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GAZETTE
H N
N
JUNE 1992
Computerisation in the
Patents Office
A number of government
departments and public service
agencies are undertaking substantial
investment in technology which will
have a direct impact on the work of
practitioners. From time to time, this
column will examine such
developments in the public sector
and this month we begin with a look
at the computerisation of the Patents
Office.
Coincidentally, the Patents Act, 1992
was signed into law on 27 February
last. The Act replaces the Patents
Act, 1964 and brings Irish patent
law into line with international
patent law enabling the State to
ratify the European Patent
Convention and the Patent
Cooperation TYeaty. The Act
substantially amends the procedures
in respect of examination of
applications and provides for the
protection of smaller type
inventions by introducing
provisions for the grant of short
term patents.
The Patents Office is currently in the
third year of a five year
computerisation programme.
The development is based on PC
LAN hardware. The system
comprises three 386/33 file servers
with over 2Gbytes of disk storage
together with an ethernet LAN with
Novell Netware. There are currently
approx. 40 workstations mainly
386SX processors from various
manufacturers, Dell, Wang, AST and
Compaq. An imaging system for
trademarks has also been installed,
which consists of a scanner, a laser
printer and three 19 inch 300 DPI
monitors.
The Patents Office has standardised
on a database management system
(DBMS) called Advanced Revelation
by Michael M Moran, Solicitor,
Registered TYademark Agent
for applications developments.
Systems have been developed to
process patent, trademark, design
and registered user applications.
Trademarks
All the in-house application
processing activities for trademarks
e.g. renewals, production of filing
receipts etc. have been computerised.
The trademark database has over
85,000 records giving up-to-date
details of registered and pending
trademarks. Renewal notices can
be printed out as of a certain date
and on receipt of payment and
recording on the accounts system,
the trademark is automatically
renewed.
At present trademark devices i.e.
trademarks with a graphic element
are being scanned into the system
and when the backfile has been
completely scanned, all trademark
details will be available on computer.
TYademark information has been
available on computer to the public
in the library in the Patents Office
for over twelve months. Three
computer terminals are available for
public use and the systems have been
designed to enable easy use by the
non expert user. The public system
enables users to do searches based
on classifications, words and
applicant name. It is hoped to have
the trademark device (images)
available to the public by Autumn
1992.
Patents
On the patent side, information on
applications and registrations since
1988 are held on the system.
Recently the Patents Office started a
data capture of all patent
bibliographic search material which
it is hoped to have available to the
public by Autumn 1992.
Design and Registered User
Design and registered user
information is available on the
system since 1988. It is planned to
make this available to the public
within the next twelve months.
Library
In the library, there are available
CD-ROM's containing complete
European Patents Office applications
from 1 January, 1991 and complete
PCT applications from 1 January,
1991.
Future Developments
Within the next year, it is planned to
have a full patent database available
to the public. It is also hoped to
have a dial-in service, where users
can dial into the Patents Office to
do patent and trademark searches
and to track the progress of
applications. The possibility of
submitting applications in an
electronic format e.g. on floppy disc
or by electronic mail/file transfer is
currently being examined.
Further information:
Mr. Fred Bradley, Patents Office, 45,
Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Tel: 614144.
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