International Activities
IP Information System Committee attends EPO Conference in Bologna, Italy
This was the second participation by JIPA representatives following the event last year. At the conference, they presented a request that the Japanese FI (File Index) classification should be incorporated into CPC, the common patent classification used by EPO and USPTO. They also met user delegations from Europe to exchange opinions and information as below.
1. Meeting with Patent Classification Officers from EPO and USPTO
JIPA presented to Mr. Sideris Marios (EPO) and Mr. Christopher Kim (USPTO) five specific cases in Japan to compare the description detailing level of CPC and FI. Explaining that more patents are applied for from China, .Korea and Japan in areas where FI classifications are more detailed, the JIPA representatives requested that those more detailed classification used by the Japan FI should be incorporated into CPC. Mr. Marios and Mr. Kim promised that they would have their examiners review the material regarding FI classifications provided by the Japanese delegates and would pass on any feedback from the examiners to JIPA. Mr. Kim also asked how CPC is accepted in Japan, and the delegates replied that CPC is easier to use than the US patent classifications.
2. Meeting with User Organizations from Europe
JIPA also had a meeting with five representatives from the Patent Documentation Group (PDG, an EPO user organization) and one representative from the Confederacy of European Patent Information User Groups (CEPIUG, a user organization from Europe).
After introduction of the PDG and JIPA, a PDG representative asked whether JIPA can serve as a contact between PDG and JPO, like PDG, which cooperates with and serves as a contact point for EPO. The Japanese delegates replied that JIPA keeps in regular contact with JPO and has the strongest cooperative relationship with JPO among all other user organizations in Japan.
Before the Conference, JIPA sent in advance to these user organizations material related to its analysis of the legal status of some patent cases and the curriculum of the JIPA "Patent Research" training. The participants in the meeting had concrete discussions on these topics.
To promote cooperation between EPO and JIPA, the JIPA received an invitation to participate in the "East meets West" event, an EPO-hosted conference on Asian patent information, to be held in Vienna, Austria in April 2014.
Participants in the meeting agreed that patent information user organizations from Europe and Japan need to cooperate to exchange information. The JIPA Information System Committee will have positive internal discussions on future activities related to this matter.
