ROMÂNIA

STATE OFFICE
FOR INVENTIONSAND TRADEMARKSANNUAL REPORT

2023

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V

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II SI MAR

OSIM

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STATE OFFICE FOR INVENTIONS AND TRADEMARKSANNUAL REPORT

2023

ISSN 1582-4845
ISSN-L 1582-4845
EdituraOSIM Publishing House®
BUCHAREST, 2024©

CONTENTS

01
02
03

04

FOREWORD
406

49

SERVICES IN THE FIELD
OF INVENTIONS

49

IDEA ENVELOPE SERVICE

506SERVICES IN THE FIELD
OF TRADEMARKS

50

OSIM MISSION6SERVICES IN THE FIELD
OF DESIGNS51

ORGANIZATION OF OSIM

7

PUBLISHING SERVICE

51

ACTIVITY OF THE
MONITORING COMMISSION

9

THE ACTIVITY WITHIN SCIM

54

08

ENSURING
THE IT&C SYSTEM

55

09

HUMAN RESOURCES

10

ECONOMIC
ACTIVITY – BUDGET

11

STATISTICS

INTRODUCTIONPROTECTION TITLES
11
PATENTS11

UTILITY MODELS

14

SUPPLEMENTARYPROTECTION CERTIFICATES

15

FILING APPLICATIONSFOR PROTECTION ABROAD

17

EUROPEAN PATENTS
RECOGNITION IN ROMANIA

17

TRADEMARKS AND DESIGNS21

LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY
34
ACTIVITY OF OSIMREPRESENTATIONBEFORE LAW COURTS

05

07

SERVICES PROVIDEDTO OUR CLIENTSINTERNATIONAL
COOPERATIONACTIVITY

56

57

59
APPLICATIONS FOR PROTECTION TITLES

59

EXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS64

STOCK OF PENDING APPLICATIONS66ISSUANCE OF PROTECTION DOCUMENTS

66

APPEALS

67

SERVICES

68

ARCHIVES ACTIVITY

68

34

37

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTYPROTECTIONPROMOTION ACTIVITY40

PATLIB ACTIVITY

44

12

ABBREVIATIONS
69

4

01
FOREWORD
Dear readers,
The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks continued, by its initiatives and activities
carried out in 2023, to exert its role of unique authority on the Romanian territory in the field ofensuring the industrial property protection and encouraging innovation and competitiveness.

I would like to present here the Annual Report of OSIM activity for the year 2023. It
comprises our main achievements and reflects the entire range of events and actions we carriedout last year.
Among the most significant results achieved last year, I would like to mention:
Establishing the new Division for Invalidity - Loss of rights within Legal Directorate of
OSIM, as a consequence of amending and completing the Government Decision No. 573/1998 on
the organization and functioning of OSIM, by GD no. 389/2023, as published in the Official
Gazette No. 368 of 28th of April 2023.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

5

Even though 2023 was a challenging year for all the sectors of the economy and industry, wescored a slight increase of the number of applications filed with OSIM in its three fields: patents,
trademarks, designs, as compared to the previous year. Thus, in 2023 the number of trademark
applications filed by national route was 12269, showing an increase of 12.98% as compared to2022. At the same time, a number of 12302 trademark registration applications filed by nationalroute were examined in 2023, 12.81% more than in 2022.
A slight increase may be noticed, as well, in the number of patent applications filed with
OSIM in 2023, from 843 to 889 applications. In this context, 314 patents were issued in 2023, 303
belonging to Romanian owners and 11 to foreign owners.
Last year, 654 designs with 2009 graphic representations were filed for registration with
OSIM and 342 design certificates were issued.
The cooperation with international, regional and European intellectual property
organizations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European
Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) as well as withnational offices, especially the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) from the Republicof Moldova, continued in 2023.
OSIM specialists were involved in several cooperation projects, among which it is worth
mentioning the Back-Office system optimization project, by means of which the trademark
invalidity files were integrated in the system, a new phase thereof being successfully completed
in 2023 and resulting in an extension of the system functionality and an improvement of theoperational effectiveness of our organization, in this area.
OSIM also actively participated in the EPO pilot project „ANSERA” for a modern searchsystem, which aims at the replacement of the current system „EPOQUENET” that has been usedby the Member States for a very long time. With the support of EPO specialists, OSIM joined theother participating national offices and started to test the new search instrument.
By participating in specialized exhibitions, by organizing and participating in seminars,
round tables and various conferences on subjects relating to industrial property protection,
OSIM aimed in 2023, like in the previous years, to promote the importance of industrial property
rights protection in the academic and business environment and to increase awareness of theway people can protect the result of their creations.
I conclude by inviting you to go through the pages of the Annual Report 2023, that shows theaccomplishments of the whole team of OSIM, the members of which aim to become better andbetter each day and to meet the needs of our applicants despite all the impediments.
Marian-Octavian ȘERBĂNESCU,
Director General

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602
INTRODUCTION
OSIM MISSION
The mission of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks(OSIM), as unique authority on the Romanian territory in the field ofgranting industrial property protection, is to support innovation,competitiveness and profitability as economic growth factors.

OSIM provides high quality specialized services while granting
industrial property titles, promoting industrial property by all
available means and ensures Romania's international cooperation inaccordance with the treaties, conventions and agreements in its fieldof activity to which Romania is a party.

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7

In compliance with the Government Decision
No. 573/1998, as amended by the Government
Decision No. 272/2020 and the Order of Minister of
Economy No. 2738/2020, the organizational
structure of OSIM in 2023 has been the following:

ORGANIZATION
OF OSIM

PublicAudit
Compartment

ECONOMIC
DIRECTORATEPATENTS ANDTECHNOLOGICALINFORMATIONDIRECTORATE

Human Resources
Compartment

Information
Technology andCommunication
Division

Security
Structure

DEPUTY
DIRECTOR
GENERAL

DIRECTOR
GENERAL

Publishing House,
Translation, Archives
and Internal Managerial
Control DivisionInternal Control
Compartment

Antifraud
and Anticoruption
Compartment

TRADEMARKSAND DESIGNSDIRECTORATE

Communication
and Operational
Marketing Division

Drector General
Cabinet Of ice

LEGAL
DIRECTORATEANNUAL REPORT 2023

8

The general objectives that our organization had in view are the following:

1

2

To observe, perform and maintain at
the highest level the integrated management system in accordance with the requirements of the Order of the Government GeneralS e c re t a r i a t N o 6 0 0 / 2 0 1 8 a n d o f I S O
9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022.

To improve the quality of the organization activities by committment of its entire
staff, its main goals being to ensure uniform
protection of industrial property rights (IPR),
to harmonise certain aspects specific to IPR bycreating a unique system of granting ofprotection titles; to provide qualified humanresources and suitable technical means tomeet the actual demands in the field.

3

4

To support innovation, competitiveness and profitability as economic growth
factors, in compliance with the legal regulations in the industrial property field, so that
OSIM, as organization, is able to be considered
an assembly of processes oriented to its
applicants and other industrial property (IP)stakeholders.

To further improve Romania's representation at European and international
level, by involvement of OSIM in decisionmaking processes concerning collaboration,observance and fulfillment of IP programs
together with the national and international
bodies in the industrial property field.

Said objectives which are in directconnection with OSIM duties are completedwith speci ic objectives which necessarily
arise from the horizontal cooperation withinternational and European bodies in this ieldof activity, as well as from OSIM commitment
to support innovation and competitiveness of
Romanian industry and economy through thespeci ic industrial property rights-related
aspects.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

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ACTIVITY OF THE MONITORINGCOMMISSION

OSIM Commission for monitoring the internal managerial control
system, hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”, continued its activity.
As a strategic decision, beside the integrated management systemalready extisting in OSIM (under provisions of Order of GGS No 600/2018
as corroborated with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015), themanagement has decided the implementation of the Information security
management system (SR EN ISO/IEC 27001:2018), the requirements ofwhich are to maintain the con identiality, integrity and availability of
information by applying a process of risk management which gives theconcerned parties the con idence that the risks are appropriately managed.
As a consequence of the assumed objective of developing the integrated
management system, a series of measures and activities were needed forthe achievement thereof.
The result of this decision was that, on 15.12.2023, OSIM got thesecond surveillance audit for ISO 9001:2015.
The revision and/or elaboration of 14 operational procedurescontinued during the year 2023 in order to align them with therequirements of ISO 9001:2015.
At the end of 2023, the situation of the procedures existing in OSIM
was the following:Also, in accordance with the requirements of ISO 27001:2018 the
Policy Statement of the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks in
the ield of the Integrated Management System and the Policy
Statement of the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks in the ieldof the Information Security Management System were elaborated andapproved. In support of the Policy Statement in the ield of theIntegrated Management System, the Quality Policy Statement of theState Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks was revised.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

10

Moreover, the Monitoring Commission:• drafted, monitored and analyzed the Action Plan forachieving the general objectives of the organization;• set performance or result indicators associated to
speci ic objectives;• elaborated the Program for developing the InternalManagerial Control System and ensured its monitoring
and accomplishment;• updated, in collaboration with the Risk Management
Team, the risk registers and the plans for reducing risk
eﬀects;• analyzed the elaboration of the Internal Managerial
Control System development stages while ensuring
updating thereof;• analyzed the data resulting from processes and took thenecessary steps for the general objectives to be accomplished;• drafted and presented reports on the Internal Managerial
Control System to higher bodies and other concerned
partners;• ensured the inventory of procedural activities;• ensured updating of formalized procedures in accordance with the legal provisions in the ield (Order of GGS
No 600/2018), as corroborated with the requirements of
ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2018.

