International Activities

　　Between January 30th and February 3rd, 2018, JIPA participated in a number of meetings in Tokyo related to international system harmonization, i.e. ‘IP5 Users’, ’5th Global Dossier Task Force (GDTF)’, ‘2nd Industry Consultation Group (ICG)’ and ‘Trilateral Users’ meetings. As representatives of Japanese users; Mr. Adachi, Vice president; Ms. Miyashita, International Policy PJ Leader; and other JIPA members actively conveyed opinions and requests from the Japanese side regarding Global Dossier and International System Harmonization in these meetings.

1. IP5 Users Meeting (January 30th)
   In order to collect any specific input/suggestions, IP5 users (e.g. IPA, AIPLA, IPO, BE, PPAC, KINPA, etc.) organized this meeting to exchange views on topics to be discussed in the 5th GDTF Meeting and the 2nd ICG Meeting.
2. 5th GDTF Meeting (January 31st)
   Participants received updates for five prioritized items (alert function, XML filing, of applicant name standardization, legal status, and information sharing among patent offices) and agreed with JIPA’s proposal on XML filing to enable applicants to submit dossiers in XML format to offices. On standardization of applicant names, JIPA, along with JPO, proposed a unified approach at the time of application rather than after application: to be discussed further in subsequent meetings. Additionally, JIPA requested the alignment of Global Dossier websites across all offices and the release of an API for the future.
3. 2nd ICG Meeting (February 1st)
   ICG meetings kicked off last year and are a forum to transmit user opinions on technical issues (except Global Dossier) to IP5 patent offices for further deepen discussion. In this, the 2nd ICG meeting, patent offices reported the current status of three prioritized items (citation of prior art, unity of invention, and descriptive requirements) under consideration in the Patent Harmonization Experts Panel, planned revisions to IP5 websites, and discussed work-sharing. In response, users actively discussed and presented opinions on each topic. JPO reported on the status of substantive patent law harmonization in the B+ group.
4. Trilateral Users Meeting (February 2nd and 3rd)
   Trilateral users (JIPA, AIPLA, IPO, BE, etc.) organized this meeting to consider substantive patent law harmonization in the B+ group. This meeting focused on the grace period; conflicting applications, maintaining the right of prior use, and systematized challenges to harmonization and further development of IP systems from a user’s point of view. As the issues are of importance in practice, JIPA will continue to convey the opinions of Japanese users in order to achieve that harmonization of systems which most suits the needs of Japanese industry.