The heads of the world’s five largest intellectual property
offices (IP5) met virtually today
for their 15th annual meeting. The
focus of this year’s meeting, hosted by the EPO, was to introduce
sustainability in the IP5 agendas and enhance the patent system to better
support innovators globally.
President Campinos chaired the meeting, which was attended by
JPO Commissioner Mori Kiyoshi, KIPO Commissioner Lee Insil, CNIPA Commissioner
Shen Changyu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO
Director Kathi Vidal, and WIPO Deputy Director General Lisa Jorgenson.
Topics discussed included the results of co-operation during
the past year. Among the highlights was the implementation of a global alerting
system by the EPO, covering patent prosecution changes in all five offices. The
preparations made for implementing the IP5 NET/AI Roadmap were also reviewed.
The aim of this Roadmap is to optimise internal processes at the IP5 through
the use of new emerging technologies and artificial intelligence, as well as
enhance legal certainty and transparency in applicable patent practices.
Further topics of discussion included the latest developments
in the priority areas of global assignment and of allowable features in
drawings, where the publication
of the „IP5 safe format“ was noted as a milestone. There was also an
update on measures to further optimise the operational efficiency of IP5
co-operation and streamline approval and decision-making processes.
Finally, a preliminary evaluation was presented of the pilot
project on IP5 PCT Collaborative Search & Examination, along with details
of the extension of the evaluation phase.
In terms of outcomes, the IP5 offices
agreed to revisit the IP5 vision to accommodate sustainability and will
consider the establishment of an IP5 sustainability task force, to co-ordinate
actions on this important agenda.
Today’s proceedings followed the meeting on 8
June between the heads of office and industry representatives from the IP5
regions. Participants celebrated a decade of industry
involvement and exchanged views on the impact of IP and its role in
promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focusing on
innovative solutions and industry efforts in the field of affordable and clean
energy (SDGs 7 and 9), the offices and industry highlighted the potential of IP
in addressing global socio-economic challenges. Participants agreed to
strengthen their partnership towards a sustainable future (SDG 17).
This will further
grow the tradition of co-operation that began to emerge when the first meeting of this kind took place in June 2012. Participants in
Wednesday’s proceedings underlined how, during the last decade, IP5 Industry
meetings have helped ensure that applicants‘ views are heard, and that joint
IP5 projects and initiatives are user-driven. Users‘ expectations for the
future focus of IP5 initiatives were also discussed.
To mark the occasion, a commemorative
video was released, highlighting the main achievements of the past ten years. The video complemented a joint
statement that noted concrete user benefits in the fields of patent
classification, IT, work-sharing and quality, patent practice alignment and
statistics.
Representatives were present from: the American Intellectual
Property Law Association; BusinessEurope; the Intellectual Property Owners
Association, the Japan Intellectual Property Association; the Korea
Intellectual Property Association; and the Patent Protection Association of
China.
The next IP5 heads of office
meeting will be hosted by the USPTO in 2023.