In December, the OSIM management system was subjected to an external audit by theManagement System Certi ication Body QSCert. The surveillance external audit did not ind any
nonconformity and the certi ication body con irmed that the integrated management system of
OSIM is eﬀective and meets the audit criteria and recommended to maintain the Quality andInformation Security Management System in compliance with the requirements of ISO
9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2018 in the ield Services of general public administration.
Considering all the above, we may state that, at the end of 2023, OSIM has an integrated
management system complying with the reference standards: SR EN ISO/IEC 27001:2018 –Information Technology. Security Techniques. Information security management systems.
Requirements, integrated with ISO 9001:2015 – Quality management system. Requirements, andOrder of GGS No 600/2018 for the approval of the Code of internal managerial control of public
entities.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

11

03
PROTECTION TITLESPATENTS
Within our knowledge-based society, intangible assets, in particular the patents, have an
increasingly important role from the economical point of view. In its triple quality of legal,
technical and economical instrument, the patent mirrors the society innovative capacities anddynamism.
Innovation support materialized in research and development projects shall certainly
involve protection of innovation results by iling patent applications based on which, following
examination, patents are granted, as industrial property titles which, on the one hand, confer on
their owners the exclusive right of exploitation of their inventions and, on the other hand,essentially contribute to the innovative pro ile of the entity that owns them, while being aworldwide information dissemination way, due to their publication in patent databases.
It is worth mentioning that patenting is currently becoming increasingly important forsmall and medium-sized enterprises, which can be seen in the high number of European projects
aiming to support innovative enterprises.
In Romania, the patent granting procedure is carried out in accordance with the Patent Law
64/1991, as republished on 19 August 2014.
According to the law, a patent is an industrial property right that confers on its owner an
exclusive right to exploit the invention for a duration of 20 years, at the most. A patent can be
granted for any invention having as a subject-matter a product or a process, in all technologicalields, agriculture included. The technical solutions that are new, involve an inventive step andare susceptible of industrial application can be protected by a patent, the compliance with legal
patentability conditions being assessed in the substantive examination procedure.
The assessment of the compliance with the above-mentioned patentability conditions inthe substantive examination procedure is conducted by taking as a reference point the state of
the art at the international level on the iling date or the priority date of the patent application, as
the case may be, comprising technical knowledge accessible to the public worldwide.
If the invention cannot be retrieved in the state of the art and if it is not obvious for a person
skilled in the art, it is deemed to be new and inventive. The patent granted by OSIM allows its
owner to enjoy protection of the invention on the territory of Romania.
In 2023, 889 patent applications were iled with OSIM, of which 817 were iled by
Romanian applicants and 72 by foreign applicants.
All the patent applications were entered in the National Register of Filed Patent
Applications and the bibliographical data thereof were introduced into the OSIM database.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

12

18 months after the date of iling the application, the invention is published by OSIM whichmakes the description, claims and drawings available to the public and publishes the abstract
and the bibliographic data in the Of icial Industrial Property Bulletin, Inventions Section, issued
monthly.
The patent applications, as iled, were analyzed in respect of the ful illment of the legal
conditions for according the iling date and constituting the regular national iling.
All patent applications iled in 2023 were classi ied according to the International PatentClassi ication (IPC).

The substantive examination procedure involves a series of activities, such as:• searching the prior art in the relevant ield, by using the EPOQUE application of the EPO
and the RO-Patent Search database;• drawing up search reports for each patent application;•
examining the patentability conditions: novelty, inventive step and industrial
applicability, and sending the results of the analysis to the applicant;• elaborating the technical examination report and upholding the same before the
Examination Board with a view to making a decision in respect of the application
concerned.
713 patent applications iled by both Romanian and foreign applicants underwent
substantive examination, of which 349 ended by decisions to grant the patent, 359 were rejected
and 5 were withdrawn.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

13

A number of 314 patents were issued in
2023, of which 303 to Romanian owners and 11
to foreign owners.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

14

UTILITY MODELS

Beside the patent, there is the utility
model that represents a faster way ofprotecting the inventions, the registration
procedure of which is established by the Law
350/2007 on utility models. This is why theutility model may be a strategic means forstart-up SMEs.

In 2023, 58 applications for utility models were iled, 46 of which belong to Romanianapplicants and 12 to foreign applicants.

Following the examination of the ful illment of the legal
requirements, the Examination Board made 45 decisions to register
the utility model, 14 refusal decisions and 5 withdrawal decisions.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

15

SUPPLEMENTARY PROTECTION
CERTIFICATES (SPC)
Romania, as a Member State of the European Union, grants, under
the three Community Regulations entered into force, namely regulations concerning the protection of medicaments, of paediatric products
and of plant protection products, Supplementary Protection Certi icatesfollowing an examination procedure.
In 2023, 55 Supplementary Protection Certi icate applications
were iled with OSIM.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

16

After the Board examined the ful ilment of conditions for granting the certi icate, in accordance with
the European Regulations, there resulted 17 granting
decisions, 10 refusals and 6 withdrawals.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

17

FILING APPLICATIONSFOR PROTECTION ABROAD
Patent applications may be iled abroad, in one or several States, either by national route(directly to the patent of ices of the State on the territory of which protection is sought), or byregional or international route, under the provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. In the lasttwo cases, the application may be iled with OSIM.
In this context, 29 international applications were iled, by Romanian applicants, with OSIM
as a Receiving Of ice under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and 86 European patentapplications were iled with OSIM acting on behalf of the European Patent Of ice.

EUROPEAN PATENTS RECOGNITION
IN ROMANIA (VALIDATION)
European patents granted by EPO under the European Patent Convention (EPC) may berecognized on the territory of Romania, subject to compliance with the provisions of the Law
611/2002 on Romania's accession to the European Patent Convention. For a validation in
Romania, the patent owner is supposed to ile with OSIM the Romanian translation of theEuropean patent accompanied by a request for its publication, and to pay the translation
publication fee and the patent maintenance fees.
In 2023, 2870 requests for publication of European patent translation were iled with
OSIM. A number of 918 certi icates for recognition of European patents eﬀects in Romania were
issued.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

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ANNUAL REPORT 2023

19

Issued patents, by administrative units

Macroregion/Development region/County

2021

2022

2022

MACROREGION ONE

76

65

56

North-West
Bihor
Bistrița-Nă să ud
Cluj
Maramureș
Satu MareSă lajCentreAlba
Braș ov
Covasna
Harghita
Mureș
Sibiu

49
6
2
32
8
1
0
27
0
15
0
2
5
5

41
2
1
29
8
1
0
24
1
13
2
1
2
5

39
4
3
27
5
0
0
17
0
10
0
3
1
3

2021

2022

2023

MACROREGION TWO

53

47

47

North East
Bacă uBotoș ani
Iaș i
Neamț
Suceava
VasluiSouth East
Bră ila
Buză uConstanțaGalați
TulceaVrancea

44
0
0
34
1
9
0
9
0
2
3
4
0
0

40
1
0
22
1
15
1
7
0
0
2
4
0
1

40
0
2
27
0
10
1
7
0
0
2
5
0
0

Macroregion/Development region/County

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

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Macroregion/Development region/County

2021

2022

2023

MACROREGION THREE

192

191

162

South-Muntenia

17

12

11

Argeș
Că lă raș i
Dâ mbovițaGiurgiu
IalomițaPrahova
Teleorman
Bucharest-Ilfov
Ilfov

1
2
5
0
1
8
1
175
44

5
0
3
0
0
4
0
179
35

4
0
1
1
1
4
0
151
36

Bucharest

131

144

115

2021

2022

2023

MACROREGION FOUR

65

53

53

South-West Oltenia

42

30

34

Dolj
Gorj
Mehedinți
Olt
Vâ lcea
West
Arad
Caraș -Severin
Hunedoara
Timiș

5
1
1
2
10
23
0
2
3
18

1
0
0
0
6
23
1
1
4
17

5
2
0
2
6
19
2
2
6
9

Macroregion/Development region/County

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

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TRADEMARKS AND DESIGNSThe protection of the industrial property rights relating to trademarks and designs has ahigh importance, its goal and inality being to protect the product of human intelligence and, atthe same time, to ensure the bene it re lected upon the consumers by using said product.
The rights conferred by the protection of trademarks and designs is one of the basic
instruments of the economic, social and cultural development of a nation.
The trademarks and the designs are intangible assets which contribute to the increase of abusiness value, making it better known, the main eﬀect of which is its market value increase.
The Trademark and Design Directorate is one of the specialized directorates of OSIM that
deals with the examination of trademarks, geographical indications and designs applications.
The organizational structure of said Directorate is the following:- Trademark and Geographical Indication Division;- Design Division;- Compartment for Examination of International Trademarks;- Bureau for Legal Status Changes and Records in the Register.

