Collaborative search pilot project among the three major IP offices

Recently, the USPTO announced a work sharing plan between it, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), aiming to strengthen intellectual property collaboration through collaborative prior art searches and examination of corresponding patent applications.

The collaborative search pilot program is an important partnership between the USPTO, the Japan Patent Office, and the Korean Intellectual Property Office, which aims to provide patent applicants who file multiple patent applications around the world with comprehensive search results from multiple patent offices at an early stage of examination, so that applicants can enjoy stronger and more reliable patent rights. The main contents of the collaborative search pilot program include:

• Examinations are more consistent across offices, leading to greater certainty of patent rights.
• Non-sequential processing will expedite the issuance of the first examination opinion notice for patent applications.
• Combining the search expertise of the three offices provides a more comprehensive prior art.
• Reduce the number of times review opinions are issued.