Electronic interaction with Rospatent
Foreign patent offices have long been in correspondence with applicants using the Internet. Until recently, Rospatent recognized only a fax from electronic communication channels, and then with further confirmation on paper. However, even in Rospatent, the twenty-first century is on the horizon, and electronic interaction is slowly but surely entering the life of the Russian patent office.
What is already there and what is not yet
Since the end of 2010, an electronic filing system has been in operation for registering trademarks and keeping correspondence on them (the KPS RTZ system).
')
In mid-2011, the first stage of the AS BDEI system was launched - a system of similar purpose for applications for obtaining a patent for an invention. The first stage has been launched - this means that it is possible to submit an application through the electronic submission server and receive confirmation of the application acceptance, but further correspondence has to be carried out on paper or use an alternative personal account on the FIPS website (since February of this year). As was to be expected from Rospatent, in order to connect to this personal account for electronic correspondence, it is necessary to submit a paper application for five pages, and a separate application is required for each application. Since the correspondence through an alternative personal account is carried out without using a qualified EDS, the connection with it is established using the http protocol without encryption, and authorization is performed using a login and password, all important documents (applications, petitions, etc.) need to be duplicated in paper form. the form. The originals of other documents posted by the user in an alternative personal account can also be requested by an official of FIPS in the prescribed manner. Apparently, an alternative personal account is a temporary, so to speak, light version of the service, which over time will be replaced by the second phase of the AS BDEI system.
There are no application systems for utility models and industrial designs. According to rumors, the electronic system for registration of license contracts (AS BDBD “Contracts”) is scheduled for launch in 2014.
Further, the AC BDEI system is described in more detail.
How is the system AS BDE
AS BDEI (automated system of paperless examination of inventions) is intended for receiving and registering patent applications for invention and maintaining correspondence between the patent office and the applicant through the personal account of the applicant using an electronic signature (electronic digital signature).
The system consists of the electronic filing server, the PatDoc client program, the CryptoPro software package, and the EDS hardware key with the corresponding digital signature certificates. During the test operation of the system, the Check Point software (Endpoint Security on Demand) was also used to ensure information security; now the system no longer requires its use.
Two-level authorization is used to connect to the system: first, the user logs on to the information security system portal (https://195.210.148.141/) using a personal digital signature certificate, then the system establishes a VPN tunnel from the user's computer to the electronic filing server, which is also performed based on personal EDS certificate.
The personal account on the electronic filing application server allows you to download the PatDoc client program used to complete the patent application, create the application container and sign it using EDS, and get the most recent version of this form on your computer.
In addition, in the personal account, you can see the applications submitted and receive an automatically generated form 940 containing the application number and the date of its submission. After the launch of the second stage of the AS BDEI in the personal account, all further correspondence will be available - incoming and outgoing documents, as well as the status of the application.
The PatDoc program allows you to fill out a patent application, upload application materials (description and claims, drawings and other graphic illustrations, powers of attorney, documents confirming payment of fees, petitions and other applications, priority applications when translating an international application to the national phase in Russia and ., to perform automatic formatting of text documents, to make a logical control of the application materials (empty form fields, missing documents, etc.), to sign the EDS container and edit request to the server electronic filing.
Certificates of EDS (personal and one or more root) are physically located on the media RuToken or eToken. At first, FIPS solely issued an EDS to work with the system. Now the system recognizes a strengthened EDS issued by any certification center accredited to issue EDS certificates for the Unified portal of public services [1]. Personal certificate of EDS must comply with the requirements of the Ministry of Communications [2]. In addition, the certificate must contain the email address of its owner.
Pros and cons of electronic interaction
The advantages and disadvantages of electronic interaction with Rospatent consist of the advantages and disadvantages of the principle of electronic interaction itself and the disadvantages of the AS BDE-EI system.
Advantages of electronic interaction:
- allows to reduce the time required for submission, and speeds up the workflow due to the lack of postal delivery (especially important for applicants outside of Moscow);
- accelerates the transition to the stage of formal examination due to the lack of digitization of paper materials of the application;
- provides more time to prepare responses to requests and notifications, since outgoing FIPS correspondence is visible in the personal account almost immediately after its signing even before sending by Russian post (it is still necessary to send paper requests and notifications), and the response time is the same for paper and electronic interaction and according to current practice, it is three months from the date indicated in the request or notification;
- reduces by 15% the fee for registering an application and making a decision on the results of a formal examination;
- the system works around the clock, seven days a week.
