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Blueprint Laid Out for Work-sharing among Five IP Offices

Munich, 31 October 2008 - The heads of five intellectual property offices (IP5) met to address the common challenges they are currently facing. The meeting was held at Jeju, Korea, on October 27 and 28, 2008, and chaired by Dr. Jung-Sik Koh, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

The other heads of the IP5 offices were Ms Alison Brimelow, President of the European Patent Office (EPO); Mr Takashi Suzuki, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO); Mr Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), and Mr Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

They announced the adoption of the vision statement of work-sharing initiative among the five offices:  " The elimination of unnecessary duplication of work among the offices, enhancement of patent examination efficiency and quality, and guarantee of the stability of patent right ". The offices also elaborated a cooperative framework in the form of ten Foundation Projects. These projects were devised to harmonize the search and examination environment of each office and to standardize the information-sharing process. The projects are expected to facilitate the work-sharing initiative by enhancing the quality of patent searches and examinations and building mutual trust in each other's work.

As the world sees economic barriers between nations fade away, innovators want their intellectual creations protected concurrently in major markets. Hence, applications for the same technology are filed at more than one patent office.

The heads of the five offices recognize the trend toward greater globalization and seek to minimize the resultant redundancy of patent searches and examinations. They also share a concern for the growing number of pending patent applications and the prolonged pendency period; and they acknowledge that delays in granting patents hinder the promotion of innovation, which is an intrinsic function of the patent system. To tackle this global phenomenon in an efficient manner, the IP5 offices have agreed to collaborate in moving forward with a work-sharing initiative.

Each office will oversee the implementation of two Foundation Projects. For the first step, the offices agreed that by, at the latest, the end of April 2009 they would exchange detailed proposals on each Foundation Project and strive to identify the areas of agreement as well as specific details of implementation.

The benefits of work-sharing are expected to be tangible and substantial. The number of applications filed at two or more of the IP5 offices currently stands at up to 250,000 per year. Reutilisation of the work of another office for these duplicate applications can lead to significant improvements in patent examination efficiency for all the IP5 offices.

The work-sharing among the five offices will increase the efficiency of the patent system and minimize the cost and effort of patent applicants with regard to the acquisition and management of patent rights. Consistency in the patent process will ensure the predictability of patent results when applicants lodge applications at multiple offices. Greater simplicity will increase the convenience and savings of applicants.

At the close of the meeting, the offices pledged to continue working together toward the realization of the shared vision and agreed to convene the next Heads of the five offices meeting at a time convenient to each office in 2009.

Annex

The lead offices and their assigned Foundation Projects are as follows:

Common Documentation Database (lead: EPO)

• Aim: To bring together a common set of relevant patent and non-patent literature from around the world to assist patent examiners in their prior art searches

Common Approach for a Hybrid Classification (lead: EPO)

• Aim: To enable joint and efficient updating of patent classification and facilitate the reuse of work among the patent offices

Common Application Format (lead: JPO)

• Aim: To facilitate the filing procedure of each office by using a Common Application Format; and by using electronic or digitized patent application filing (in XML format) and subsequent processing and publication in XML format

Common Access to Search and Examination Results (lead: JPO)

• Aim: To enable examiners to find one-stop references in the dossier information of other offices, such as search and examination results
• To conduct the priority document exchange (PDX) to reduce the cost of ordering copies of priority documents for applicants and the administrative costs of electronic processing for offices

Common Training Policy (lead: KIPO)

• Aim: To standardize the training of patent examiners at each office, helping examiners to produce equivalent results of search and examination at the five offices

Mutual Machine Translation (lead: KIPO)

• Aim: To help the offices overcome the language barrier of patent information and allow greater access to each other's patent information

Common Rules for Examination Practice and Quality Control (lead: SIPO)

• Aim: To execute patent examinations at a similar standard and quality through common rules of examination practice and quality control 

Common Statistical Parameter System for Examination (lead: SIPO)

• Aim: To establish a system of common statistical parameters for all examinations at the five offices; and to conduct statistical tasks and exchange information on examination practices under common rules and parameters, building on the work of the Trilateral statistical working group

Common Approach to Sharing and Documenting Search Strategies (lead: USPTO)

• Aim: To promote reutilization by enabling the patent examiners of each office to understand each other's search strategy

Common Search and Examination Support Tools (lead: USPTO)

• Aim: To establish a system of common search and examination tools to facilitate work-sharing 

Rainer Osterwalder
Press Department, European Patent Office
D-80298 Munich
Tel.: +49 89/2399-1820
Fax: +49 89/2399-2850
Mobile: +49 163/8399-527
rosterwalder@epo.org