were celebrated last year all around the world in this day". Click here to
read the full report.
| Hungarian Patent Office Website
|
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Friday, 31 May 2002
Thursday, 30 May 2002
- Draft
Intellectual Property Policy for Western Australia
Western Australia's Minister for State Development the Hon Clive
Brown MLA has released for public comment a draft policy which aims to capitalise on the
Government's investment in intellectual property for the benefit of Western Australia. The
draft is the result of a review of the State Government's Intellectual Property Policy.
The draft policy is available at www.ip.indtech.wa.gov.au. Written submissions on the draft
Policy are welcome and are due by 21 June 2002. For more information, click here.
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Wednesday, 29 May 2002
- WIPO
- Saint Vincent & The GRENADINES Accedes To Patent Cooperation Treaty
WIPO have just reported that Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines have become the 116th Contracting State of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
when it deposited its instrument of accession at WIPO on 6 May 2002. The Treaty will enter
into force for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 6 August 2002. "The accession
by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines means that in any international application filed on
or after August 6, 2002, applicants may designate Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
(country code: VC) and also that nationals and residents of Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines may themselves file PCT applications as of that date. As Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines will be bound by Chapter II of the Treaty, it may also be elected for the
purposes of international preliminary examination".
| WIPO Website | WIPO
Contracting PCT States Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Tuesday, 28 May 2002
Monday, 27 May 2002
- WIPO - Papers
Available
Papers from the Second Special Session of the Standing Committee on the
Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) on the Report of
the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process held in Geneva from May 21 to 24, 2002 are
now available online.
| WIPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Thursday, 23 May 2002
- WIPO
Magazine - May English Edition Now Available
WIPO have announced the English version of the May issue of the WIPO
Magazine is now available on the WIPO website. The articles include:
1. World Intellectual Property Day
2. Changing the International Pateent System
3. National Focus: The Swiss Approach
4. The IP and Business feature focuses on "Trade Secrets: Policy Framework and Best
Practices." This feature is a follow-up to last months article on protecting trade
secrets.
To read this or previous editions visit the WIPO website here.
| WIPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Wednesday, 22 May 2002
- Derwent World Patents Index User Guide for STN
The revised May 2002 edition of the STN Online User Guide is now
available online. This revised edition contains full details of the content and coverage
of Derwent World Patents Index, STN search features, detailed descriptions of all search
fields with examples, display options, Derwent and STN customer service information, and
comprehensive appendices. Visit the Derwent website here for
further information.
| Derwent Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- UK
Patent Office - Mark It! - Issue 4 - May 2002
 The UK Patent Office has just posted Issue 4 (May 2002) of
Mark It! on their website.
In this issue:
- On-Line Booking System Puts Hearings On The Map - Two initiatives launched to
improve procedures for booking Trade Mark Hearings.
- A Look Of Achievement - Dolland & Aitchison presented with an award celebrating
100 years of Trade Mark registration.
- Easy Access To A Database of Decisions - The development of an on-line database
enabling quick access to case summaries.
- Signpost - Are you paying too much for your Trade Mark Application?
- The Doors of Protection - In the UK, trade mark registration has never been easier.
- Valuable Advice Issued To UK Practitioners Applying For Senior Posts At The OHIM - Advice
for those contemplating applying for senior posts on the Boards of Appeal at the OHIM.
- Stop Press - Update on the Future Of Examination On Relative Grounds.
- Diary of Events - List of forthcoming events in the world of Trade Marks.
- Trade Marks People - Introducing you to some of the staff who work in the UK Trade
Marks Registry.
To read the latest version of Mark It! visit the UK Patent Office here.
| UK Patent Office
Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- WIPO
Phonograms and Performances Treaty Enters into Force
"The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Phonograms
and Performances Treaty (WPPT), one of two key treaties that adapt copyright law to the
digital age, entered into force on May 20, 2002. The first of these so-called
"Internet treaties", the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), entered into force on
March 6, 2002. The treaties set out the legal framework to safeguard the interests of
creators in cyberspace and open new horizons for composers, artists, writers and others to
use the Internet with confidence to create, distribute and control the use of their works
within the digital environment". The full text of the WIPO Press Release is
available here.
| WIPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Tuesday, 21 May 2002
- INTA
- Keynote Address of James E. Rogan
The USPTO has just posted the
Keynote remarks of James E. Rogan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark office at the International
Trademark Association Annual Meeting (May 20, 2002). To read the full transcript, visit
the USPTO website here.
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Press Release :
Delphion Delivers Global Patent Database Solution to Japan's PATOLIS
Delphion have announced today (20
May 2002) that they have launched a new service for PATOLIS Corp. of Japan.
The XML-based application provides "transparent communication between PATOLIS's
patent-research website and the worldwide patent databases maintained by Delphion".
