International Activities
"The 5th IP5 Patent Offices & Users Meeting" and "IP5 Users Meeting"
The 5th IP5 Patent Office Presidents and IP5 Users Meeting between the patent offices (JPO, USPTO, EPO, CIPO, and KPO) and users was held at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel Tokyo on June 1, 2016, subsequent to the 4th meeting held in Suzhou, China, last year. Presidents and vice presidents attended from the IP5 Offices, including Mr. Ito, Commissioner of JPO, and members of the Trilateral Users (JIPA, AIPLA & IPO, and Business Europe) meeting as well as KINPA (Korea Intellectual Property Association) of South Korea and PPAC (Patent Protection Association of China) of China attended as the IP5 Users just as last year.This year, Mr. Ito, Commissioner of JPO and Mr. Takashi Suzuki, former Vice President of JIPA (2015), co-chaired the meeting. From JIPA, Mr. Kenji Kondo, President, Mr. Kazuyasu Adachi, Vice President, Mr. Naoto Kuji, Executive Managing Director, Mr. Minoru Kato, Managing Director, Ms. Miyashita, leader of the International Policy PJ, and some other members participated in the meeting. Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, also participated in the meeting as an observer.
The meeting aims at listening to opinions and requests from the IP5 Users and reflecting them in the discussion of improvement in the quality of patent examination and examination efficiency in the respective offices, which the IP5 Patent Offices have been considering as their project since 2007. Thus the meeting was held on the occasion of the IP5 Patent Office Presidents Meeting, and this was the fifth time meeting.
The 5th meeting had more than 100 participants in total including 16 members from JIPA, as it was held in Japan for the first time. In the meeting, the IP5 Patent Office Presidents first introduced recent activities of their respective offices and outlined the progress of projects considered by the IP5 Patent Offices. The meeting went on as the users explained their opinions and requests in response to the introduction, and the offices made comments on them, and views were exchanged.
Specifically, lively discussions were made on a wide range of topics such as global dossier, patent system harmonization, future direction of PPH, and CSP (Collaborative Search Pilot Program). JIPA made proposals and demands on XML Document Provision for global dossier, and for patent system harmonization, more specifically the items "description requirements" and "unity of invention" for which harmonization is to be discussed, JIPA made a presentation on the issues that have been continuously investigated and researched since last year to further develop harmonization. The IP5 Patent Offices highly rated the JIPA's contribution. JIPA will continue to conduct investigation and research in order to contribute to the harmonization of systems.
On May 31, the day before the IP5 Patent Offices and Users Meeting, a meeting was held only by the IP5 Users. In the meeting, the IP5 Users shared the details of the topics and how far they have been considered, and in order to prepare for the next day's meeting, exchanged views to summarize their opinions and requests on each topic.
