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Trilateral patent offices move forward on work sharing
The Hague , 14 November 2008 -- The European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have agreed to move forward on work sharing and to support the recently initiated co-operation of the five largest intellectual property offices (the three Trilateral Offices plus the Korean and Chinese IP Offices, known as IP5).
Meeting at their 26th annual Trilateral conference in The Hague, the heads of the three offices also agreed to contribute to further developing the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and implement a number of work-sharing projects. Co-operation between the EPO, USPTO and JPO began in 1983, with annual Trilateral conferences held alternately on each continent.
"Trilateral co-operation will be an important driver of the IP5 process," said EPO President Alison Brimelow. "Co-ordinating the efforts of the IP5 offices and the Trilateral will make work-sharing more efficient. This will help to ensure efficient processing of patent applications and high quality search and examination, and will benefit companies and individual entrepreneurs who want to protect their inventions in several parts of the world."
Relationship between Trilateral co-operation and IP5
The IP5 offices recently agreed to implement a set of ten Foundation Projects which aim to harmonise the environment for patent searching and examination with a view to eliminating unnecessary duplication of work. The Trilateral Offices have decided to organise their activities with the aim to support the Foundation Projects. They further decided to expand some of the Trilateral working groups to include experts from the Korean and Chinese IP offices.
Focus on the PCT and work-sharing
The three offices also agreed to put a major focus on developing the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which offers a simplified patent application procedure for 140 countries worldwide, and holds considerable potential for work-sharing.
The participation of WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry and industry representatives in the conference's Trilateral User Day (on 13 November), was pivotal to the discussion of the PCT.
The Trilateral users expressed their strong support to the Trilateral development of the PCT and the approach taken on the ten Foundation Projects, and recognised that these efforts will have significant financial implications which the users will also have to consider.
The offices will also take forward several pilot projects already underway to increase work-sharing. The EPO and JPO agreed to continue their discussion on a comparable Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot. A comparable pilot PPH between EPO and USPTO, and a permanent PPH between the USPTO and JPO, are already in place.
Relationship with Industry Trilateral
The Trilateral Offices and the Industry Trilateral (industry associations from Europe, Japan and the United States) agreed to set up a framework to discuss topics of mutual interest such as developing the PCT, patent quality and some substantive patent issues.
For more information, please contact:
Rainer
Osterwalder
Press Department, European Patent Office
Tel.: +49 89/2399-1820
Fax: +49 89/2399-2850
Mobile: +49
163/8399-527
rosterwalder@epo.org