Australia - New IP Resource: AusPat

IP Australia has released a new system for searching for Australian patents, called AusPat.

AusPat is now IP Australia's official source of online data, which means that the previous systems Patsearch and PATADMIN will no longer need to be used.

"In this release you can:

• Search for applications managed in PATADMIN and PAMS systems through the Quick, Structured or Advanced search interfaces
• Use any of the 20 search fields
• Use the Name Selector to find variants of Applicant and Inventor names
• View, sort and print the results of your search in the “Search Results” page
• Customise the “Search Results” page by adding, removing or rearranging columns"

"In future releases you will have access to:

• Additional opposition, ownership and publication data
• Full text searching of applications back to 1904
• eJournal – Search, browse and print information from AU Journals
• eRegister – Search, browse and print information from the Australian Patent Register
• eCase – public access to patent case files that are deemed Open for Public Inspection"

AusPat is available at: http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/auspat/

References and for further information

IP Australia news - AusPat - Australia's new patent search system

IP Australia - AusPat User's Guide

UK - New Free Patents Database

A new free searchable database for published patents was recently launched by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO).

"This change will affect every user who wishes to access our published patent information on-line. The new database will be faster, provide a wide range of easily accessible information and allow users to search or download information in a variety of formats'", said Sean Dennehey, Assistant Comptroller and Patents Director of the UK Intellectual Property Office.

"The new service has been developed following an internal review and external consultation exercise. It offers users the ability to search, view or download individual or multiple sections of patents data across a range of publication weeks. It also offers the user automatic links to the patents register and published documents."

The new database is available at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/p-journal/p-pj

Sources and for further information

UK-IPO news - The UK Intellectual Property Office launches new free online Patents Journal service

UK-IPO - Searchable Patents Journal

New IP Resource - PriorSmart.com

PriorSmart.com is a new free IP Resource that providing access to 60+ online patent databases from a single search box. Using PriorSmart.com is easy; simply type in the query and then select which database to use.

The available databases include: US-granted patents (USPTO), US-applications (USPTO), Espacenet - European Union, Google - US-all, PatentLens - Worldwide, and Delphion - Worldwide.

The site also provides access to patent databases for following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Delphion, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Free Patents Online, Germany, Google, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Latin America, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, PatentLens, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United States, United States (apps), Uruguay, Venezuela, World IP Office, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Christmas Island, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Republic of, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Province of China, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan.

Visit the PriorSmart.com website at www.priorsmart.com

IP Resources: LexisNexis update including new IP DataDirect-Patents

LexisNexis recently updated a number of its IP resources and also added a new service providing patent information for in-house proprietary systems, IP DataDirect-Patents.

In addition to the full-text data from 22 patent authorities, IP DataDirect-Patents also includes:

• "Bibliographic and abstract data from 96 authorities
• English-language machine translations
• Clipped images
• Legal status, forward and backward citations, and patent-family data
• PDF images in searchable, bookmarked, and compressed format"

LexisNexis' TotalPatent database has also been updated to output data in XML format for use in internal systems. Furthermore, there TotalPatent now has an option to search by inventor/assignee, and is now organised into patent families.

The new functionality added to the PatentOptimizer tool includes, "patent links that navigate directly into the TotalPatent service, allowing customers to check terms and references, as well as verify citations. Additionally, customers verifying claims can immediately compare and navigate multiple claim sets across a series of user-identified documents."

Sources & for further information

LexisNexis Press Releases - LexisNexis® Expands Intellectual Property Solutions to Help Customers Protect Valuable Assets

LexisNexis - IP DataDirect-Patents

LexisNexis - TotalPatent

LexisNexis - PatentOptimizer

IP Resources - PatBase

A new addition to IP Menu's Database Networks is Minesoft's PatBase. PatBase is a searchable, international, patent family & full text patent database covering over 75 authorities.