TRADEMARKAND GEOGRAPHICALINDICATIONDIVISIONDESIGNDIVISIONCOMPARTMENTFOR
EXAMINATIONOFINTERNATIONAL
TRADEMARKSBUREAU FORLEGAL STATUS
CHANGESAND RECORDS
IN THE REGISTERANNUAL REPORT 2023

22

TRADEMARK AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION DIVISIONThe Trademark and Geographical Indication Division carries out the activity of
examination and registration of trademark applications iled by national route, by virtue of theLaw 84/1998, as republished, and it is headed by a Head of Division, subordinated to the Directorof the Directorate.
The organizational structure of the Trademark Division is the following:• The Trademark Preliminary Examination Bureau – carries out activities concerning thepreliminary examination of trademark applications iled by national route and theconstitution of the regular iling, according to the law. It is headed by a Head of Bureau
subordinated to the Head of Division.
• The National Applications Examination Bureau – carries out activities concerning theexamination of trademark applications iled by national route, both relating to absolute
grounds and the oppositions against the applications admitted for registration. Said
Bureau is headed by a Head of Bureau subordinated to the Head of Division.

TRADEMARKS FILED BY NATIONAL ROUTE
In 2023, 12269 applications for trademark registration were iled by national route. An
increase by 12.98% may be noticed in relation to 2022.

A number of 12302 applications for trademark registration iled by national route
underwent preliminary examination in 2023, by 12.81% more than in 2022, and 9529 applications for registration of national trademarks were subjected to substantive examination.

In 2023, 587 oppositions to the publication of trademark applications admitted forregistration were iled. Considering that, in
2022, 650 oppositions were iled, a decrease in
the number of oppositions to the registration of
trademark applications iled by national routecan be noticed.

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23

The Opposition Examination Board solved, in 2023, 520 oppositions iled against national
trademarks.

In 2023, the specialists of the Trademark and Geographical Indication Division took partin various projects and actions developed in cooperation with EUIPO:• „FrontOf ice” Project: – „TM e-services”;• „BackOf ice” CF Project – ECP 2(observations, testing, proposals for improvement);• Project ECP2 – Major Improvements to BACK OFFICE BO (ongoing project);• Project ECP3 – Decision desktop.
COMPARTMENT FOR EXAMINATION AND REGISTRATIONOF INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARKSThe Compartment for Examination of International Trademarks carries out activities of
examination of trademark applications iled by international route, both relating to absolute
grounds and the oppositions iled against the applications admitted to registration. This
compartment is subordinated to the Director of the Directorate.
In 2023, 1480 applications for trademark registration were iled by international routewith Romania as designated state and 46 applications for trademark registration with Romania
as state of origin.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

24

A number of 26 oppositions iled against the registration of international trademark
applications were settled, as well.

Activities speci ic to Project ECP 4: Collaborative Network - Language Check are also
carried out within this Compartment, the project being conducted by the European Union
Intellectual Property Of ice (EUIPO) in cooperation with the national of ices in order to assist theexaminers of the European organization in the decision-making within the process of
examination of absolute grounds. The above-mentioned project aims at the unitary regulation of
the activity of language check, consisting of the identi ication and translation of the verbal
elements of the European trademark applications which have a notional content in Romanian,accompanied by supplementary explanations of phonetic (ortographic/orthoepic), morphological, lexicological, semantic nature that EUIPO examiners need in order to understand themeaning in Romanian of certain verbal elements contained in the European trademarks.
Within this project, which has started in the middle of 2017, a number of 83708 verbal
elements of the trademarks iled with the European Union Intellectual Property Of ice whichhave notional content in Romanian were translated in 2023, while oﬀering information/
explanations related thereto.
BUREAU FOR LEGAL STATUS CHANGES AND RECORDS IN THE REGISTER
Concerning the entering of changes occurred in thelegal status into the Trademark Register, 5561 suchchanges were entered in 2023.
4294 requests for trademark renewal were iled fornational trademarks, 3442 of which were examined and5115 requests for renewal of protection for international
trademarks having Romania as designated state.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

25

In 2023, a number of 7525 trademarks admitted forregistration were entered in the Trademark Register and10430 protection titles were issued, 7484 of which werecerti icates of trademark registration, 2895 renewal
certi icates, 24 duplicates of trademark certi icates and
27 priority certi icates.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

26

REGISTERED TRADEMARKS
A total number of 13813 applications for trademark registration were iled in 2023. It
shows an increase by 21%, as compared to 2022.

DESIGN DIVISION
In 2023 the Design Division carried out the activity of registration, examination and issuanceof protection titles in the ield of designs in accordance with the provisions of Law 129/1992, asrepublished, the Division being under the direct coordination of the Director of the Trademark and
Design Directorate, and conducting documentary search in the ield of design, as well.
The right in a design is recognised by the registration and issuance of a registration
certi icate in accordance with the provisions of Law 129/1992 on the protection of designs, asrepublished.
The object of an application may be registered if it constitutes a design, it is new and it has
an individual character.
Designs determined exclusively by a technical function, technical drawings, graphic representations which cannot be typographically reproduced and those that have a purpose andappearance contrary to public order and morality cannot be registered.
In 2023, 256 applications for design registration were iled (of which 159 applications were
simple applications and 97 multiple) which comprise 654 designs, with 2009 graphic representations. Of the total number of design applications iled for registration, 201 applications wereiled by national route and 55 applications, by international route.

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27

EXAMINATION OF DESIGN APPLICATIONSFOR REGISTRATIONThis year, the total number of designs subjected to preliminary examination was of 491,
with 540 graphic representations, contained by 192 applications for registration.
403 designs were published with 621 graphic representations contained by 220 applications for registration.
593 designs, with 1888 graphic representations contained by 233 applications forregistration were subjected to substantive examination. Insofar the number of renewal requests
is concerned, 181 requests were examined in 2023.

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28

905 procedures were carried out within the post-examination procedures, of which:• a number of 114 changes in the legal status of design applications were published, as
follows: 21 transfers of rights and 93 other types of changes (changes of headquarters/
address of applicant/owner/representative, representative change/recordal/
renunciation);• mentions of reinstatement in respect of 5 protection certi icates were recorded andpublished.

ISSUANCE OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES
In 2023, 342 Design certi icates were issued, of which: 164 registration certi icates,
175 renewal certi icates and 1 duplicate of the certi icate for maintenance in force and2 priority certi icates.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

29

OSIM specialists took part in 2023, as
well, in the projects developed by EUIPO,
some of which are mentioned below.
Within the framework of Project 1.2.5.
“Quality Standards”, the Design Division summarized and periodically transmitted to EUIPO
both its own performance indicators and theindicators received from the Trademarks
Division and the Appeals Division.

The examiners within the Design Division
took part this year, the same as during theprevious years, in the activities carried out inthe framework of the Projects „Back Of ice” and„Front Of ice” by checking and testing criteria
contained in the data base and also by making
proposals for the data base improvement.
The requirements regarding the Project
ECP1 OSIM – Front Of ice Implementation
were analyzed and discussed together with
EUIPO representatives.

Check-ups were made and observations were sent regarding:- Project CF 1.2.5. „Quality Standards” (periodically sending
performance indicators for the Design Division and Trademark
and Appeal – Revocation Divisions);- „FrontOf ice” Project:- „DS e- iling” (sending requirements + improvements);- „DS e-services” (implemented, speci ic requirements arebeing occasionally sent);- Project CF “BackOf ice” - ECP2 (sending observations, tests,
proposals for improvement);- Project ECP2 – Major Improvements for BACK OFFICE BO(ongoing);- Project ECP 3 – Decision desktop;- Convergence – ECP4:- CP7 – Product indications for designs (DesignClass) – online
participation in work group sessions.

