International Activities

Participation in the 71th PDG IMPACT Meeting, and Visit to EPO and DPMA

From 14 to 19 April, 2016, JIPA's Information Search Committee sent a 3-membered delegation led by Vice President Inoue (Sysmex) to the 71th Patent Documentation Group (PDG) IMPACT Meeting held in Hague, the Netherlands, EPO, the German Patent and Trademark Office, and Hoffmann Eitle (a German patent attorney's office). In our third attendance at the PDG IMPACT Meeting, the delegation exchanged opinions with the main members of the PDG, a European user organization, officers of European patent offices, and persons from a European database company to improve the efficiency of IP information search. Furthermore, we exchanged opinions about the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) in EPO, about a method of search for transferred patents in the German Patent and Trademark Office, and about circumstances of patents in Europe toward the European Unitary Patent in Hoffmann Eitle.

1. Presentation at PDG IMPACT Meeting
The delegation introduced the evaluation of the statistical mapping of CPC offered by EPO to FI based on the achievements of the JIPA Information Search Committee. We reported that CPC was an effective means for Japanese patent users, and requested EPO to supply information with higher accuracy. Furthermore, introducing some difficult cases of analyzing transfer of European or German patent rights, we requested WIPO and EPO to organize a better database of transfer information.

2. Visit to EPO
The JIPA delegation talked with Mr. Marios Sideris, Mr. Pierre Held, and Mr. Peter Swaren, who are in charge of patent classification in EPO. We heard about a plan to improve the method of providing CPC information and conveyed our idea of a framework more convenient for Japanese users.

3. Visit to Hoffmann Eitle
The delegation members exchanged views with Mr. Dirk Schubler-Langeheine, Mr. Joachin Renken, Mr. Christopher Furlong, and Ms. Mieko Matsuzawa about our expectations for the European Unitary Patent and the importance of search thereof. Hoffmann Eitle has published a guidebook on the European Unitary Patent, and thus we will be able to expect more local information to be transmitted in the future.

4. Visit to German Patent and Trademark Office
The delegation had a meeting with Mr. Hubert Rothe and Mr. Thomas Plarre, and exchanged opinions on a method of the search of information on the transfer of German patents. After their introduction of examples of efficient search with the DPMA register, we requested that from now there should be harmonized cooperation among countries for a more organized database of transfer information.
Through the above activities, we shared information with PDG, delivered JIPA's opinions, introduced JIPA's activities, and strengthened the network with European IP organizations. We will continue to exchange information with them regularly for a fruitful collaboration.

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