"PatBase offers over 20 million full-text searchable documents from the US, EP, PCT, GB, DE and FR patent-issuing authorities. A hit map and keyword-in-context hit analysis assist users in document examination. PatBase also offers citation searching enabling users to navigate through patent and no-patent documents cited against US, EP, and WO publications as well as a citation tree visual analysis tool. An alerting service, which provides clients with up-to-date reports on their search criteria, is available on a weekly or monthly basis."

Minesoft also offers other software products related to PatBase:

"PatBase Express offers a simple and intuitive way of investigating patents by subject, competitor or number. Based on the original PatBase database, which was developed by Minesoft and RWS Group as a search tool for patent professionals, PatBase Express draws upon the same comprehensive data, but offers a simplified way of searching so it can be used by anyone in a corporation who would like to find out about patents or competitor activities. Used by research engineers & chemists, paralegals and business managers."

"Minesoft Patent Family Portal is an ideal service for fast, up-to-date checks on patent families and corresponding legal status. Designed for users who require the very latest comprehensive patent family and legal status data in a well-organised, concisely tabulated layout, it provides fast, concise access to INPADOC and Patent Office Registry records covering over 70 countries."

The PatBase website is located at: http://www.patbase.com

IP Resources - Questel enhancements

In the recent months Questel has further updated and enhanced their database system. One of the key enhancements is the addition of further full-text documents. The US backfile full-text now covers 1920-1973 and in the next few weeks there will also be full-text documents for Switzerland, Belgium and Austria.

In addition, there are now machine translated titles and abstracts for Germany, France, Japan, Korean and China. Other new features listed on the Questel news page include the following:

• "Natural and Multi-lingual search via our partnership with Lingway for PatentXL
• Comprehensive JP legal status via our partnership with PATOLIS Corp.
• More stats in the analysis module via our partnership with Intellixir"

Questel has also added new cited patents and non-patent documents in PatPlus and FamPat for the following countries: BE, CH, NL, TR, AU, JP, BS, ES, SG, DK, LU, FI, CY, and IT. This is in addition their existing literature for EP, WO, US, DE, FR, GB and JP. Moreover, "the Citation search field now includes standardized citation numbers and displays hit-term highlighting."

The final new enhancement is the Questel Analysis module. Questel states that "with this new powerful and interactive web-based analysis module, you can analyse patents from within your PatentExaminer workfiles by:

• Date, country, priority country
• Inventors and Assignees
• IPC - by IPC including IPC definitions
• Cross analysis by Assignees and IPCs"

Questel is available for a fee from www.questrel.com

Source and for further information

Questel - Website home page [includes release update details]

Europe - New EPO IP Training Website: ip4inno

The European Patent Office has launched a new website providing information about intellectual property called ip4inno.

As the ip4inno website explains, "its main aim is to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enhance their understanding and use of intellectual property rights with a view to promoting innovation and competitiveness in line with the European Commission's Lisbon goals."

The website allows users to "perform an advanced search for a wide selection of articles, case studies and best practices for small and medium-sized enterprises on topics ranging from basic info on patents and other kinds of intellectual property, through patent information, to building a business with intellectual property."

In addition, the website at a later date will also provide a library of material for intellectual property trainers to use.

Sources and for further information

European Patent Office - IP training website launched

ip4inno homepage - http://www.ip4inno.eu/

ip4inno - What is ip4inno

ip4inno - For SMEs

New Intellectual Property Resource: PatDL

Sooner Tech's PatDL is a new intellectual property resource that has just been added the Database Network page on IP Menu.

"PatDL is a software of Patent Searcher and Downloader which is custom-made for general scientific researcher and patent staff."

