COPIES AND INSPECTION OF FILES P. RODINGER Department for Designs and Register (OHIM) Design Liaison Meeting Alicante, 8-9/10/2010

Design Registration Certificates Certified copies and file inspection Program Legal basis Design Registration Certificates Certified copies and file inspection Automatic provision of certified copies

LEGAL BASIS

Article 74 CDR – Inspection of files After publication a design may be inspected on request Before publication, this requires consent of the applicant Article 17 CDIR – Certificate of registration After publication, the Office shall issue a certificate … The holder may request certified / uncertified copies of the certificate of registration upon payment of a fee Article 41 CDIR – Signature, name, seal Any decision, communication or notice from the Office Indicate department / division and name of responsible Signed, or, instead carry printed or stamped seal Article 74 CDIR – Procedure for the inspection of files Either the original or a copy On request, inspection shall be effected by means of issuing copies of file documents (certified / uncertified) Fee

DESIGN REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES

RCD Certificate

Short process description Certificates are issued once a RCD is registered and published (part A.1 of the RCD bulletin) The process of creation starts immediately after publication. RCD certificates are sent electronically to an outside supplier who prints and then distributes the certificates During the 2nd half of 2010 OHIM will introduce e-certificates for designs (they exist already for trade marks)

E-certificate In the Publication section of RCD Online, a new column will be added with information about the RCD e-certificates. This information will consist of a link labelled “Registration Certificate”, together with the publication date and an indication of the size of the electronic document. The RCD e-certificate is intended to make certificate delivery faster and smoother and make storage easier for users. By clicking on the link a PDF-document will be downloaded that can be easily printed or saved into the user’s own archiving system.

How to get an E-certificate

How to get an E-certificate

How to get an E-certificate

How to get an E-certificate

SHORT DEMO: RCD ONLINE http://oami.europa.eu/RCDOnline/RequestManager

CERTIFIED COPIES AND FILE INSPECTION

The main services Inspection requests for CTMs and RCDs (= copies of documents) : Anybody may request Applications Registrations Any documents in the file (some restrictions apply) Extracts of the CTM and RCD register: List current status of a file, including recordals such as licenses, and other events such as Invalidities. On site inspection of files, not used in practice Online Access to Files (OAF) for CTMs

Certified / uncertified / authenticated Documents requested may be certified or uncertified Some countries require authentication or legalisation of certified copies in order to accept them as a priority or any other claim before their respective national offices / authorities The European Commission legalises these documents: The Head of the Permanent Representation of the European Commission in Spain is authorised to authenticate documents issued by the OHIM Our colleague Daniele Messa, in secondment there, carries out the day-to-day work

Online Access to CTM files (OAF)

Online Access to CTM files (OAF) Provides CTM related documents online Accessible via CTM-ONLINE Updated every day Document downloadable in PDF format More than 40 000 documents downloaded every week Restrictions: CTMA not published – access restricted to the applicant or representative via MyPage Confidential documents not disclosed to third parties

Inspection production

Inspection timeliness

Example of a certified copy YOU HAVE ON YOUR TABLE AN EXAMPLE OF A CERTIFIED COPIE OF A REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE The different elements are: Cover page (in five languages) Certifying that the enclosed document is an exact copy of the registration certificate of a particular design Number of the design Registration date of the design Printed signature of the official responsible Stamped seal Registration certificate 100% copy of the initial registration certificate A stamp indicating that this is a copy

AUTOMATIC PROVISION OF CERTIFIED COPIES

Statistics (1/3)

Statistics (2/3)

Statistics (3/3) Request (CTM / RCD) (over the last years) Certified Not Certified / All Documents 1. Application Form 1876 23 44,07% 2. Certificate 1285 24 30,19% 3. Extract from the Register 795 6 18,68% 4. Extract from the Database 143 3 3,36% 5. Copy of documents 39 63 0,92%

Speed up the provision of certified copies Objectives Speed up the provision of certified copies We provide a good copy and include text that states that the copy is directly taken from our database, We do not accept that this way of providing the certificate introduces less safeguards than sending a paper copy today, We maintain against payment the present way of certifying, but we try to convince people that in case of doubt they can very simply verify on line whether the copy does indeed reflect the contents of our database.

Develop a solution for Application Form and Certificate. Project Develop a solution for Application Form and Certificate. Allow users in OAF to get a certified copy of the Certificate* or the Application Form** that includes: A copy of the document stamped with a mention than the copy comes from our database A cover letter identical to the cover letters used currently. It also includes a link to access to the CTM/RCD online. The same document is sent when generated internally by the Office. User will not see any difference between the online document and the one issued from OHIM * Available for RCD when RCD eCertificate goes live ** Application form not available for RCD

Example of an automated certified copy YOU ARE RECEIVING AN EXAMPLE OF AN AUTOMATED COPY Please compare with the first example and find the differences (take your time) The seal on the cover sheet Header and footer on all pages of the copied document The footer contains a printed signature, the date and the file number on each page There is a staple instead of an eye

We need to adapt (IP offices, Courts) Paper copies have been around for decades and decades. Everybody has become accustomed to them. The Internet has changed the way we do business and what has required paper before can now easily be done electronically. Our data bases (CTM and RCD Online) are the reliable source. They are freely available and can be consulted 24/7. We all will need to adapt to this. And this affects of course the IP Offices (priority documents) but also the Courts.

Information:  (+ 34) 965 139 100 (switchboard)  (+ 34) 965 139 400 (e-business technical incidents)  (+ 34) 965 131 344 (main fax)  information@oami.europa.eu  e-businesshelp@oami.europa.eu  Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) Avenida de Europa, 4 E-03008 Alicante SPAIN