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China and Korea
China
Introduction
The EPO’s co-operation with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) is based on an agreement signed between the EPO and the former Chinese Patent Office (CPO) on 11 June 1985. An EPO-SIPO Joint Committee meets once a year to review relations and approve the following year’s programme of activities.
Objectives/Strategy
The overall objective is to facilitate trade between China and Europe by supporting China’s efforts to develop a modern and effective system for IPR protection, particularly in view of the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The EPO aims to help SIPO improve the quality of its work as the Chinese patent system expands. Education on IPR protection will be focused on decision-makers in government. In addition, IPR awareness will be raised among the general public.
Activities
The EPO’s Co-operation Programme with China covers the following specific activities:
- training of SIPO staff at the EPO;
- EPO experts offering technical assistance to SIPO;
- co-operation in automation;
- documentation and data exchange;
- co-operation in patent information.
Milestones
The main achievements of the projects developed in China within the framework of the EPO-SIPO bilateral co-operation programme include:
- SIPO’s adoption of the EPO's search system, EPOQUE;
- EPO training of more than 60 SIPO patent examiners a year;
- exchange of databases, updated weekly, including the Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM) database;
- setting up a Chinese IPR Information Helpdesk in Vienna;
- co-operation in machine translation;
- co-operation in biotechnology;
- joint co-operation on global issues (Traditional Knowledge (TK) databases).
Partners
- State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO);
- All China Patent Agents Association (ACPAA);
- Provincial IP Administrations;
- EC Delegation and EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
History of co-operation
The EPO has enjoyed a long and fruitful period of co-operation with SIPO, starting in 1985 with the signature of the first agreement. This was significantly enhanced in 1997, when EPOQUE was made available to SIPO.
Korea
On 29 June 2005, the EPO and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation and agreed minutes on specific activities to be developed within the framework of bilateral co-operation. The KIPO is eager to enhance co-operation with the EPO in areas such as the exchange of staff and information on patent granting procedures, classification issues and quality control.
The most important items agreed at the last Heads of Office meeting were:
- negotiations to set up a Korean IP Information Helpdesk at the EPO's Vienna Sub-Office;
- discussions on co-operating in devising tools for translation from Korean to English;
- access to Korean patent databases for patent information services. Upon request, the KIPO will provide the EPO with the necessary password for testing and training purposes;
- promoting and selling patent information products;
- setting up a Korean esp@cenet.