Features

• "Automatically Download patent’s full text, abstract, legal state in batches; and merge all of the pages to one file in PDF, including the abstract and legal status. You can also merge the pages you select to one file by yourself.
• Search patents from the most important databases about patents, such as EPO V3 database, SIPO Chinese, SIPO English, TIPO Chinese, USPTO PatFT, USPTO AppFT, JPO English
• Download patents from several databases, EPO V2 database, EPO V3 database, SIPO database, USPTO database (including granted US patents and published US patent applications), JPO database (including all JP patents), JPO English (PAJ), TIPO database (Taiwan patent gazette), TWPat database (Taiwan patent document), SIPO English
• Automatically analyze the type of the full text and download them.
• Extract biblio.data to EXCEL file quickly for analyzing patents.
• Automatically split a patent into several parts, and download each split simultaneously even when the full text of a patent or application exceeds 100 pages. PatDL could help you get them precisely and quickly. Multiple connections are opened to each patent, and the result is the most efficient exploitation of the bandwidth available. Whatever your connection, PatDL makes sure that all of the bandwidth is utilized. Thus PatDL could drastically reduces the download time and make your download absolutely easy for any kind of patent or application.
• Continue re-downloading if connection is lost or computer crashes and don’t need to start from the first page again."

Further information about PatDL is available at the SoonerSoft website. A free trial of PatDL is available here.

Australia - Review of National Innovations System

The Australian Federal Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has announced a review of the national innovations system to be conducted by an expert panel. The panel has called for submissions and stakeholder meetings are currently underway around the country.

"The Panel will identify gaps and weaknesses in the innovation system and develop proposals to address them. In particular, it will:

• Identify a set of principles to underpin the role and participation of the public sector in innovation.
• Develop a set of national innovation priorities to complement the national research priorities, ensuring the objectives of research programs and other innovation initiatives are complementary.
• Identify regulatory and other barriers to innovation and recommend ways to minimise these.
• Examine the scope for simplifying and reducing program duplication and ensuring that any support provided is well-targeted and easy to access.
• Consider the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Concession Scheme in promoting innovation and make recommendations to improve innovation outcomes.
• Consider ways to improve the governance of the national innovation system to support higher expectations of government agencies and industry.
• Assess the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program and make recommendations to improve innovation outcomes."

"A Green Paper will be received from the panel by the end of July 2008, and this will be followed by a White Paper response from the Government."

Submissions may be posted or emailed to innovationreview@innovation.gov.au, with the deadline for submission 30 April 2008.

Sources and for further information

IP Australia news - Review of National Innovation System

Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Review of National Innovation System

Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Innovation Review Consultation Sessions

Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research - Innovation Review: Call for Submissions

Canada - Online trade mark opposition and non-use proceedings

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced further information will be available online in the Canadian Trade-marks Database. The CIPO Opposition Board will provide information on the status of trade mark oppositions and non-use proceedings (also known as "Section 45 cases").

The Canadian Trade-marks Database is available here.

Sources and for further information

Canadian Intellectual Property Office news - Coming Soon: Trade-marks Opposition and Section 45 information available online!

IP Resources - IP Newsflash relaunched

IP Newsflash has been relaunched with a great new look and new functionality, making it an ever more useful tool for IP Menu readers.

The website, run by Dr Rolf Claessen, automatically consolidates intellectual property news, decisions and notices from patent offices and IP resources. The key feature of IP Newsflash is that all this information is displayed on the homepage, along with a patent family search, and now also a free class monitor for EP publications.

With the IP Newsflash homepage now being fully customisable it is now even easier to find relevant information. Each section on the homepage can either be displayed or hidden. Furthermore, the "IP News", "Caselaw" and "Notices" sections can be set to display only updates from certain patent offices or IP resources. Links to RSS news feeds for each of these sections are also available.

The IP Newsflash website is available at http://www.ipnewsflash.com

Canada - New industrial design tools

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced the launch of new tools to assist with applying for industrial designs. Firstly, the Industrial Design Office section of CIPO's website now contains acceptable and non-acceptable sample drawings for design applications.

Additionally, a "Common Objections" document has been created to better explain some of the common objections made by the examiners during the examination of industrial designs.

