IP5 to focus on patent harmonisation

The world’s biggest IP offices have pledged to focus on patent harmonisation and launch a collaborative pilot project under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The heads of the five largest IP offices, known as the  IP5, met on Thursday, June 1 at their tenth annual meeting.

In the meeting, the group said it would pursue efforts towards patent harmonisation of practices and procedures within the IP5.

The group pledged to strengthen its efforts to explore the potential for harmonisation in a bid to reduce workload and the costs for applicants filing their applications in multiple jurisdictions in parallel.

The IP5—the European Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, China’s State Intellectual Property Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office—meets annually to discuss policies and goals.

Accounting for more than 80% of patent applications worldwide, as well as about 95% of all PCT work done, the IP5 put its initial focus on the elimination of unnecessary duplicated work.

The office heads have also tentatively agreed to launch the operational phase of a third pilot project on collaborative search and examination under the PCT, on May 1, 2018.

Within this framework, each IP5 office, acting as a competent international searching authority (ISA), will establish high-quality international search reports and written opinions, taking contributions from the other IP5 offices (peer ISAs) into account.

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