International Activities
The Intellectual Property Information Search Committee delegated to the Patent Information Conference (PIC) hosted by the EPO
The Intellectual Property Information Search Committee delegated four members - namely, Mr. Inoue (Managing Director), Ms. Tanabe (Chairman of the Committee), Mr. Ito (Deputy Chairman of the Committee), and Mr. Miyauchi (Member of the Committee) - to the Patent Information Conference (PIC) hosted by the EPO in Hamburg, Germany from November 5 to 10, 2012. The PIC is an annual international conference held by the EPO specializing in patent information. This year, the conference was better attended than usual, with more than 400 persons from 42 different countries, and the conference was a great success.Our delegation participated in the abovementioned conference for three days and received information on CPC, a new patent classification jointly developed by the USPTO and the EPO. Thereafter, the delegation visited and exchanged opinions with the Patent Documentation Group (PDG) and the Confederacy of European Patent Information User Groups (CEPIUG), both of which are European Patent Information User Groups, as well as RWS Group, a company specialized in patent searches.
During the conference, a meeting was held with Dr. Held, the director in charge of classification, during which our delegation was able to directly ask questions concerning the CPC and to make requests and collect valuable information which could not have been obtained in Japan. At the same time, the delegation was able to obtain valuable information on common issues, such as the Asian region and various legal situations.
At the meeting with PDG, the delegation was able to engage in a lively exchange of opinions with the four board members, including Dr. Hanelt, the current president of PDG, on such common issues as the standardization of patent classifications and Asian patent search methods. The delegation also met and had discussions with members of CEPIUG, including Mr. Kuilen (Chairperson of the Board), on its training and qualification system for information collection personnel, while the delegation introduced past training subjects handled by the Committee. Future cooperation with JIPA was promised by both groups.
At the meeting with Mr. Shea, the Technical manager of RWS Group, a meaningful exchange of opinions occurred on the company’s patent search methods and the harmonization of classifications. The fact that Japanese patent search methods, including the utilization of the FI/F-term, are explained in detail at patent search seminars held by the company brought our delegation to the realization that the FI/F-term is constantly utilized by overseas searchers as an effective means of eliminating the language barrier when carrying out Japanese patent searches.
Our delegation visited Airbus on the last day, obtained information on its intellectual property strategy and exchanged opinions with it on the intellectual property activities of Japanese and German companies. After exchanging opinions, our delegation had the privilege of visiting the Airbus plant and seeing the final stages of aircraft, assembly, including assembly of the Airbus A380.
The Intellectual Property Information Search Committee expects to maintain the cooperation with the European Patent Information User Groups established during this visit and to provide Japanese users with useful information and opinions on future issues regarding searches.