Other useful documents available include A Guide to Industrial Designs and the Industrial Design Office Practices.

Sources and for further information

Canadian Intellectual Property Office News - New Industrial Design Tools

Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Industrial Design Office Practices - Annex B: Sample Drawings

Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Application for the Registration of an Industrial Design

Canadian Intellectual Property Office - A Guide to Industrial Designs

Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Industrial Design Office Practices

Databases - new version of Avantiq Inspiro

Avantiq have announced the release of version 2.0 of their Inspiro platform. The new features include:

• "One-click ordering
• Fast access to searches carried out by Avantiq
• Memo and Bookmark function
• Improved searching capabilities
• Results sorted by relevance
• Reporting and management features
• Teamwork section"

The new version of Inspiro was launched on 11 February 2008 and is now available from here.

Sources and for more information

Avantiq news - Upgrade To Inspiro® Version 2.0 On February 11, 2008

Avantiq website - Inspiro 2 Brochure

Avantiq - Inspiro 2 Access

UK & Korea - Patent Prosecution Highway between US & Korea

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) have launched a pilot Patent Prosecution Highway program between the two offices.

"Under the Patent Prosecution Highway, an applicant receiving a ruling from either CIPO or KIPO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the USPTO fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. Similarly, if the USPTO determines that at least one claim is patentable, the applicant may request accelerated processing of corresponding applications filed at CIPO or KIPO."

"'By facilitating the direct use of each other's patent examination results, the KIPO-USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway will alleviate the examination workload and enhance the overall quality of examinations in our respective countries,' said Commissioner Sang-Woo Jun of KIPO. 'It will also be of great benefit for Korean and U.S. applicants as it will expedite the acquisition and commercialization of high quality patents.'"

The US-Korea Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program follows other such programs between Japan & Korea, the US & Japan, the US & Canada, the UK & the US, and the UK & Japan.

The trial program between the US and Korea is to run for one year, terminating on 28 January 2009.

Sources and for further information

USPTO Press Release - USPTO Expands Patent Prosecution Highway Network to Canadian, Korean Patent Offices

USPTO - The Patent Prosecution Highway in Conjunction With the Korean Intellectual Property Office

KIPO - Patent Prosecution Highway

Information about other Patent Prosecution Highways

IP Menu news - US & Canada - Patent Prosecution Highway

IP Menu news - UK & USA - Patent Prosecution Highway opens between UK and USA

IP Menu news - UK, Japan & US - Patent Prosecution Highway updates

UK - Copies of UK patent files available through online form

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) has launched a new service providing users the ability to request online uncertified copies of patents and patent applications that are open to public inspection (Form 23). The requested copies will then be emailed to the user as PDF files.

Currently the UK-IPO also provides for online filing for UK patent applications and requests for entry into the UK national phase. The UK-IPO also plans to launch an online service allowing users to file forms and documents after the patent filing date.

"Sean Dennehey, Director of Patents said: 'This new service will make it much easier for customers to get copies of patent files, and is a significant extension of the range of services which can be accessed electronically.'"

Sources and for further information

UK-IPO press release - Launch of new on-line patent services

UK-IPO - Requesting an electronic uncertified copy from a published UK patent or patent application (Form 23) Checklist

UK-IPO - Request for Electronic Uncertified Copy - Form 23

Australia - public consultation on 'format shifting' of photo and films

The Australian Government (Attorney General's Department) has issued a public consultation paper, inviting submissions for a review of the sections of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) which allow for the reproduction photographs and cinematographic films for private use in limited circumstances. The relevant sections of the Act, sections 47J and 110AA, introduced in late 2006, were seen as being "innovative and controversial." Therefore the amending legislation required that the Attorney General review the sections by the end of March 2008.

"The purpose of [the] paper is to invite submission of whether sections 47J and 110AA are operating satisfactorily or whether either provision should be modified in some way. No particular view or course of action is endorsed."