In addition, in 2023, the Design Division specialists took part in Conferences, Work groups,
Expert Committees, of which it is worth mentioning:- The International Conference „Perspectives of Intellectual Property Law”, organized by
the Faculty of Law within the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, in cooperation
with OSIM;- Annual Liaison meeting in the design ield (videoconference);- The 3rd Special session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial
Designs and Geographical Indications – SCT;
- The Preparatory Committee of the Diplomatic Conference to conclude and adopt a Design
Law Treaty (DLT);- Expert Committee for Locarno Classi ication;- Working group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International
Registration of Industrial Designs;- Intellectual Property Working Group – Designs and CUE;
- International Innovation Conference „Women in innovation and business: inspiration,
involvement, investment” (videoconference);- Virtual Practical Demonstration of the Functionalities of the New eLisbon System for
CEBS Lisbon Members.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

30

APPEAL PROCEDURE
In OSIM, the activity of examination of applications for industrial property protection titles
is carried out at two decisional levels:· examination and· appeal.
The appeals are settled by Boards consisting of 3/5 members who are specialists in the
Appeal and Legal Division within the Legal Directorate and in the Patents and Technological
Information Directorate.

ACTIVITY OF PATENT, DESIGNAND TRADEMARK BOARDS OF APPEAL

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

31

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

32

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

33

The specialists of the Appeal Division answered 531 internal/external petitions entrusted
to them for settling.
In 2023, the OSIM specialists of the Appeal Division, Legal Directorate, participated inconferences, symposia, scienti ic communications in IP ield, of which we mention:

1

2„IP Mediation Conference 2023” organized inAlicante – Spain.

„First edition of the reunion of the Boards ofAppeal members from European Union
Intellectual Property Of ices organized inAlicante – Spain, with the participation of
2 rapporteurs of the Appeal Division.

3

4

The 7th edition of the International Conference„Georgia Against Counterfeiting and Piracy”,
organized in Batumi – Georgia.

„Legislative Evolutions in Commercial Trademarks. Aspects relating to the process of
examination of IP objects within the context of
the initiatives for harmonization of legal
framework applicable to the European acquis.
Digitalization of associated processes”, organized in Chiș ină u, Republic of Moldova.

5

6

Symposium PRIOCHEM 2023, ICECHIM, withthe oral presentation of the paper „PatentProtection of Research Results in the Field of
Polymeric Nanomaterials”.

Annual session of scienti ic communications of
the Institute of Plant Protection Research andDevelopment, under the auspices of the
Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences,with the oral presentation of the paper „Patent– Instrument for sustainable development ofagriculture and environment protection”.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

34

04
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY
In 2023, the Government Decision no. 389 of
26th of April 2023 for the amendment of Annex
2 of the Governement Decision No. 1326/2021
on the organization and functioning of the
Ministry of Economy and the Governement
Decision No. 193/2002 on the organizationand functioning of the Romanian Bureau of

Legal Metrology, as well as for the amendment
and completion of the Government Decision
No. 573/1998 on the organization and functioning of the State Of ice for Inventions andTrademarks was approved. The GD No. 389/
2023 was published in the Of icial Gazette
No. 368 of 28th of April 2023.

ACTIVITY OF OSIM REPRESENTATIONBEFORE LAW COURTS
In all cases in which OSIM was summoned as a party, both
representation and defense of OSIM interests before the law courts
were ensured, based on the documents of the case and the technicalopinions provided by the specialized directorates/divisions.
OSIM appeared before the courts in court-hearings whileobserving the legal time limits for submitting and upholding counterstatements, objections to expert reports, written conclusions, iling the
documents required by the courts for case judgement, etc.
Between 01.01 – 31.12.2023, 81 inal decisions were pronounced
and in 66 cases we won in court (namely 81.48% of cases).

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

35

The situation of requests made by criminal investigation bodies concerning legal search inrespect of granted industrial property protection titles in 2023 and of requests by otherauthorities, as shown by the Legal Division records is the following:•

Criminal investigation iles in respect ofwhich legal search was performed
concerning protected industrial property
rights, upon request by Police bodies:

As from May 2017, the data concerning the legal status of the
trademarks protected on the territory of Romania are transmitted, upon
the request of Police bodies, by the Trademarks Division.

•

Search iles upon the request of otherinstitutions: law courts, ministries, natural
persons and legal entities:

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

36•

Analysis and documentation concerning
foreclosure measures, upon request by
bailiﬀs:•

Answers to letters from national authorities, other than criminal investigation
bodies:

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

37

05

INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION ACTIVITY
International cooperation plays an essential role in European,regional and global collaboration and favors collaboration withinternational organizations, facilitating the exchange of informationand experience between Member States, contributing to the improvement of practices and standards at international level.
OSIM maintains its collaborative relationships with European
intellectual property organizations by continuing the initiatives andcarrying on European programs with the European Union Intellectual
Property Of ice (EUIPO) and the European Patent Of ice (EPO), as
concrete examples of cooperation in the ield of intellectual property at
the European level.

EUROPEAN UNION INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY OFFICE (EUIPO)

A. Implementing Cooperation Projects
During 2023, the bilateral cooperation between OSIM and EUIPO focused mainly on
improving the functionality of the electronic tools previously developed within the framework of
the cooperation activity, in particular the internal application for managing the procedure of
examination and registration of trademarks and designs – the Back Of ice system.
In September 2023, OSIM successfully completed a new stage of the Back Of ice System
improvements project by integrating trademark invalidity iles into the system. This
implementation increased the functional range of the system and the operational ef iciency ofthe of ice. The major bene it of this project is that OSIM is now able to keep electronic records of
all invalidity iles and this way it can monitor the invalidity process electronically.
All these improvements are the result of the work carried out by EUIPO and its partners
within European cooperation projects. The projects are intended to support national intellectual
property of ices in developing more eﬀective, reliable and applicant-friendly tools and services.
OSIM examiners have been involved in the activities of de ining and implementing common
practice in the ield of trademark and design examination to ensure transparency, legal certainty
and predictability, for the bene it of national of ices and users.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

38

B. Promotion Activity
The activity of disseminating information on the importance of industrial property
protection both nationally and across the EU, as well as the organization of educational events forvarious categories of participants, were a signi icant component of the activity of cooperation
between OSIM and EUIPO during the year 2023, as well as during the previous years.
OSIM supported and promoted the SME Fund project, which is a grant scheme designed tohelp EU small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to protect their intellectual property rights.
The project is aimed at companies that want to develop their intellectual property strategies andprotect their intellectual property rights, nationally or across the EU.

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (EPO)
In the framework of the Bilateral Cooperation Agreement concluded between OSIM and
EPO, the specialists of our organization continue to bene it from both professional training
courses of the EPO Academy and language training courses.
All these courses can represent valuable tools for improving the professional competence
and language skills of our specialists, oﬀering them the opportunity to develop their abilities
speci ic to their ield of activity, while re ining their knowledge and skills to face the professional
challenges.
It is also worth mentioning the IT Cooperation Project launched within the EPO Strategic
Plan 2023, which aims to equip EPO Member States with modern tools made by a community ofnational experts, end users and international partners.
In this context, OSIM joined the Pilot Project on the new modern search system of the EPO,
ANSERA, intended to replace the current EPOQUENET system in use by the Member States for avery long time. Moreover, in appreciation of the support oﬀered by the EPO specialists, OSIM
joined the other participating national of ices and started the testing of the new search tool.
50 years have passed since the signing of the European Patent Convention (EPC). This
convention was signed in 1973 and represented a historic moment in the development of theEuropean patent system. As is the case with such important anniversaries, the event was marked
by various activities and initiatives meant to invite us to celebration and re lection on the
progress made in the ield of intellectual property over the past 50 years. Over time, the numberof signatory states to the Convention has increased, which re lects the increased interest andcommitment to the European patent system.
On the basis of this Convention, eﬀorts were made to create the Unitary European Patent,
which aims to create a European patent valid in multiple EU member countries.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

39

WORLD INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO)
International organizations, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),
can facilitate information and good practice exchange between countries willing to improve theirintellectual property protection systems.
Participation in WIPO programs and initiatives, such as the World Intellectual Property
Day, can be enabled by bilateral cooperation, oﬀering access to global resources and networks toeach partner-country.
In the framework of the collaboration with WIPO, OSIM along with ORDA, organize events
intended to give incentive to innovation and research, thereby contributing to evolution andprogress in key-areas.
Consequently, bilateral cooperation with WIPO is a key element in organizing andimplementing actions regarding intellectual property rights, thereby oﬀering valuable
opportunities for knowledge, resources and experience exchange in the ield.

