It has apparently been live since November 2012 (but who knew?) and it covers the following design offices, though with differing amounts of information:
- Austria (OPA)
- Bulgaria (BPO)
- Benelux (BOIP)
- Croatia (DZIV)
- Cyprus (MCIT)
- Czech Republic (IPOCZ)
- Germany (DPMA)
- Denmark (DKPTO)
- Estonia (EPA)
- Spain (OEPM)
- Finland (PRH)
- France (INPI)
- United Kingdom (UKIPO)
- Greece (OBI)
- Hungary (HIPO)
- Ireland (IEIPO)
- Italy (UIBM)
- Lithuania (VPB)
- Latvia (LRPV)
- Malta (IPRDMT)
- Poland (PPO)
- Portugal (INPIPT)
- Romania (OSIM)
- Sweden (PRV)
- Slovakia (SKIPO)
- Slovenia (SIPO)
- OHIM (OHIM)
- WIPO (WIPO)
This sounds wonderful. But with searches, you need to know the limitations as well as the features, so what we really need are some users to test drive it and give us feedback.
I made a few tests some days ago:
ReplyDeleteIt seems that for the moment there are only 8 offices (OHIM, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Benelux, Slovaquia, Estonia, Bulgaria)
The maximum number of results is 450 designs per office, so I guess that this could be a useful tool to search for a legal status, maybe applicant name, but not for a Locarno class.
The search by Locarno class can be done in the advanced search.
ReplyDeleteI will pass on the following, largely encouraging, comments from a respected member of the design community (edited a bit as I am not sure whether they want to remain anonymous):
ReplyDelete"I had a quick road test. It’s nicely designed and easy to use. I can see how it would be useful in due diligence searches (a bit like prior art) and it gives useful information regards filing date and classes registered under.
What it doesn’t tell me is what specific elements are subject to the registration. Some content is fully rendered images / actual completed product images and some are just sketches appearing to be pre-commercialised."
It’s a good start though and might encourage smaller firms (a lot of the design registered are well known names) and product designers to formally register their works. I like it. And see it as a useful tool. Perhaps they haven’t formally publicised it yet as they are still importing content – lots of the search fields were empty of content such as a search for Fashion Design. Hope this is useful feedback even though it was a quick review not an in-depth one or from a legal viewpoint just from an interested party viewpoint.