Cons electronic interaction:
- if formally approached, it is necessary to pay the filing fee before submitting the application (in the case of paper submission, you can submit an application and wait for the notification of a formal examination with a demand to pay the fee). However, you can upload an empty document to the system instead of a payment order and just postpone the payment of the fee until the notification is received;
- the legal status of a document signed with a digital signature is unclear if its author is different from the applicant or his representative. Currently, it is required to duplicate such electronic documents with their paper originals.
Cons of the AS BDEI system:
- the system is focused on using only the .doc and .docx formats for the description and claims, graphic materials and other documents. At the same time, using the script, the system automatically and not always correctly formats the MS Word document, in particular:
-> requires to remove from the document objects of type "autoshape"; deletes spaces in mathematical formulas typed in text (not Microsoft Equation), and selectively, for example, around the =, <and> signs, removes, and around ≥ leaves;
-> warns about an unsupported object, although it allows you to attach a document if there is an object of type “inscription” in it, forcibly puts the same paragraphs in the tables as in the text, and there they are not needed at all - it skews the table;
-> automatic formatting of an MS Word document containing drawings is reduced to messages about the object leaving the permissible area, and it has been established experimentally that the page is guaranteed to meet the requirements of paragraph 10.11 (6) of the Regulations [3], the system does not skip, guided by its incomprehensible considerations therefore, formatting a document from pieces of 20-30 drawings turns out to be so tedious that it deserves a separate poem in stone. Why the developers preferred this, to put it mildly, not the best format, it remains a mystery;
- reduces the possibilities of MS Word - does not allow embedding and linking objects using OLE. Graphics in the document, the system passes only in the form of a picture;
- if MS Word opened from PatDoc to format the document is frozen (which is not uncommon), the PatDoc form also hangs;
- technical support is available only during FIPS working hours. However, in fairness, it should be noted that technical support itself is adequate enough;
- the system costs money (albeit small ones - at registration through FIPS approximately 6,500 rubles for an installation kit and then approximately 4,000 rubles per year for updating the EDS certificate) and time (the procedure for obtaining an EDS through FIPS takes more than one and a half months, taking into account its multi-stage nature and speed of the mail).
In general, the complexity of preparing documents for electronic filing today is much higher than the complexity of preparation for the traditional paper submission. On the prospects in this aspect - see below.
Usage statistics
One way or another, the use of AS BDEI is gradually expanding, as can be seen from the statistics kindly provided by the FIPS process engineering sector.
From April 12, 2011 (when the test operation began) on November 6, 2013, 935 electronic applications for inventions were filed. Of these, the most applications came from Moscow, in second place - Voronezh, the number of applications from Vladivostok, Saratov, Tomsk, Kazan, St. Petersburg and Rostov is comparable to each other, from other cities it is noticeably less.
By country of origin, most applications fall on Russia, followed closely by the United States, China and Germany, applications from other countries are noticeably smaller.
From the distribution by days of the week, it can be seen that some applicants take the opportunity to apply on weekends, although there are not so many of them.
The share of electronic filing is growing from year to year, but still remains insignificant - on average less than 2%. For comparison: in the US patent office, the share of electronic patent applications already in 2011 exceeded 90% [4].
Development prospects
Full electronic interaction through AS BDEI was planned to be implemented in 2013 [5]. However, due to the sequestration of the budget, this period was shifted to the end of 2014. At the same time, it is planned to extend the system to utility models.
It is very important that system developers have released for discussion the XSD scheme [6], which is supposed to be used to implement the import into PatDoc of data from an XML file, into which you can unload the context of applications from external dock systems (Anaqua, Patricia, etc. .). This creates a good prerequisite for automating the preparation of applications, which in the future can significantly reduce the complexity of the formation of the application container and make the system more popular, especially among fairly large patent offices.
The author of the publication expresses appreciation to Bykov Daniil Viktorovich (FIPS) for the materials provided.
Sources
1. List of accredited certification centers:
e-trust.gosuslugi.ru/CA .
2. The requirements of the Ministry of Communications for digital signature certificates:
www.reestr-pki.ru/DOCS/Recomend_v1_9.zip .
3. Administrative regulations for the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks to perform the state function of organizing the receipt of applications for an invention and their consideration, examination and issuance of patents of the Russian Federation for the invention in the prescribed manner. Approved by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of October 29, 2008 N 327.
4. Bykov D.V. Electronic interaction with the applicant. Experience and prospects. Report at the XV scientific-practical conference "The National Innovation System and the Value of Legal Protection of Intellectual Property in its Development", Moscow, October 26–27, 2011
5. Fedorov S.V. Electronic filing of applications for inventions in Rospatent. Presentation at the ASPAT seminar, St. Petersburg, March 20, 2012:
vk.com/doc29381951_66677467?hash=a69a355bf1838e3677&dl=12e4bee8faefc58cf3 .