STATE AGENCY ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA (AGEPI)The pandemic period aﬀected the capacity of our organization of organizing meetings andevents together with AGEPI, which led to a break in the usual collaboration and interactions
between our of ices.
Renewing dialogue and collaboration is always an important step forward. Such meetings
provide an extraordinary platform for exchanging ideas, identifying joint opportunities andestablishing clear directions for further cooperation between OSIM and AGEPI.
Therefore, between 27-29 September 2023, AGEPI held the Trilateral Meeting AGEPIOSIM-ORDA, a irst meeting in which the priorities and common objectives of the threeorganizations, as well as practical ways of collaboration were discussed. The speci ic areas ofinterest in which each party can make a valuable contribution were highlighted and the concrete
work plan for the coming year was established.
It is gratifying to see that the commitment to strengthen regional cooperation in the ield ofintellectual property is taking shape and we hope that this irst meeting is only the beginning of awell-established collaboration bene icial to the parties involved.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

40

06

INDUSTRIAL
PROPERTY PROTECTIONPROMOTION ACTIVITY

OSIM experts within the Communication and Operational Marketing Division wereinvolved, during the year 2023, in actions of promoting the protection and valorization ofindustrial property, consisting of seminars, conferences, round tables, qualifying examination
for acquiring the quality of IP attorney, fairs and exhibitions. Moreover, thematic papers,
statistical and synthesis studies, essential for the decision-making process, were developed
within this Division.
Participation in exhibition events such as: national exhibitions of research, innovation andtechnological transfer, technical fairs, represented last year, the same as in the preceding years,
an important component of the activity of OSIM experts, who had the opportunity to share withthe participants information of interest in the ield of industrial property. Among the events
attended by OSIM experts we mention:

1

2

International Exhibition of Student
Innovation and Research Cadet INOVA,
VIIIth Edition;

EUROINVENT – European Exhibition ofCreativity and Innovation,
Iaș i, XV-th edition;

3

4International Exhibition of Inventions andInnovation „TRAIAN VUIA”, Timiș oara,
IXth edition;

International Inventions
Exhibition – INVENTICA,
Iaș i, 27th edition;

5

6International Exhibition INVENTCOR,
Deva, IVth edition;

International Exhibition of Research,Innovation and Inventions, PRO INVENT,
Cluj-Napoca, XXIst edition;

7

8

UGAL INVENT – EXHIBITION OF
INNOVATION AND RESEARCH,
Galați, VIth edition;

Exhibition of Wine andOenotourism – Revino Bucharest
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41

9

10

National Seminar ”Industrial Design inRomania – 30 years after the adoption of thefirst design protection law in our country”,
Bucharest;

Seminar „Industrial Property – Catalyst for
Innovational Development in Academic,
Research and Business Environment”,
Tâ rgoviș te;

11

12World IP Day 2023 – Women and Intellectual
Property: Accelerating innovation andcreativity, Bucharest;

Business Development Potential in
the Era of Digitalization, Intellectual
Property and European Funding,
Bacă u;13

14

Seminar “Industrial Property – key-elementin business development”,
Constanța;Seminar “National and European
Trademark. Similarities and Differences”,
Cluj-Napoca.

During the national seminar „Industrial
Design in Romania – 30 years after the
adoption of the irst design protection law inour country”, papers were upheld and debates
on current issues in the ield of designs took
place with the participation of specialists of theState Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks, theCourt of Justice of the European Union, theHigh Court of Cassation and Justice, the Courtof Appeal of Bucharest, the Doctoral School of
the University Nicolae Titulescu and theIntellectual Property Law Science Association,
as well as the National Chamber of Industrial
Property Attorneys of Romania.
In the framework of the seminar„Industrial Property – Catalyst for Innovational
Development in Academic, Research andBusiness Environment” that took place inTâ rgoviș te, OSIM representatives delivered
presentations on topics relating to theindustrial property rights protection at thenational and European level.
The specialists of OSIM participated in the XIX-th edition of the event „THE CREATIVITY
TROPHY 2023” organized by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture ofConstanța. THE CREATIVITY TROPHY was awarded by OSIM to companies from Constanțacounty for their remarkable activity in the industrial property ield.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

42

Moreover, the delegates of OSIM organized a seminar under the title „Industrial Property –key-element in business development”, during which, the papers made by the specialists of OSIM
had in view that large, small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the
dynamics of the economy, both nationally and across Europe. The experts of the Communication
and Operational Marketing Division drew a parallel between the national and European
trademark, presenting the main similarities and diﬀerences, as well as the national trademark
registration system versus the European trademark registration system. They also provided
information regarding the continuation of the project SME Fund – Ideas Powered for Business.
Last year, the specialists of OSIM participated in 2 webinars organized by EUIPO on topics
regarding the implementation of tools, services, certi ications and common practices by theEuropean Union Intellectual Property Network.
Throughout the year 2023, the experts of said division also took part in the fairs andexhibitions organized by Romexpo, of which it is worth mentioning:
1. International Trade Fair of Furniture, Equipment and Accessories – BIFE-SIM;
2. International Fair of Products and Equipment in the Field of Agriculture, Horticulture,
Viticulture and Animal Husbandry – INDAGRA;
3. Romania's Tourism Fair;
4. #TotulPentruCasaTa Fair 2023 (Construct Ambient Expo, Romtherm, Expo Flowers &Garden and Mobila Expo);
5. International Consumer Goods Fair – TIBCO 2023.
In 2023, OSIM organized the qualifying examination for acquiring the quality of industrial
property attorney for the following industrial property law objects: Patents and Utility Models,
Trademarks and Geographical Indications, Designs. A total number of 106 people registered forthe exam, of which 103 candidates took part in the examination. Candidates' pass rate was of100%.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

43

At the OSIM Reading Hall, 730 persons were lent specialized assistance consisting of
information concerning the protection of inventions, trademarks and designs.

The Public Relations Compartment responded promptly and professionally to all requests
for information received at the OSIM headquarters, by phone or by e-mail; in this context, 16974
requests were registered, the ields of interest being those presented in the graph below.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

44

The specialists of the division have drawn up a series of statistical analysis studies as it canbe seen below.

PATLIB ACTIVITY
The Regional Centres of OSIM are established by virtue of Art. 14 (1) of the Government
Decision No 573 of 7 September 1998 (as updated) on the organization and functioning of theState Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks, which stipulates: “The State Of ice for Inventions andTrademarks may support the activity of regional centres in the ield of industrial property bylending technical assistance, consultancy and endowing them, in accordance with the legislation
in force”. The Regional Centres are territorial entities attached to local institutions from which
they bene it by inancial support, premises with of ice supplies and personnel, while OSIM
provides them with support in the ield of staﬀ training and with all the publications of OSIM.
The establishment of Regional Centers was aimed at the promotion of the industrial property
protection importance across the country, at the dissemination of public information on
industrial property and raising awareness of local communities on this ield of activity. The
centres operate within the framework of local host-institutions, based on collaboration
conventions concluded with OSIM, for jointly setting the objectives, as well as the duties andobligations of each party.
The main goal of the Regional Centres is to promote the industrial property protection and theservices provided by OSIM across the Romanian territory.
Other activities of the Regional Centres concern the provision of services, such as: documentary
search, technical assistance lent to applicants, within their Reading Halls, training regarding
database utilization, evaluation of the economic potential of inventions and development ofindustrial property strategy, presenting lectures on industrial property protection in seminars,
round tables, fairs organized in the respective regions as well as courses of initiation in theindustrial property ield, in particular in the case of Centres hosted by universities.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

45

Applications by administrative units*

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

46

*where: CDM – Applications for design registration;
CIM – Applications for trademark registration;
CBI – Patent applications.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

47

PATLIB Conference 2023 was held between 11-12.05.2023 in hybrid mode, i.e. in bothon-line mode and in-person, in Tallin, Estonia. The generic of this edition was the impact of thevirtual environment (arti icial intelligence and metaverse) on innovation and industrial
property, the purpose of the event being to create a link between the end of the PATLIB 2.0 Project
and the future activities of the PATLIB network.
The conference bene itted by the presence of representatives of national of ices as well asof Regional Centers.

INDUSTRIAL
PROPERTY ATTORNEYS
On 31.12.2023, 318 industrial property attorneys were registered with the National
Chamber of Industrial Property Attorneys in the 4 ields:

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

48

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

49

07

SERVICES PROVIDEDTO OUR CLIENTSSERVICES IN THE FIELD OF INVENTIONS
Based on the national search orders and the Addendum to theMemorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the ield ofindustrial property concluded between OSIM and the Intellectual
Property Of ices of Slovenia and Macedonia, 36 search reports withwritten opinion on novelty and theme search reports for Romanianapplicants, as well as 3 search reports for the Intellectual Property
Of ice of Slovenia were carried out and sent in the reference year.
10 theme searches for third parties were carried out for
Romanian third parties, upon order, in specialized technical ields, suchas mechanics and electrical engineering-electronics, in patent databases and non-patent literature.
2 specialized searches regarding the existence, in Romania, ofpatents having certain chemical substances as their object were carriedout, as well.
The range of services was completed by a number of 90 legal
status communications referring to national patents, European patents
and SPCs.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

50

IDEA ENVELOPE SERVICE
Established in 2008, with a view to storing and keeping safely, under non-public conditions,documents containing ideas of creations in various ields, which cannot be protected under thecurrent industrial property laws or copyright and related rights law, the “Idea envelope” service
scored a number of 76 requests in 2023.

