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Trilateral patent offices set to improve mutual exploitation of their work

Munich 17 November 2005 - The European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) have agreed to enhance their cooperation by further streamlining their procedures and common technical tools. At their annual trilateral conference the three Offices signed a Memorandum of Understanding which aims at increasing the efficiency of the patenting process and better exploiting the work performed by each office using common technical tools and harmonised procedures. This is of interest for many companies who have their patent applications processed in each one of the trilateral offices.

Other points include an agreement between the EPO and the USPTO for the electronic exchange of patent documents, which will contribute to speeding up the grant procedure in both offices and save considerable costs to the applicants. Between the EPO the JPO such an agreement has been in force since 1999. "The common projects agreed in this conference will improve co-operation and pave the way for a better exploitation of the work done by the three offices", EPO President Alain Pompidou said.

The conference included a one-day public meeting with user groups of the patent system, such as the associations of industry from the trilateral regions, but also patent attorneys, representatives of individual companies and journalists. The meeting, which was attended by some 150 participants, focused on the role of the trilateral offices in the future patent system.

USPTO Director Jon W. Dudas acknowledged that "our offices have special responsibility processing 85% of the world's patent applications." For JPO Commissioner Makoto Nakajima this responsibility implies to address issues such as quality and the avoidance of duplication of work with priority: " We have to look at the patent system as whole. The role of the trilateral offices is extremely important in dealing with these challenges."

In view of the strong patent usage by Japanese and US companies in their home markets Alain Pompidou urged long-due reforms in the European patent system: " The adoption of the London Agreement would reduce the translation cost for European patents by 50% for the applicants. This money could be reinvested in the innovation process. With the European Patent Litigation Agreement, the EPLA, we have an attractive solution ready for the litigation problem in Europe. It could be implemented with a Diplomatic Conference to be requested by our member states. Both reforms would remove important hurdles to using the European patent system, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises."

The trilateral cooperation between the EPO, the USPTO and the JPO, which started in 1983, is a pillar of the world wide patent system. It facilitates the filing of patent applications in transnational markets by defining technical and procedural standards and harmonising patent practice.

For further information please contact:

European Patent Office
Rainer Osterwalder
Press Officer
80298 Munich
Germany
press@epo.org

Phone: +4989-23991821