"CHICAGO — May 20, 2002 — Delphion Inc., a leading provider of software
and services that enable companies to fully exploit intellectual property, today announced
that it has launched for Japan's PATOLIS Corp. a software application that provides
transparent communication between PATOLIS's patent-research website and the worldwide
patent databases maintained by Delphion. The solution enables PATOLIS to significantly
expand the patent collections it offers its customers, while saving more than $2 million
and 12 months of work that would have been required to implement and support the nearly 9
terabytes of patent data themselves."
To read the full Delphion Press Release, click here.
| Delphion Website | PATOLIS Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Monday, 20 May 2002
- USA - USPTO "TRADEMARKS, THE FINGERPRINTS OF
COMMERCE" Exhibition.
 The USPTO Museum opens a new exhibit
showcasing trademarks. "The Department of Commerce's United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) will unveil its newest periodic exhibit, "Trademarks, The
Fingerprints Of Commerce" on May 20, 2002 in conjunction with the International
Trademark Association's annual meeting, which is being held in Washington, D.C. this year.
The museum exhibit will educate visitors about the rich history of trademarks, the
purposes they serve and their impact on the global economy". For more
information, read the USPTO press release.
| USPTO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Australia - Disruption of IP Australia's Services
As previously reported on IP Menu, the implementation of
release number 2.1 of the New Patent Solution (NPS) project is due to occur in the coming
weeks. IP Australia have advised that in order to "ensure a successful
implementation, there will be no access to the Patent administration system (Patadmin),
the Patent Indexing system (Patindex) and Online Services, for one to two working days and
a weekend. This suspension of services is necessary to ensure data integrity when the data
is copied from Patadmin to the NPS system". We are advised that we expect this
disruption sometime in June. IP Menu will keep you informed.
| IP Australia Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Friday, 17 May 2002
Thursday, 16 May 2002
- Derwent
- New IP Matters Edition
The "Q2 Edition 2002" of Derwent's IP Matters is now
available. Included in this
edition are four new articles:
- Accounting for intellectual property -- Even though a company's intellectual
property is one of its most valuable assets, it still cannot be shown on the balance
sheet. As Paul Gosling reports, there is still a tide of opinion that has to change.
- New EU rules for patenting software inventions - Hugh Brett discusses the
European Commission's proposals for patent protection of computer-implemented inventions,
based on the Draft Directive published on 20 February 2002.
- How BT re-engineered its patent portfolio - Joff Wild speaks to Mike Carr,
Director of Enterprise Venturing at BT Exact and to Joe Zier, President of ipValue about
BT's patent licensing strategy.
- Protecting intellectual property in developing countries - Luke Foster and Doina
Nanu from Derwent interview Francis Gurry, Assistant Director General and Legal Counsel of
WIPO, in response to recently published statistics that state that use of the PCT system
by developing countries increased by 70% last year.
| Derwent Website | IP Matters Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- WIPO -
IPDL - Health Heritage Test Database
IP Menu users may be interested in this new test database of public
domain traditional knowledge. It is hosted on the WIPO website. "The test database is based on the "Health
Heritage CD-ROM", which was compiled by the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) of India. It contains documentation data of codified traditional
knowledge, all of which is already in the public domain. It may be used as a trial product
to test the perceived potential of traditional knowledge databases for improving the
availability of disclosed traditional knowledge as searchable prior art. All the
documentation data in the database were collected and compiled by the Indian CSIR and were
provided to WIPO with a request to make the data available online". Click here to visit the WIPO IPDL website
(select "Search IPDL").
| WIPO Website | WIPO IPDL Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- United Kingdom - Important Notice Regarding Documents Filed by Fax
The UK Patent Office has posted the following important notice regarding filing
document by facsimile:
This is a reminder to customers that all statutory forms which are sent by fax to this
Office should be sent to the following fax number in Document Reception:
+ 44 (0)1633 814444
Statutory forms which are sent to any other fax number within this Office could result in
significant delays in processing and receipting. Where the original documents are
subsequently sent to this Office, please ensure that the fee sheet and covering letter are
clearly marked as "Confirmation of Fax" as this will help avoid any unnecessary
duplication. If you have any enquiries regarding this notice please contact William Morell
the Document Reception manager: telephone number + 44 (0)1633 814570 e-mail:
william.morell@patent.gov.uk.
| UK Patent Office |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
Wednesday, 15 May 2002
- Press
Release - PIUG Increases International Outreach - Newly elected board members reflect
global scope of premier patent user group
LONDON – 15 May 2002 – The Patent Information Users Group, Inc. (PIUG, Inc.), an
international society for patent information professionals, announced today its newly
appointed board of directors, including a second United Kingdom-based executive, and an
Australian committee chair. These elections underscore the organization’s commitment
to the global patent community and its intent to continue expanding internationally. More
information is available at http://www.piug.org.
Stephen Adams and Elyse Turner are newly elected to the PIUG board. Mr. Adams, managing
director of UK-based Magister, Ltd., will serve as director-at-large for a four-year term.
Ms. Turner, a senior information scientist in the patent department of Merck & Co.,
Inc., will serve as vice chair for a two-year term.