SERVICES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARKSIn accordance with the provisions of Law no. 84/1998, as republished, and of OSIM OrderNo. 4/2021, OSIM carried out, at the request of the interested parties, 1502 documentary
searches. Also, based on the OSIM-EUIPO Cooperation Agreement, 150 documentary searches
were carried out.

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51

SERVICES IN
THE FIELD OF DESIGNSDocumentary search in the ield of designs is conducted under
the provisions of the Design Law 129/1992, as republished, and of theOrder of the Director General of OSIM No 80/01.08.2018, that regulate
the tariﬀs for said activity.
In 2023, 42 requests for documentary search were submitted.

PUBLISHING HOUSE, TRANSLATIONS,ARCHIVES AND INTERNALMANAGERIAL CONTROL DIVISION
In 2023, the Publishing House, Translations, Archives and Internal Managerial Control
Division (SETFACIM) comprised 3 compartments with distinct activity, led directly by the Headof Division.
The organizational structure of the Division, at the reporting date, is the following:

Headof Division

Publishing
House –
Translations
Compartment

Archives
Compartment

Internal
Managerial
ControlCompartment

PUBLISHING HOUSE
The general policy of the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM) in the ield of
publishing the information in its own ield of activity has always been oriented towards
improving the system of information dissemination within the national and international socialeconomic environment. In order to facilitate the carrying out of this task, OSIM has got its own
publishing house – OSIM Publishing House® – authorized by the Ministry of Culture since 1993.
The main activity thereof is to edit and print, in accordance with G.D. No 573/1998 on theorganization and functioning of the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks, as amended, theOSIM publications.
In the reference year, 12 issues/section were edited and published for the four sections of
BOPI.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

BOPI 2023

52

TRADEMARKSANDGEOGRAPHICALINDICATIONSSECTIONPATENTSSECTION

EUROPEAN
PATENTAPPLICATIONSAND PATENTS
WITH EFFECTS
IN ROMANIASECTION

DESIGNSSECTION

270445
template
pages

OSIM publications are carried out in both the classic printed version (paper version) and inelectronic format and are distributed as CD or online/FTP, and all the sections of BOPI are postedon the OSIM website, under the heading Publications.
Currently existent publications and promotional materials were updated and printed. For
better informing the public concerned, the OSIM Publishing House® section of the of icial OSIM
webpage www.osim.ro hosts the information brochures.
The Division also carried out the design, layout and printing of posters, roll-ups, diplomas
and other materials needed within the events organized by our organization.
TYPOGRAPHIC WORKSHOP

452679pages wereprinted.

71 mof graphicalimagesin Plotter
printing
were achieved.

296
CDs/DVDs
were written.

Manual/mechanicalbookbinding
and inishingactivities
amountingto 650 units
were carried out.

Specialized Publications
616 publications were sent to the National Library of Romania as Legal Deposit.
Specialized publications were periodically sent to the National Library of Romania and theMetropolitan Library, in order to be distributed across the country.
Based on the conventions concluded by OSIM with the EPO, WIPO and AGEPI, SETFACIM
prepares and transmits monthly the data corresponding to the speci ications of patentapplications, patents and utility models, in compliance with international standards in the ield,with the data structures recommended /agreed with our external partners.

WIPO:

•

950 documents in XML and HTML format amounting to 11517 pages were
processed.

EPO:

•
•

1169 documents amounting to 13733 pages were sent.
3755 RO-EP iles amounting to 228336 pages were sent and checked.

AGEPI: •1169 documents in PDF format were sent as data exchanges.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

53

TRANSLATIONS COMPARTMENT
19 Search Reports
with written
opinion translated
into English
for IP Of icesof Slovenia
and Macedonia

3764 pages
translated into
Romanian upon
IPC Class revision,
Edition 2024, classes
A-H EPC4

1696 technical texttranslations into English(patent applications,patents, utility models)entered into the patent
data bases
Common Software,
Search and IPAS

Project – Language Check (OSIM-EUIPO)
Translation of verbal elements of 78543
EU trademarks that have a meaning in Romanian,
while providing information/explanations about them

ACTIVITY OF OSIM ARCHIVES
In 2023, a special importance was given to the digitization of documents, so that the activityof setting up electronic archival units for trademarks continued.

11452
scannediles

744380pages

Regarding the management of OSIM's documentary funds, the staﬀ of the Archives
Compartment made available to the colleagues from the specialized divisions of OSIM 10060
archival units for which 375892 pages were certi ied and also took over from the specialized
divisions 14476 new archival units and 10301 returned units.

Within the National Patent Collection, 1080 new entries were entered in the registers(patent applications, patents and utility models).

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

54

ACTIVITY WITHIN THE TECHNICALSECRETARIAT OF THE SCIMMONITORING COMMISSION
In 2023, the Technical Secretariat of the Monitoring Commission prepared the meetings of
the Commission, proposed the risk pro ile and the risk tolerance limit, based on the Risk Register
at OSIM level and sent the approved Plan of Measures on the management of signi icant risks tothe structures concerned, for implementation.
It also prepared the Synthesis of the results of the self-assessment, as provided in Annex
No. 4.2 of the Order of the Secretary General of the Government (OSGG) No. 600/2018 for theapproval of the Code of internal managerial control of public entities, by centralizing the pieces of
information from the self-assessment questionnaires, as signed and transmitted by the heads ofthe departments from the irst management level, it elaborated Chapter II of the Centralized
Report regarding the stage of implementation and development of the internal managerial
control system (Annex No. 3 of OSGG no. 600/2018).
It assessed the structural compliance of the new or revised system procedures andoperational procedures with the provisions of OSGG no. 600/2018 or with the internal regulations; also, all the system and operational procedures, corrective and improvement actions at theorganization level were recorded, based on the data transmitted by the heads of departmentsfrom the irst management level and the Commission documents were recorded, stored andarchived.
Also, within the Technical Secretariat of the Monitoring Commission were centralized, atthe organization level, the action plans for achieving the general objectives of the organization, as
submitted by the departments, and the development stages of SCIM, and the documents relating
to the semester and annual data analysis submitted by the OSIM departments were received andregistered, with a view to preparing the analyses performed by the management.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

55

08

ENSURING
THE IT&C SYSTEM

By virtue of the G.D. No 573 of 7 September 1998 on the organization and functioning of theState Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks, as republished, the activities intended to ensure theoperation of the information technology and communications system are incumbent upon the
Information Technology and Communications (IT&C) Division.
The IT&C Division activity was aimed to meet the following speci ic objectives, derived fromthe general objectives of the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks – as updated in 2023:
1. modernization of OSIM information system by replacing the voice-data network and theirewall system;
2. integration of information from the OSIM IT system into the national and international IT
structures:- implementation of a new complex module integrated into the Back Of ice system for
Trademarks and Desings for the processing of trademark applications iled byinternational route in which Romania is the country of origin, and of trademarks registeredby international route, in which Romania has been a designated state, respectively;- regular updating of external databases at the requested quality level, according tointernational agreements and conventions.
3. reducing the time of access to information by increasing the correctness and availabilityof data within the OSIM IT system;
4. contribution to the development of the institutional capacity by development and optimal
utilization of OSIM IT system;
5. implementation of the project for carrying out the IP Register infrastructure in
Blockchain, under the Cooperation Agreement with EUIPO;
6. ensuring the increase of awareness in Romania regarding the role of industrial property
and improving the way of disseminating the information. The IT&C Division has timely
updated the OSIM website and implemented new versions for the online Registers;
7. increasing the degree of compliance with ISO 9001:2015, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and SCIM
within the IT&C Division.

