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Trilateral offices move forward on work-sharing
14 November 2008
JPO Commissioner Takashi Suzuki, EPO President Alison Brimelow and USPTO Director Jon Dudas
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 on 14 November, the heads of the three offices also agreed to contribute to further developing the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 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."
Thierry Sueur, Chairman of the Patents Working Group of BusinessEurope, stressed the importance of a fruitful dialogue between industry and the Trilateral offices
Trilateral User Day: focus on the PCT
The conference also included a Trilateral User Day on 13 November, which was hosted by BUSINESSEUROPE (formerly UNICE) and drew some 100 representatives from industry, the epi (Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPO), the WIPO and the Trilateral offices. The event proved that the discussion on how to improve the existing patent system is closely followed by the user community.
Participants agreed that the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which offers a patent application procedure for 140 countries worldwide, should act as the infrastructure for global patent filing to ensure harmonisation and avoid duplication of work. The view was expressed that the Patent Prosecution Highway initiatives were interesting, but they should not distract away from pursuing the main goal, which is to develop the PCT as a work-sharing tool.
WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry at the Trilateral User Day
"PCT is the key," said Thierry Sueur, Chairman of the Patents Working Group of BusinessEurope. "It is the most appropriate platform for work-sharing: it integrates timeliness and quality, it is global and has a track record of success." Two prerequisites for work-sharing among the offices are that quality and timeliness are at the same high level.
WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry said that the PCT was a procedural framework, and that procedural and substantive law should not be mixed.
Alison Brimelow highlighted the need for political will to make the financial resources available to develop the PCT and implement the projects initiated by the IP5 within a reasonable time.
Suggestions were also made regarding the development of guidelines and tools, including ways to improve the use of the PCT. Participants stressed that the responsibility for quality patents should be shared between the offices and the applicants.
Further information
- News from 31 October: Five IP Offices announce shared vision on cooperative framework
- News from 7 November: Trilateral Conference to align cooperation between IP offices
- Press release from 14 November: Trilateral patent offices move forward on work sharing
- Trilateral Cooperation: Website
- Trilateral Cooperation: Trilateral Statistical Report 2007
- Grant procedure: International applications