Information Concerning the Results of Second Session of Constant Working Group on Information Technologies of Administrative Council of the Eurasian Patent Organization

Second session of the Constant group on information
technologies of Administrative council of Eurasian patent organization
(hereinafter referred to as CWGI AC EAPO) was held in EAPO headquarters in
Moscow 27-30, May, 2003 and was chaired by EAPO Vice-President Mr.Fayazov Kh.
F.

Experts of all EAPO member states- the Republic of
Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of
Kazakstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian
Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan- as well as European and
Eurasian patent offices’ representatives have participated in the session.

The session has considered a number of questions
characterizing the results of work of national and Eurasian patent offices on
developing information technologies within the frame of the eurasian patent
system for the period since the first CWGI AC EAPO session (June, 2002), and
some results have been summarized of their activities on the realization of the
decisions of the previous session of the Working group.

The positive results and a substantial scope of progress
has been marked for said period concerning:

• providing an access of the EAPO member states patent
  offices to Internet on dedicated line, development of web-sites in said offices
  and the eurasian web-portal, coverage of the CWGI AC EAPO activities on the
  EAPO web-site,
• providing an access to the Eurasian patent and information
  system (hereinafter referred to as EAPATIS) taking into account a pilot
  operation in the patent offices of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of
  Kazakstan,
• creation of the ESP@CENET eurasian server within the frames of the
  corresponding project by the EPO and EAPO experts as an important step in the
  development of the EAPO information technologies,
• other trends of activities in the field of information
  technologies within the eurasian patent system.

The following decisions has been taken based on the results
of discussions for further development of information technologies by the
Eurasian and national offices and taking into account proposals made the
participants.

Regarding an access to Internet on the dedicated line:

• it is planned to establish an access to Internet in patent
  offices of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Kazakstan, as well as
  in examination departments of the Kyrgyz patent office based on equality of the
  access conditions and use of information resources on the dedicated line for
  national patent offices.
• It is decided to develop technical and other aspects for
  increasing band width of the de3dicated lines providing an access to Internet
  by national offices.

Regarding the development and use of web-site abilities by
national patent offices and the eurasian web-portal:

• To work out the EAPO recommendations on unification and
  standartization of national offices’ web-site content and recommendations for
  their structure and use the EAPO member states languages.
• to subsequent development of their web-sites by national
  patent offices based on the above recommendations and coordination of said activities
  with the EAPO and providing said web-sites with an adequate system of
  information search,
• to stipulate use the EAPO web-site by national patent
  offices to exchange proposals and other information required for the EAPO for
  upgrading information technologies.

Besides, the CWGI AC EAPO has agreed with a proposal made
in the course of discussion to consider creation of “FTP” servers for national
patent offices on the basis of the EAPO information infrastructure including
for storing stand-by copies of the national and the eurasian offices’
information databases.

Regarding the results of the pilot EAPATIS operation in the
patent offices of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakstan which
has proved high efficiency of its use by experts of the EAPO national patent
offices for patent searches and information support of patent prosecution it is
decided:

• to address the EAPO to grant an access to the EAPATIS
  system in 2003 for inter-office use by other EAPO patent offices to provide
  them software and other required special purpose documentation and information,
• to recommend the EAPO national patent offices to provide
  the EAPO with national patent documentation on CD-ROM’s by preparedness to be
  added to the EAPATIS system and subsequent creation the eurasion regional
  patent and information system based thereon.

Regarding creation of the ESP@CENET eurasian server the CWGI AC EAPO has
recommended to interested national patent offices  to study and consider their participation in the above project
and has accepted the proposal of the Russian Federation’s patent office and the
EAPO of mutual cooperation and realization of ESP@CENET projects.

The session participants have marked considerable differences
of a complex character associated with an electronic filing of eurasian and
national applications and necessity arising therefrom to unite and coordinate
the EAPO efforts to solve them, especially concerning international aspects of
the problem. Regarding the results of consideration of the above aspects facing
the CWGI AC EAPO it has proposed:

• to ask the EAPO to prepare in October, 2003 and send to
  national patent offices a list of problems concerning electronic filing of
  eurasian and national applications for inventions based on the results of the
  current session and received proposals from national patent offices,
• to recommend the EAPO and Rospatent to hold workshops for
  experts in the field of electronic filing of applications based on proposals of
  the EAPO national patent offices and place the information about the results of
  said workshops at a corresponding section of the EAPO web-site.

Having considered a question of a project aimed at
development (on the EAPO technical basis with an access via Internet) of patent
information database of national patent offices, the CWGI AC EAPO has

• stated that projects of issuing regional CD-ROM of the CIS
  countries realized on the technical basis of the Russian Federation’ patent
  office, the EAPATIS and ESP@CENET projects and the above project aimed at development ) of patent information
  database of national patent offices, are not alternative projects and on the
  contrary allow to simplify a transition from one project to another from the
  point of view of use of information massifs.
• recommended the EAPO national patent offices to consider an
  opportunity to transfer a retrospective portion of their patent documentation
  to machine-readable information carriers and further to the EAPO for
  realization the project for creating patent information data bases of said
  patent offices.

Summarizing the results achieved in 2002-2003 the CWGI AC
EAPO participants have marked a substantial rise in the informatization level
in the EAPO patent offices.

It is scheduled to hold the second CWGI AC EAPO session in
May, 2004.