"A particular concern of this review is whether the extent of copying permitted … might be extended, such as to permit digital-to-digital copying, without causing significant harm to copyright owners."

Submission instructions can be found here [PDF] with closing date for submissions 29 February 2008.

Sources and for further information

Attorney General's Department: Issues and Reviews - Copying photos and films for private use

Attorney General's Department - Copying photographs and films in a different format for private use - Issues Paper - 76KB [PDF]

United Kingdom - public consultation on new exceptions to copyright infringement

The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) is calling for submissions in response to a consultation paper proposing new exceptions for copyright infringement. The proposals are based upon the changes recommended in The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property that was reported on in December 2006.

"The consultation considers how the Gowers recommendations on exceptions to copyright might be implemented in the UK." The proposed changes include modifying the education exception to allow distant education students to receive and view recordings of broadcasts remotely and also passages of printed works using interactive whiteboards, the introduction of 'format shifting' exceptions, a new exception for parody, expanding the range of materials covered in the research and private study exception, and also expanding the types of materials that can reproduced for perseveration and replacement by libraries and archives.

Submissions may be mailed to the UK-IPO or emailed to copyrightconsultation@ipo.gov.uk. The closing date for submissions is 8 April 2008.

Sources and for further information

UK Intellectual Property Office: Formal Consultations - Proposed changes to Copyright Exceptions

UK Intellectual Property Office - Copyright Exceptions consultation document [PDF]

HM Treasury: Independent Reports - The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property

UK - new "fast track" trade mark service

From April this year, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) will offer a new fast track service for trade mark applications. This decision follows the public consultation on the matter, which was discussed on IP Menu News in September 2007.

"'This will help us turn around trade mark applications more quickly while still providing our customers with a very high quality service. We also want to look at other ways of speeding up the process for registering trade marks.'"

It has been announced that the fast track service will cost an additional £300 with the application examined and an examination report sent to the applicant within ten business days. "For comparative purposes, standard applications currently take around one month from their filing date before they are examined."

Source and for further information

UK-IPO news - Lord Triesman announces a new Fast–Track Trade Mark service

UK-IPO - Guidance: Fast-Track Examination of Trade Mark Applications

IP Menu News - UK - Public consultation on proposed fast track applications

US - USPTO to hold trademark expo

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is requesting applications for exhibitors at its national trademark expo to be held in Alexandria, Virginia from 10-12 April 2008.

"The three day event is designed to engage the public’s interest and educate consumers about the vital role trademarks play in the global economy."

Any company that has a registered trade mark may apply to exhibit, however, the applicants will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• "Brand recognition - How well-known is the mark.
• Educational value of the proposed exhibit - How would the trademark holders participation help educate the public about trademarks.
• Category diversity - Does the applicants participation help ensure the Expo has a wide selection of trademarks."

The USPTO press release states that "space is limited so apply now."

Source and for further information

USPTO press release - USPTO to Hold National Trademark Expo

USPTO - Frequently Asked Questions About the 2008 USPTO National Trademark Expo [doc]

Norway and Croatia join the EPO

The European Patent Organisation (EPO) has announced the accession of Croatia and Norway to the European Patent Convention (EPC). The two countries became members of the EPO on 1 January 2008.

The accession of Croatia and Norway means that there are now 34 member countries of the EPO, with patent protection obtainable in several or all of the member counties through one patent application.

"The European Patent Organisation's members now include all 27 members of the European Union, plus Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia also recognise European patents on their territory, making European patents valid in 38 countries and a market of around 570 million people."

Source and for further information

European Patent Organisation news - Croatia and Norway join the EPO

US & Japan - trial of New Route for obtaining patents in foreign countries

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has announced that in conjunction with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) the "New Route" for obtaining patents abroad will be trialed in a pilot project. The "New Route" project will allow the examination results from the first filing of a patent application to be utilised by foreign Patent Offices when subsequent applications are filed.