6. XSD schema for importing data from an XML file:
www1.fips.ru/file_site/XSD_import_schem.zip .
What is already there and what is not yet
Since the end of 2010, an electronic filing system has been in operation for registering trademarks and keeping correspondence on them (the KPS RTZ system).
')
In mid-2011, the first stage of the AS BDEI system was launched - a system of similar purpose for applications for obtaining a patent for an invention. The first stage has been launched - this means that it is possible to submit an application through the electronic submission server and receive confirmation of the application acceptance, but further correspondence has to be carried out on paper or use an alternative personal account on the FIPS website (since February of this year). As was to be expected from Rospatent, in order to connect to this personal account for electronic correspondence, it is necessary to submit a paper application for five pages, and a separate application is required for each application. Since the correspondence through an alternative personal account is carried out without using a qualified EDS, the connection with it is established using the http protocol without encryption, and authorization is performed using a login and password, all important documents (applications, petitions, etc.) need to be duplicated in paper form. the form. The originals of other documents posted by the user in an alternative personal account can also be requested by an official of FIPS in the prescribed manner. Apparently, an alternative personal account is a temporary, so to speak, light version of the service, which over time will be replaced by the second phase of the AS BDEI system.
There are no application systems for utility models and industrial designs. According to rumors, the electronic system for registration of license contracts (AS BDBD “Contracts”) is scheduled for launch in 2014.
Further, the AC BDEI system is described in more detail.
How is the system AS BDE
AS BDEI (automated system of paperless examination of inventions) is intended for receiving and registering patent applications for invention and maintaining correspondence between the patent office and the applicant through the personal account of the applicant using an electronic signature (electronic digital signature).
The system consists of the electronic filing server, the PatDoc client program, the CryptoPro software package, and the EDS hardware key with the corresponding digital signature certificates. During the test operation of the system, the Check Point software (Endpoint Security on Demand) was also used to ensure information security; now the system no longer requires its use.
Two-level authorization is used to connect to the system: first, the user logs on to the information security system portal (https://195.210.148.141/) using a personal digital signature certificate, then the system establishes a VPN tunnel from the user's computer to the electronic filing server, which is also performed based on personal EDS certificate.
The personal account on the electronic filing application server allows you to download the PatDoc client program used to complete the patent application, create the application container and sign it using EDS, and get the most recent version of this form on your computer.
In addition, in the personal account, you can see the applications submitted and receive an automatically generated form 940 containing the application number and the date of its submission. After the launch of the second stage of the AS BDEI in the personal account, all further correspondence will be available - incoming and outgoing documents, as well as the status of the application.
The PatDoc program allows you to fill out a patent application, upload application materials (description and claims, drawings and other graphic illustrations, powers of attorney, documents confirming payment of fees, petitions and other applications, priority applications when translating an international application to the national phase in Russia and ., to perform automatic formatting of text documents, to make a logical control of the application materials (empty form fields, missing documents, etc.), to sign the EDS container and edit request to the server electronic filing.
Certificates of EDS (personal and one or more root) are physically located on the media RuToken or eToken. At first, FIPS solely issued an EDS to work with the system. Now the system recognizes a strengthened EDS issued by any certification center accredited to issue EDS certificates for the Unified portal of public services [1]. Personal certificate of EDS must comply with the requirements of the Ministry of Communications [2]. In addition, the certificate must contain the email address of its owner.
Pros and cons of electronic interaction
The advantages and disadvantages of electronic interaction with Rospatent consist of the advantages and disadvantages of the principle of electronic interaction itself and the disadvantages of the AS BDE-EI system.
Advantages of electronic interaction:
- allows to reduce the time required for submission, and speeds up the workflow due to the lack of postal delivery (especially important for applicants outside of Moscow);
- accelerates the transition to the stage of formal examination due to the lack of digitization of paper materials of the application;
- provides more time to prepare responses to requests and notifications, since outgoing FIPS correspondence is visible in the personal account almost immediately after its signing even before sending by Russian post (it is still necessary to send paper requests and notifications), and the response time is the same for paper and electronic interaction and according to current practice, it is three months from the date indicated in the request or notification;
- reduces by 15% the fee for registering an application and making a decision on the results of a formal examination;
- the system works around the clock, seven days a week.
Cons electronic interaction:
- if formally approached, it is necessary to pay the filing fee before submitting the application (in the case of paper submission, you can submit an application and wait for the notification of a formal examination with a demand to pay the fee). However, you can upload an empty document to the system instead of a payment order and just postpone the payment of the fee until the notification is received;
- the legal status of a document signed with a digital signature is unclear if its author is different from the applicant or his representative. Currently, it is required to duplicate such electronic documents with their paper originals.
