IP: International Protection in the United States
Providing information on patent programs and agreements dedicated to improving work-sharing and international cooperation among various worldwide Intellectual Property Offices.
Patent Cooperation Treaty – International patent application filing system
Patent Prosecution Highway – Fast track examination of corresponding applications filed in USPTO and various Intellectual Property Offices around the world.
Under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), an applicant receiving a ruling from the Office of First Filing (OFF) that at least one claim in an application filed in the OFF is patentable may request that the Office of Second Filing (OSF) fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications filed in the OSF. PPH will leverage fast-track examination procedures already available in the OSF to allow applicants in the OSF to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently
Common Application Format – Simplified and streamlined patent application filing requirements for EPO, JPO and USPTO
During the November 2007 Trilateral Conference, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) agreed on a common application format. This format, which was developed in consultation with users from the three regions, will simplify and streamline application filing requirements in each Office to allow applicants to prepare a single application in the common application format for acceptance in each of the three Offices.
Common Citation Document – A patent information product developed by the USPTO, the EPO, and the JPO to provide online access to a single repository of prior art cited by all participating offices for members of a patent family.
The Common Citation Document (CCD) application is a patent information tool developed by the Trilateral Offices to provide single point access to citation data for their examined patent applications. It consolidates the prior art cited by all participating offices for the family members of a patent application, thus enabling the search results for the same invention produced by several offices to be visualised on a single page.
New Route – Work-sharing pilot between the USPTO and JPO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) have been considering a proposal for work-sharing called the “New Route.” Under the New Route framework, a filing in one office that is party to this arrangement would be deemed a filing in all member offices. The first office and applicant would be given a 30-month processing time frame in which to make available a first office action and any necessary translations to the second office(s), and the second office(s) would exploit the search and examination results in conducting their own examination. The first office would also be responsible for 18-month publication of the application. If the language of the first office is not English, an English language abstract and bibliographic data would be published together with the application. By allowing the second office to exploit the search and examination results of the first office, the New Route would help offices reduce overall workload, minimize duplication of search efforts, and increase examination quality.
While the New Route is in many respects similar to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) (a 30-month processing period, a single filing treated as a filing in several countries, a search report available to “designated” offices, etc.), it may further offer significant advantages to applicants, in particular, lower costs and more targeted filings.
Because the New Route, as envisioned, would require changes in law in the USPTO and the JPO, the USPTO and the JPO agreed, at the May 2007 Trilateral Technical Meeting, to commence a pilot project to test the New Route concept based on limited filing scenarios currently available under existing law in both offices. The start date for the pilot project will be January 28, 2008. A notice regarding the requirements/procedures for participating in the New Route pilot project will be posted on the USPTO website on or about January 14, 2008.
Triway – Search sharing pilot between EPO, JPO, and USPTO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) have been considering a search sharing proposal, entitled “Triway” that would leverage the searching expertise of each of the Trilateral Offices (EPO, JPO, and USPTO) to the benefits of both applicants and the Offices.
The basic concept behind the Triway proposal is to promote worksharing by eliminating certain timing issues, while at the same time providing applicants and the Offices with the benefit of search results of the Trilateral Offices being available within a certain short time period in order to give applicants and Trilateral Offices an opportunity to share and consider all of the Trilateral search results. This would help improve the resulting quality of any patents issued on the corresponding applications by each of the Trilateral Offices. The Triway proposal would complement other worksharing efforts such as the Patent Prosecution Highway Program.
Under the Triway proposal, each Office would conduct searches on corresponding applications filed under the Paris Convention in each of the Offices in a sufficiently early time period. The search results from each of the Offices would then be shared among the Offices in order to reduce the search and examination workload in each of the Offices.
The Trilateral Offices agreed at the November 2007 Trilateral Pre-conference to undertake a limited pilot program. The start date for the limited pilot program will be July 28, 2008. A notice regarding the requirements/procedures for participating in the Triway pilot program will be posted on the USPTO Web site on or about July 14, 2008.
SHARE – Work-sharing pilot between the USPTO and KIPO