Recommended Contents of Annual Technical Reports on Trademark Information Activities

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information. The Annual Technical Reports on Trademark Information Activities should cover the following items:

I. Evolution of registration activities

Changes experienced in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to the previous year
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks

II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes

Publishing, printing, copying techniques
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
Mass storage media and microforms used
Word processing and office automation
Techniques used for the generation of trademark information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.)
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online trademark gazettes and to other sources of trademark information, including download of bulk trademark data

III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information

Classification and reclassification activities; Classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification (please indicate whether goods and services for the registration of marks and whether the figurative elements of marks are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification(s) is (are) used)
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied
Bibliographic data and processing

IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep

File building
Updating
Storage, including mass storage media
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file

V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems

In-house systems (online/offline)
External databases
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used

VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

Planning, administration, automation, security
Collection management, preservation
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and trademark information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of trademark applications
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to trademarks; opposition and appeal procedures related to trademarks; etc.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., trademark search service(s) and trademark databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them

VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information

International or regional cooperation in the exchange of trademark information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
Exchange of machine-readable information

VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)

Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
Training courses for national and foreign participants
Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)

IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet

URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:

provide information on legislation related to trademarks
contain the Annual Report of the Office
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
provide open source codes related to trademark information systems
contain trademark-related news regarding the Office