PIUG also appointed a new chair of the PIUG Web site committee: Rodney Cruise, of the
Australian-based law firm Phillips Ormonde & Fitzpatrick. Mr. Cruise will play a
crucial role in redesigning and enhancing the PIUG web site to better serve the
membership.
Board members re-elected to PIUG for two-year terms include Lucy Akers, Akers &
Co.(United Kingdom), chair; Sandy Smith, Patent InfoSmith, LLC (USA), secretary; and,
Suzanne Robins, Patent Information Services Inc. (USA), treasurer. Edlyn Simmons, Procter
& Gamble (USA), is serving as director-at-large through 2004 and Dr. Sandra Unger,E
xxonMobil (USA), is director – immediate past chair, also through 2004.
“These elections represent a significant milestone for PIUG,” said Lucy Akers,
chair. “Historically we’ve been seen as more of a US-based organization.
We’re working hard to change this perception by integrating content, services, and
now board members to meet the needs of a growing, global patent community. I’m
pleased with all of the appointments and know we’re well situated to serve our
international membership.”
The growing international scope of PIUG was also confirmed at the recent PIUG 2002 Annual
Conference, held in Berkeley, California, late last month. Over 20 percent of the
attendees were from outside of the United States, up more than five percent from last
year, a figure that represents the largest international contingent at any PIUG meeting to
date. Similarly, the content was globally focused, with “Patent Information from the
Pacific Rim” as the theme.
The annual conference featured announcements of the recipients of key patent information
related awards: the International Patent Information Award 2002, Mr. Wolfgang Pilch
(Austria); the Brian Stockdale Memorial Award, Svetlana Korolev (USA); and the PIUG
Service Award, Elaine Campbell (USA). Through promotion and involvement with these awards,
PIUG seeks to support the recognition of current and past contributors to the patent
information field.
The recent PIUG Business Meeting also confirmed the organization’s commitment to
broaden its international ties with sister organizations worldwide. The business meeting
included presentations by Ann Chapman, chair of the Patent and Trademark Group (UK), and
by Mrs. Wil van der Voorde, secretary of the Netherlands Association for Patent
Information, Werkgemeenschap Octrooi-informatie Nederland (WON).
For more information about PIUG, Inc. or to become a member, go to http://www.piug.org.
The organization is open to patent professionals in all industries, providing a strong
networking base and source of leading-edge patent information. There is a $30 US annual
membership fee.
About PIUG, Inc.
PIUG, Inc. was established in 1988 in the United States as a not-for-profit organization
for individuals with a professional, scientific, or technical interest in patent
information. Its full members are largely those working in corporate information
departments or corporate law departments who specialize in providing patent information to
scientists, lawyers, and others, in the form of state-of-the-art surveys, patentabilitys
earches, validity searches, freedom to use searches, alerting services, and patent
databases. PIUG also has associate members who work in the information industry to create
tools and resources for use by patent information professionals.
- PatSee / INAS - Patent Downlaoding and Analysis Software
IAL (UK) and WinsLAB (Korea) have announced improvements in their software
for harvesting and analysing patent. More specifically, PatSeeTM PRO has now been modified
to semi-automate the downloading of free patent data from the USPTO for use with INAS
Patent Analysis Software.
"Depending on your financial resources, you may wish to analyse data from
traditional, commercial patent searches. On the other hand, if you may prefer to use free
patent data from the USPTO website. The PatSeeTM/INAS combination allows customers to
follow both paths."
"While the USPTO database is in some ways not as valuable a source of information as
Derwent WPI searches (because it is limited to US patents), using USPTO data has the
advantage of cost (its free!) and the resultant INAS customisable, analysable database
contains the full description, claims and cited art instead of just a brief abstract. This
assists freedom to operate searches, tracking of competitors and genrates ideas for patent
filing/blocking strategies".
Free demo
versions of PatSeeTM PRO and INAS software are available from IAL. . The full on-line manual is
also available. . The method for semi-automated downloading of free USPTO data for
use with INAS is described here.
Steve Mayall of IAL has advised that a higher functionality version of INAS PRO is
expected to be released in the near future.
| Image Application Ltd Website
|
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- New PCT
Contracting State - Number 116
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VC) became the 116th PCT Contracting
State on 6 May 2002. The PCT will enter into force for that State on 06 August 2002.
Further information will be published in Section IV of the PCT Gazette and in a WIPO
Update.
| WIPO Website |
Posted by Rodney Cruise.
- Delphion
Launches New Service - Citation Link
Delphion has announced the launch of their new "Citation Link"
tool. This an analytical tool that graphically displays the relationships between patents.
"With Citation Link, you have the flexibility to view patent citations in
multiple ways. Using the tool's tree format, you can view backward or forward citations -
or both types of citations at the same time. Using the tool's timeline format, you can
track trends in a particular field of innovation in one, five or 10-year increments".
The tool provides the ability to plot relationships between patents based on a range of
fields. One of the best things is that "Citation Li | |
The
GetIPDL
release another update to their Patent Downloading software (which is free!) They
have released a further Beta upgrade (1.8). A history of the software changes can be
found