Data Collection: Explanatory Notes
General definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Reporting office | Enter the two-letter code for your office. This will be automatically copied into the cell for "domestic" filings/applications/grants/registrations, etc. in the spreadsheet tables. |
| Reporting year | Please use calendar year – January 1st to December 31st. |
| Notes | Use this box to add any necessary explanatory notes concerning your office’s statistics. |
| Origin | Origin is the country/territory of residence of the first named applicant or assignee of an intellectual property right. If your office uses different criteria for origin, indicate this in the explanatory notes box. Feel free to add more origins to the questionnaires, for which you have statistics, but please use only the two-letter codes according to WIPO Standard ST.3  or those defined by the ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 standard. |
Patents
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Direct applications | Report the number of filings/grants of applications filed directly at your office, thus excluding PCT national phase entries. |
| PCT national phase entries | Report the number of filings/grants of applications filed at your office via the PCT route (i.e. PCT national phase entries), thus excluding applications filed directly at your office. |
| Patent grants Issued/ applications rejected | A patent grant "issued" is a decision by the office to grant a patent irrespective of whether or not the applicant fulfills other administrative requirements such as the payment of associated fees for the patent. A "rejected" application refers to the first decision made by a patent office at the end of the examination procedure. |
| Patents in force |
Report the total number of patents which were in force during the reporting year. Patents which were not kept in force (for example because the renewal fees were not paid) should not be reported. Patents that are in force at your office but have been granted by a regional office (such as the EPO) should be reported together with the patents your office have granted. For the patents in force by year of filing, report the total number of patents in force in the reporting year, regardless of filing route (e.g. direct, PCT and regional), broken down by the year in which they were initially filed. |
| Pending applications | Report the number of applications received by your office, for which no patent has yet been granted, refused or withdrawn. Please provide a breakdown of applications that are awaiting a request for substantive examination (if applicable) and applications that are undergoing substantive examination. |
| Patent prosecution highway (PPH) questionnaires |
The questionnaire “Table: Patent Filings under the PPH program - by Office of First Filing” should only be filed by offices participating in one or more PPH agreements. Please indicate the number of PPH requests your office received broken down by the office of first filing. The questionnaire “Table: Patent Filings under the PCT system and PPH program - by International Authority” should be completed only by offices which participate in one or more PPH agreements and which accept PCT national phase entries. In this questionnaire, indicate the number of PCT-PPH requests your office received broken down by the international authority that performed the search or the international preliminary examination (ISR or IPRP). The total number of PCT-PPH requests made at your office should be identical in both questionnaires, with the first showing the office of first filing and the second the international authority. |
Trademarks
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Number of applications / registrations | Report the number of applications/registrations which were applied for or issued via the direct national route at your office. Thus applications and registrations in the form of designations made via the Madrid System (where applicable) should not be reported. |
| Number of classes specified in applications / registrations |
One or more goods and/or services classes may be specified in a single application/registration, depending on the jurisdiction. If this applies to your office, report the total number of classes specified – not the Nice Class number itself – in the applications/registrations for each origin in the last column of the applications and registrations by origin questionnaires. For example, if Nice Classes 9, 12, and 45 are specified in an application, then the total number of classes specified in this application is 3. Also, please note that the “Total Number of Classes specified” in applications and registrations for each origin in questionnaires:
should equal – or approximately equal – the Nice Class totals for each origin in their corresponding questionnaires:
|
| Marks in force | This questionnaire should report only trademark registrations that were active – in force – in the latest reporting year. Provide the number of trademark registrations in force, broken down by the year in which they were originally issued. This should consist of a sum of registrations resulting from both direct applications and Madrid designations (where applicable). In the adjacent column, provide, if available, the number of classes specified in these acive registrations. |
Utility Models
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Type of protection | A single questionnaire is provided for Utility Models, Petty Patents and other forms of protection for inventions other than patents. You can specify the official name used by your office in the “type of protection” field provided at the top of the questionnaire. |
Industrial designs
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Number of applications / registrations | Report the number of applications/registrations which were applied for or issued via the direct national route. Applications and registrations in the form of designations made via the Hague System should not be reported. |
| Number of designs contained in applications / registrations | A single application or registration may contain one or more designs, depending on the jurisdiction. If this applies to your office, report the number of designs contained in the applications/registrations for each origin in the last column of the applications and registrations by origin questionnaires. |
| Industrial designs in force | This questionnaire should report only industrial design registrations that were active – in force – in the latest reporting year. Provide the number of industrial design registrations in force, broken down by the year in which they were originally issued. This should consist of a sum of registrations resulting from both direct applications and Hague designations, where applicable. In the adjacent column, provide, if available, the number of designs contained in these active registrations. |