The New Route will deal with applications filed through the Direct Application Route (Paris Route). "Under the New Route, a patent application filed with the Office of First Filing (OFF) will be regarded as being filed on the same date as the filing date in the Office of Second Filing (OSF). The search/examination results obtained in the OFF will be transmitted to the OSF within a certain period of time. At the same time, the New Route gives an applicant sufficient time (30 months from the filing (priority) date) to think over whether or not his/her application should undergo an examination in the OSF based on the search/results issued by the OFF."

"The New Route reduces the examination workload and increases the examination quality by providing for the mutual utilization of search/examination results on a full scale for Paris-Route applications, while giving an applicant more time to make a decision about whether to file overseas and the payment of accompanying costs."

As the New Route would require changes in the law in the US and in Japan, the pilot project will simply test the concept using the existing framework under the existing laws. In order to get the results of the pilot in a limited period of time, the applications for the pilot will be examined expeditiously at the OSF.

The trial will begin on 28 January 2008 and will finish when either 50 applications have been processed or 28 January 2009, whichever occurs first.

Sources and for further information

Japan Patent Office news - Analogous New Route Pilot Project between the JPO and the USPTO

Japan Patent Office - Outline of the New Route Proposal for Applications Abroad

US & Japan - Patent Prosecution Highway to continue on full-time basis

On 21 December 2007 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced that the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) will be implemented on a full time basis from 4 January 2007. As discussed in previous IP Menu news articles, the pilot study of the PPH, which has been running for the last 18 months, was scheduled to end today.

"Under the PPH, an applicant receiving a ruling from either the JPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. By basing the prosecution in the second office on patentable results from the first office, applicants can expect to obtain patents in both offices faster."

The requirements for participation in the USPTO-JPO PPH at the USPTO are being updated and will soon be made available here. The requirements for participation at the JPO can be found here.

Source & further information

USPTO Press Release - USPTO and JPO to Implement Patent Prosecution Highway on Full-Time Basis

USPTO website - Requirements participation in the USPTO-JPO PPH at the USPTO

JPO website - The requirements for participation in the USPTO-JPO PPH at the JPO

UK - new online patent services

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) has launched a new improved version of their online patent filing system.

The new version allows users to request an online certified copy of their patent applications, provide information about late declarations of priority and request entry of an international patent application to the UK national phase.

"Over the next few months, further enhancements will allow customers to request and receive an uncertified office copy electronically and also file a selection of later filed forms and documents via our website."

Further details about the system are available here.

Sources & further information

UK Intellectual Property Office news - Launch of new on-line patent services

UK Intellectual Property Office - Web filing - Important Information

New Zealand - IPONZ website survey

As the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) will have a new website in 2008, IPONZ is asking for feedback on the current website. The five minute survey is available from the IPONZ website, with comments due by 18 January 2008.

Sources & further information

Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand news - News: IPONZ Website Survey 2007

Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand website - The IPONZ Website Survey 2007.

US & Canada - Patent Prosecution Highway

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have recently announced their agreement to establish a pilot Patent Prosecution Highway between the two countries. The trial program is to run for the period of one year from early January 2008.

"By electing to proceed under the PPH initiative, patent applicants in both Canada and the U.S. will benefit from expedited examination to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently. This initiative should also benefit both offices by facilitating the exploitation of the work performed by the other office, thereby improving patent quality and reducing the examination workload."

The US-Canadian Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program follows other such programs between the UK & US, the UK & Japan, the US & Japan, and Japan & Korea.

Sources & further information

Canadian Intellectual Property Office news - Canada-US Patent Prosecution Highway

Information about other Patent Prosecution Highways

IP Menu news - UK & USA - Patent Prosecution Highway opens between UK and USA

IP Menu news - UK, Japan & US - Patent Prosecution Highway updates

Canada - All registered designs available for free online

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced that all Canadian registered industrial designs from December 1961 onwards are now available on their website. The Canadian Industrial Designs Database now contains over 110,000 designs.

