Implementation of the reformed IPC Slovenia Janez Kukec

Implementation of the reformed IPC: Slovenia Janez Kukec Mezek Head of Information and Promotion Department Slovenian Intellectual Property Office

Slovenian Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) ü ü Established in 1991 (only 5 patent examiners) No “classical” substantive examination Patent is granted by publication of patent application Results of granting procedures at EPO or other IPEA are used for final decision on patent validity ü 1994: membership in PCT; Extension Agreement with EPO ü 2002: full member of EPC; PCT national route closed Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

IT supporting system ü ü ü Running on Alpha computer with Open. VMS Designed and build by SIPO 11300 published documents in patent database IPC codes used to be consisting part of patent database From 1997, validity file used as controller for entering IPC codes into system Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

“Pre-reform” interface Validity file in background as controller Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

IPC reform: starting points ü SIPO will use core level ü SIPO is ready to reclassify Slovenian patent documents without family members ü Checking of IT supporting system: • database cannot accomodate reformed IPC codes • need to build two parallel databases, one with old and one with IPC 8 codes • need for controlling file for IPC 8 ü Determination of extent of reclassification Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

Reclassification to IPC 7 ü First try at beginning of 2005: all IPC codes checked with IPC 7 validity file ü Only 146 codes not matching IPC 7 ü Reclassification to IPC 7 (February – March 2005) • Step 1: using concordance lists • Step 2: “manual” reclassification (abt. 50 codes) ü New decisions: • SIPO will reclassify all Slovenian patent documents • All documents, including granted European patents in national phase, will be published and entered into database with core level codes Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

Preparation of new IT support ü April – September 2005 ü Two new “related” databases were build ü Two controlling files were created, using XML validity file • one for controlling input of core level codes into database • one for converting codes from advance to core level • problem: late availability of XML validity file ü New interfaces were created Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

Reclassification to IPC 8 ü September 2005: all IPC 7 codes were checked by conversion from advance to core level ü Codes falling out of this conversion had to be reclassified ü 291 codes not matching IPC 8 core level ü Reclassification to IPC 8 (October 2005) • step 1: indexing codes were deleted • step 2: using IPC 7 and IPC 8 on internet • step 3: “manual” reclassification – initially 37 codes ü Decision: • During November - December 2005: classification according to IPC 8 core level, except when new entries of IPC 8 are needed; in such case, IPC 7 and IPC 8 codes are alloted and entered into separate databases Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

“Reclassification” interface Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

IPC 8 interface New IPC 8 core level controller Fields created by system Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

IPC 8 interface with input completed Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

SIPO internet database Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

ST. 36 test XML file Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

Closing remarks ü ST. 36 test XML files sent to EPO beginning of January, 2006: • backfile – complete SIPO database • test frontfile with data of publication on 31/12/2005 ü First real ST. 36 XML file will be sent after first publication in 2006 (February 28, 2006) ü Open issue: frequency of future XML validity files on which depend timely creation of controlling file for converting codes from advance to core level (granted European patents entering national phase) Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si

Thank you. Janez Kukec Mezek j. kukec@uil-sipo. si