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09
HUMAN RESOURCES
The Human Resources Compartment is directly subordinated to the Director General of
OSIM and comprises 3 experts. According to the legislation in force, the Human Resources
Compartment has as its main objective the management of human resources.
In 2023, the Human Resources Compartment carried out the following activities:
registration and transmission of personnel data in REVISAL, amounting to anumber of 342;
1217 documents introduced into the personnel iles, including the payroll program;drawing up, recording and issuing 417 certi icates;
conclusion of 104 additional acts to the Individual Employment Contracts;
issuance of 81 orders and decisions on secondment/suspension/appointment/
relocation of employees;
management of requests for employees' annual rest leave, in a number of 2885;
management of requests for employees' sick leave, in a number of 221;checking of the time sheets of OSIM Directorates, in a number of 275;
management of employees' job descriptions, in a number of 178;
managing the employees' self-evaluation and evaluation sheets, in a number of 426;
drawing up the positions and staﬀ lists, in a number of 92.
Also, the Human Resources Compartment provided advice in the process ofcompleting/updating declarations of assets and interests, amounting to 22, ensuring thecarrying out of this process, their publication on the Intranet page of the organization, and theirtransmission to the National Integrity Agency.
The professional training of employees continued in 2023, with the staﬀ of the State Of ice
for Inventions and Trademarks participating in 45 professional training courses.
On 31.12.2023, the State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks had a number of 86
examiners for protection titles of the total number of 228 posts occupied.

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57

10

ECONOMIC
ACTIVITY – BUDGETThe Income and Expenditure Budget of OSIM for 2023 was approved by the main credit
release authority, the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism.
In 2023, the total income of OSIM amounted to 80886.87 thousand lei, of which, the major
value is covered by the income made from activities relating to inventions and trademarks.

Incomes – thousand lei
Indicator

2022

2023

%

Inventions

45.149,0745.274,91

0,28

Trademarks and geographical indications

24.933,0230.596,97

22,72

495,20634,7428,18

Other incomes*

7.714,58

4.380,25-43,22

Total incomes

78.291,87

80.886,87

3,31

Designs* The amount consists of:ü recovered amounts from: EUIPO projects, exchange rate diﬀerences and delegations
inanced by EPO, EUIPO, WIPO; recovered amounts from projects with non-refundable
foreign inancing;ü services and publications.

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

58

The expenditures incurred by OSIM in 2023 recorded a value of 50887.88 thousand lei,compared to 57321 thousand lei, the amount approved by the Income and Expenditure Budget.
This level of expenditures allowed the carrying out of all the activities deriving from OSIM
attributions, in good conditions.
Expenditures – thousand lei

Indicator
Personnel expenditures
Goods and services
Capital expenditures
Projects with non-refundable foreign inancing
Transfers abroad
Other expenditures
Total expenditu res

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

2022
21.714,81
5.324,87
586,844.352,26
18.625,84
228,6550.833,272023
23.699,72
5.642,91
2.893,91
6,80
18.409,67
234,8750.887,88

%
9,14
5,97
393,13-99,84
-1,16
2,72
0,11

59

11
STATISTICS
A. APPLICATIONSFOR PROTECTION TITLES – TOTAL
2021
1. Patent applications

2023

817

843

889

2. Applications for TSP1 registration

0

0

0

3. Applications for Supplementary Protection Certi icates

60

60

55

4. Utility model applications

39

49

58

5. Applications for trademark registration

11092

10944

13813

6. Applications for trademark renewal

8335

7696

9409

0

0

0

8. Applications for design registration

259

203

256

9. Applications for design renewal

176

143

178

20778

19938

24662

7. Applications for geographical indication registration

TOTAL
1

2022

TPS – Topographies of Semiconductor Products

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

60

Applications by administrative units

2021

2022

Macroregion
Development region
County

CBI

CIM

CDM

MACROREGION ONE

133

1835

North – West

94

Bihor
Bistrița-Nă să ud
Cluj
Maramureș
Satu MareSă lajCentreAlba
Braș ov
Covasna
Harghita
Mureș
Sibiu

CBI

2023

CIM

CDM

CBI

CIM

CDM

29

122 1765

22

112

2479

32

918

14

82

968

11

74

1309

12

10
7
63
11
1
2

191
57
462
115
68
25

6
2
2
1
0
3

4
5
58
14
0
1

198
75
473
132
61
29

0
3
6
2
0
0

11
5
49
7
0
2

229
96
718
146
82
38

2
3
4
3
0
0

39

917

15

40

797

11

38

1170

20

4
17
1
1
10
6

117
356
32
51
141
220

8
1
4
0
2
0

5
25
2
0
2
6

90
303
33
52
143
176

1
4
1
1
2
2

2
16
2
1
11
6

167
450
49
66
192
246

1
11
0
3
2
3

2021

2022

Macroregion
Development region
County

CBI

CIM

CDM

MACROREGION TWO

147

1420

North – East109

Bacă uBotoşaniIaşiNeamţSuceava
Vaslui

CBI

2023

CIM

CDM

CBI

CIM

CDM

48

133 1571

20

157

2090

36

743

15

114

834

13

123

1149

12

4
4
71
7
20
3

154
48
286
76
137
42

2
2
5
3
3
0

1
5
82
5
17
4

119
37
354
76
181
67

1
0
8
0
4
0

8
1
82
10
21
1

196
66
473
115
246
53

2
0
2
6
2
0

South – East

38

677

33

19

737

7

34

941

24

Bră ila
Buză uConstanţa
Galaţi
TulceaVrancea

1
3
13
17
2
2

31
75
351
109
25
86

0
3
27
1
1
1

1
3
5
9
0
1

31
71
428
111
34
62

0
0
3
2
0
2

1
3
13
12
3
2

63
97
418
184
52
127

2
2
16
1
0
3

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

61

2021

2022

Macroregion
Development region
County

CBI

CIM

CDM

MACROREGION THREE

486 4877

South – Muntenia

58

Argeș
Că lă raș i
Dâ mbovițaGiurgiu
IalomițaPrahova
Teleorman

23
4
12
0
3
16
0

CIM

CDM

CBI

CIM

CDM

86

454 4706

73

466

6253

104

621

24

53

655

10

34

896

10

161
42
62
34
32
257
33

4
1
5
0
2
12
0

12
1
8
0
1
30
1

173
27
93
41
39
243
39

8
0
0
0
0
2
0

6
0
14
5
0
9
0

248
38
108
47
48
358
49

4
0
5
0
0
1
0

428 425662

401 4051

63

432

5357

94

Ilfov

105

704

10

107

732

13

109

1101

10

Bucharest

323

3552

52

294

3319

50

323

4256

84

Bucharest – Ilfov

CBI

2023

2021

2022

2023

Macroregion
Development region
County

CBI

CIM

CDM

CBI

CIM

CDM

CBI

CIM

CDM

MACROREGION FOUR

111

920

15

96

849

28

82

1210

26

South – West Oltenia

55

336

6

40

329

13

33

482

22

21
4
3
8
19

140
40
15
39
102

5
0
0
0
1

24
3
1
1
11

138
34
26
49
82

4
6
0
0
3

17
3
2
1
10

193
51
49
68
121

11
5
0
0
6

56

584

9

56

520

15

49

728

4

11
5
10
30

104
18
67
395

1
1
1
6

7
1
11
37

85
22
57
356

2
0
4
9

6
0
9
34

157
39
83
449

0
0
2
2

Dolj
Gorj
Mehedinți
Olt
Vâ lcea
West
Arad
Caraș -Severin
Hunedoara
Timiș

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

62

Patents
1. Filed patent applications – total, of which:- Romanian applicants- foreign applicants – total, of which:- by national route- by international route (PCT)
2. Granted patents 1 – total
3. Issued patents – total
4. Patent duplicates – total
5. Issued priority certi icates – total
1

2021
817
775
42
806
11
397
376
1362
62

2022
843
805
38
835
8
362
364
1449
53

2023
889
817
72
867
22
349
314
1296
74

2021
3433
2755

2022
2589
1577

2023
2870
918

2021
60
34

2022
60
33

2023
55
21

2021
39
26
13
56

2022
49
38
11
26

2023
58
46
12
23

2022
184
111
312
198
805

2023
204
175
241
197
817

Decisions to grant

European patents (EP)European patents validated in Romania
European patent validation certi icates

Supplementary protection certi icate (SPC)
SPC applications for registration
Issued SPC

Utility models
1. Utility model applications – total, of which:- Romanian applicants- foreign applicants
2. Issued certi icates – total

Patent applications, by categories of Romanian applicantsCategories of applicants- Natural persons- Companies- Research institutes- Education institutions
Romanian applicants – total

2021
226
140
232
177
775

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

63

Trademarks, trademark renewals and geographical indications
2021
11092
9292

2022
10944
9453

2023
13813
12269

9134
131
27

8891
530
32

12032
237
18

· Trademark applications iled with RO as country of origin

20

94

46

· By international route
2. Trademark renewals – total, of which:- by national route- by international route (Madrid)
3. Issued certi icates – total
4. Applications for geographical indication registration – total