Sources & for further information

Canadian Intellectual Property Office news - Complete Collection of Canadian Industrial Design Registrations is Now Available!

Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Canadian Industrial Designs Database

Australia - updates to E-Form & ATMOSS

The E-Form TM application system and the ATMOSS database on the IP Australia website

have recently been updated.

The new version of ATMOSS has the following additions:

1. "Allow search by ‘notification date’ as shown below (this can be found under the Advanced Search Option):
2. TM number ‘from’ Range now functions correctly.
3. If a TM record is a Certification mark, there will be a hyperlink to the “Certification Mark Rules” on the Trade Mark Details page."

The changes to the E-Form TM application system include:

1. "For TM Headstart Applications, Email address is now mandatory for both the address for correspondence and applicant details screen
2. The system has been updated so that there is a limit of how many categories you can select using the picklist. The maximum number of categories you can select is 2,000 per application.
3. Customers now have the option of emailing themselves an official receipt for TM Applications, TM Headstart Requests and TM Headstart payments.
4. Customers can now enter up to 200 characters for an organisation name. If organisation is also the Address for Correspondence then they will be asked to provide an abbreviated name with a limit of 35 characters."

Source & for further information

IP Australia news - Updates to Trade Marks online forms and ATMOSS

Spain - Subsidized Patent Technical Reports for the ICT industry

The Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office (SPTO) has announced that in agreement with the Spanish State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Information Society (SETSI) that requests for Patent Technological Reports by companies in the ICT industry will be subsidised (in some cases fully subsidised) by the SETSI.

Further details on the arrangement can be found here. The arrangement is part of the Avanza Plan, which is to further the promotion of industrial property.

Sources & further information

Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office (SPTO) news - Cooperation between the SPTO and the SETSI in the Avanza Plan

Spanish State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Information Society website - Informes Tecnológicos de Patentes TIC [in Spanish]

Spanish State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Information Society website - Plan Avanza [in Spanish]

Australia - INTA to present education conference in Australia

The International Trademark Association (INTA) and IP Australia will present a two day conference on March 11-12 2008. This will be the first time INTA's educational conference for industry will be held in Australia.

The conference, entitled, 'Trademark Regatta - Asia-Pacific', "will focus on issues facing trademarks throughout the region, including:

• Issues impacting the future direction of trademarks
• Indigenous peoples and trademarks
• Nontraditional trademarks – A review of Trade Mark Office and Court decisions, and the attitude toward survey evidence
• Protection of famous trademarks and related dilution issues
• Madrid Protocol – Has it been good for business?
• A roundup of Internet issues
• Case studies and successful branding strategies" (INTA website)

"Speakers from around the globe are scheduled to appear as part of the program including Paul Twomey, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Owen J. Malone, Foster's Group Limited, Ernesto Rubio, World Intellectual Property Organization, Lynne G. Beresford, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Wubbo de Boer, Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and Woon Yin Liew, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore." (IP Australia News)

The full program and online registration is available from the INTA Regatta website.

Sources & for further information

IP Menu news - The International Trademark Association (INTA) presents its first educational conference in Australia, in cooperation with IP Australia, March 11 – 12, 2008

INTA website - INTA / IP Australia Conference: Trademark Regatta – Asia-Pacific

US, EU, Japan - Trilateral Offices agree to single format for patent applications

As part of the meeting to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of co-operation of the Trilateral Offices, the Offices have agreed on a single format for patent applications to be accepted by all offices. The Trilateral Offices are the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).

"The potential savings for users will be around $100 million per year."

The proposal for a single format was suggested by industries and patent attorneys in 2005.

Source & further information

State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C (SIPO) news - Trilateral Offices sign up to work-sharing initiatives