Cons of the AS BDEI system:
- the system is focused on using only the .doc and .docx formats for the description and claims, graphic materials and other documents. At the same time, using the script, the system automatically and not always correctly formats the MS Word document, in particular:
-> requires to remove from the document objects of type "autoshape"; deletes spaces in mathematical formulas typed in text (not Microsoft Equation), and selectively, for example, around the =, <and> signs, removes, and around ≥ leaves;
-> warns about an unsupported object, although it allows you to attach a document if there is an object of type “inscription” in it, forcibly puts the same paragraphs in the tables as in the text, and there they are not needed at all - it skews the table;
-> automatic formatting of an MS Word document containing drawings is reduced to messages about the object leaving the permissible area, and it has been established experimentally that the page is guaranteed to meet the requirements of paragraph 10.11 (6) of the Regulations [3], the system does not skip, guided by its incomprehensible considerations therefore, formatting a document from pieces of 20-30 drawings turns out to be so tedious that it deserves a separate poem in stone. Why the developers preferred this, to put it mildly, not the best format, it remains a mystery;
- reduces the possibilities of MS Word - does not allow embedding and linking objects using OLE. Graphics in the document, the system passes only in the form of a picture;
- if MS Word opened from PatDoc to format the document is frozen (which is not uncommon), the PatDoc form also hangs;
- technical support is available only during FIPS working hours. However, in fairness, it should be noted that technical support itself is adequate enough;
- the system costs money (albeit small ones - at registration through FIPS approximately 6,500 rubles for an installation kit and then approximately 4,000 rubles per year for updating the EDS certificate) and time (the procedure for obtaining an EDS through FIPS takes more than one and a half months, taking into account its multi-stage nature and speed of the mail).
In general, the complexity of preparing documents for electronic filing today is much higher than the complexity of preparation for the traditional paper submission. On the prospects in this aspect - see below.
Usage statistics
One way or another, the use of AS BDEI is gradually expanding, as can be seen from the statistics kindly provided by the FIPS process engineering sector.
From April 12, 2011 (when the test operation began) on November 6, 2013, 935 electronic applications for inventions were filed. Of these, the most applications came from Moscow, in second place - Voronezh, the number of applications from Vladivostok, Saratov, Tomsk, Kazan, St. Petersburg and Rostov is comparable to each other, from other cities it is noticeably less.
By country of origin, most applications fall on Russia, followed closely by the United States, China and Germany, applications from other countries are noticeably smaller.
From the distribution by days of the week, it can be seen that some applicants take the opportunity to apply on weekends, although there are not so many of them.
The share of electronic filing is growing from year to year, but still remains insignificant - on average less than 2%. For comparison: in the US patent office, the share of electronic patent applications already in 2011 exceeded 90% [4].
Development prospects
Full electronic interaction through AS BDEI was planned to be implemented in 2013 [5]. However, due to the sequestration of the budget, this period was shifted to the end of 2014. At the same time, it is planned to extend the system to utility models.
It is very important that system developers have released for discussion the XSD scheme [6], which is supposed to be used to implement the import into PatDoc of data from an XML file, into which you can unload the context of applications from external dock systems (Anaqua, Patricia, etc. .). This creates a good prerequisite for automating the preparation of applications, which in the future can significantly reduce the complexity of the formation of the application container and make the system more popular, especially among fairly large patent offices.
The author of the publication expresses appreciation to Bykov Daniil Viktorovich (FIPS) for the materials provided.
Sources
1. List of accredited certification centers:
e-trust.gosuslugi.ru/CA .
2. The requirements of the Ministry of Communications for digital signature certificates:
www.reestr-pki.ru/DOCS/Recomend_v1_9.zip .
3. Administrative regulations for the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks to perform the state function of organizing the receipt of applications for an invention and their consideration, examination and issuance of patents of the Russian Federation for the invention in the prescribed manner. Approved by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of October 29, 2008 N 327.
4. Bykov D.V. Electronic interaction with the applicant. Experience and prospects. Report at the XV scientific-practical conference "The National Innovation System and the Value of Legal Protection of Intellectual Property in its Development", Moscow, October 26–27, 2011
5. Fedorov S.V. Electronic filing of applications for inventions in Rospatent. Presentation at the ASPAT seminar, St. Petersburg, March 20, 2012:
vk.com/doc29381951_66677467?hash=a69a355bf1838e3677&dl=12e4bee8faefc58cf3 .
6. XSD schema for importing data from an XML file:
www1.fips.ru/file_site/XSD_import_schem.zip .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/201246/
All Articles