1800

1491

1480

8335
3940
4395
13077
0

7696
3361
4335
12884
0

9409
4294
5115
10430
0

2021
259
177

2022
203
143

2023
256
198

82

60

58

4
78
176
363

8
52
143
277

3
55
182
342

1. Trademark applications for registration – total, of which:· By national route- Romanian applicants- foreign applicants· CTM conversion

Designs and Design renewals
1. Applications for design registration – total, of which:· Romanian applicants· Foreign applicants – total, of which:- by national route- by international route (the Hague)
2. Design renewals – total
3. Issued certi icates – total

Designs contained in the applications for design registration
2021
Designs contained in the applications for registration – total,of which:

2022

2023

824

567

654

· Romanian applicants

452

372

433

· Foreign applicants – total, of which:- by national route

372

195

221

7

9

4

365

186

217

- by international route (the Hague)

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

64

B. EXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS
2021
1194
474

2022
900
185

2023
841
128

720

715

713

0
51
67
15364
3940
482
475
176
4
21753

0
39
43
11089
7798
777
347
137
4
21134

0
33
64
11700
8557
546
425
181
1
22348

a. Patent applications examined – total, of which:- Romanian (RO)- foreign – of which:- by national route- by international route (PCT)

2021
720
705
15
5
10

2022
700
663
37
16
21

2023
713
685
28
11
17

b. Patent applications examined - by decisions – total, of which:- Granted patents- patent applications refused upon examination- patent applications withdrawn upon examination

2021
720
397
321
2

2022
700
362
348
5

2023
713
349
359
5

2021
51
33
8
10

2022
39
33
4
2

2023
33
17
10
6

1. Examined patent applications – total, of which:- Examination of patent applications – in the preliminary
examination- Examination of patent applications – in the substantive
examination
2. Examination of applications for TSP1 registration
3. Examination of SPC2 applications
4. Examination of utility models
5. Examination of trademark registration applications
6. Examination of trademark renewal applications
7. Examination of trademark oppositions
8. Examination of design registration applications
9. Examination of design renewal applications
10. Examination of design oppositions
Total number of examined applications – OSIM
1
2

TSP - Topographies of semiconductor products
SCP – Supplementary protection certi icate

Patent application examination (CBI)

Substantive examination of supplementary protection
certi icate (SPC) applications
Substantive examination of SPC applications – total, of which:- SPC granted- SPC refused- SPC withdrawn

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

65

Examination of utility model applications
Examination of utility model applications – total, of which:- registered utility model applications- refused utility model applications- withdrawn utility model applications

2021
67
46
2
19

2022
43
24
16
3

2023
64
45
14
5

2022
11041
8642
7771
774
97
2399
2283
116

2023
11700
9529
7969
1073
487
2171
2097
74

2021
8335
3940
4395

2022
7696
3361
4335

2023
8557
3442
5115

2021
475
196
279
188

2022
347
137
210
145

2023
425
192
233
185

172
15
1
91

136
9
0
65

183
2
0
48

91
0
0

65
0
0

48
0
0

2021
176

2022
137

2023
181

Examination of applications for trademark registration
Examined – total, of which:a. Examination of applications by national route – total, of which:- admitted- refused- cancelled/withdrawn
b. Examination of applications by international route – total, of which:- admitted- refused

2021
15364
12541
11550
746
245
2823
2784
39

Examination of applications for trademark renewal
Examination of applications for renewal – total, of which:- by national route- by international route

Examination of applications for design registration
Examined - total
a. preliminary examinationb. substantive examination – total, of which:· by national route, of which:- admitted to protection- protection refused- renunciation· by international route, of which:- admitted to protection- protection refused- renunciation

Examination of applications for design renewal
Examination of applications for design renewal

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

66

C. STOCK OF PENDING APPLICATIONS
2021
Total stock of pending applications on 31 December 2023 Patents and Technological Information Directorate, of which:- Stock of patent applications in the Preliminary Examination- Stock of patent applications in the Substantive Examination- Stock of utility model applications- Stock of applications for topographies of semiconductor
products (TSP) registration- Stock of supplementary protection certi icate (SPC)
applications
Total stock of pending applications on 31 December 2023 Trademarks and Designs Directorate, of which:- Stock of trademark registration applications- Stock of trademark oppositions- Stock of design registration applications- Stock of design oppositions

2022

2023

4081

4112

4093

1186

1210

1274

2624
47

2593
61

2499
59

0

0

0

224

248

261

3134

3317

2756

2335

2600

2014

686
112
1

655
60
2

663
79
0

2022
364
1449
53
26
0
33
1577
12884
277
16663

2023
314
1296
74
20
0
21
2870
10430
342
15367

D. ISSUANCE OF PROTECTION
DOCUMENTS

1. Patents
2. Patent duplicates
3. Priority certi icates
4. Utility model certi icates
5. Certi icates of TSP registration
6. Supplementary Protection Certi icates
7. European patent validation certi icates
8. Certi icates of trademark registration and renewal
9. Certi icates of design registration and renewal
TOTAL

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

2021
376
1362
62
56
0
34
2755
13077
363
18085

67

E. APPEALS
Appeals lodged with the Inventions Boardof Appeal within the Appeal Division
2021
Appeals remained unsettled from the preceding years
Appeals lodged during the current year
Appeals to be settled next year
Settled – total, of which:- settled, from the preceding years- settled, from the current year
Solutions – total, of which:- admitted- rejected

2022

3
12
5
10
3
7
10
4
6

2023

5
13
3
15
5
10
15
8
7

0
9
2
8
3
5
8
2
6

Appeals lodged with the Inventions Boardof Appeal within the Legal Division
2021
Appeals remained unsettled from the preceding years
Appeals lodged during the current year
Appeals to be settled next year
Settled – total, of which:- settled, from the preceding years- settled, from the current year
Solutions – total, of which:- admitted- rejected

2022
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
0

2023
1
3
0
3
0
3
2
2
0

0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0

Appeals lodged with the Trademarks Board of Appeal
2021

2022

2023

Appeals remained unsettled from the preceding years
Appeals lodged during the current year

193
252

151
348

201
242

Appeals to be settled next year
Settled – total, of which:- settled, from the preceding years- settled, from the current year
Solutions – total, of which:- admitted- rejected- other solutions

151
294
149
145
294
155
138
1

197
302
103
199
302
197
105
0

134
300
156
144
300
137
163
0

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

68

Appeals lodged with the Designs Board of Appeal
2021

2022

2023

Appeals remained unsettled from the preceding years

0

0

0

Appeals lodged during the current year

0

1

1

Appeals to be settled next year

0

1

0

Settled – total, of which:- settled, from the preceding years- settled, from the current year
Solutions – total, of which:- admitted- rejected

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

1
0
1
1
0
1

2021
67
3
16
10

2022
65
4
27
13

2023
76
2
36
3

9
193
798
19

7
93
1150
39

4
90
1652
21

2021
23673
9246

2022
36717
12541

2023
14476
10060

F. SERVICES
Services in the IP ield
The Idea Envelope
Specialized searches, by chemical substances
Searches for third parties – Inventions
Searches performed under agreements concluded with National
Of ices
Portfolio searches
Legal status searches
Trademark searches
Design searches

G. ARCHIVES ACTIVITY

New entries
Lendings

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

69

12
ABBREVIATIONSAGEPI– State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova

BOPI– Of icial Industrial Property Bulletin

CCINA– Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture

CEBS– Central European and Baltic States GroupCIM– Trademark Registration Application

CMO– Operational Marketing Compartment

CTM– Community Trademark

CUE– Council of the European Union

DLT– Design Law TreatyEP– European Patent

EPC– European Patent Convention

EPO– European Patent Of ice

EU– European Union

EUIPO– European Union Intellectual Property Of ice

GD– Government Decision

IP– Industrial Property

IPC– International Patent Classi ication

IPR– Industrial Property Rights

ISO– International Standardization Organization

ISO/IEC– International Standardization Organization ISO – International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)ITC– Information Technology and Communications

OSGG– Order of Secretary General of the Government

OSIM– State Of ice for Inventions and Trademarks

PCT– Patent Cooperation Treaty

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

70

REVISAL– General Record of EmployeesRO– Romania

SCIM– Internal Management Control System

SETFACIM– Publishing House, Translations, Archives and InternalManagerial Control Division

SME– Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise

SPC– Supplementary Protection Certi icate

TSP– Topographies of Semiconductor Products

WIPO– World Intellectual Property Organization

ANNUAL REPORT 2023

ISSN 2668-8964
ISSN-L 1582-4845

STATE OFFICE FOR INVENTIONSAND TRADEMARKS
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tel.: + 4021.306.08.00
fax: + 4021.312.38.19
e-mail: office@osim.rowww.osim.ro© 2024 OSIM Publishing House® - Printed at the OSIM Printing House