By Christopher P. Singer —

In a November 9, 2007 press release, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and the USPTO signed a memorandum of understanding that is designed to address the global workload challenges arising from the growth and complexity of patent applications worldwide.  Several of the specific topics addressed in the memorandum include efforts to (a) coordinate work sharing; (b) develop a means to improve quality of applications; (c) coordinate electronic business developments; (d) harmonize or standardize search strategies, tools and procedures; and (e) promote dissemination of patent information.

Relating to work sharing, the Offices are considering a pilot project that would similar to the Patent Prosecution Highway between the USPTO and the JPO, which will be permanently implemented in January 2008.  Under this program, an applicant receiving a decision from either the JPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable can request that the other Office fast track the examination of the same claims in the corresponding application.

The Offices also agreed on a common application format (yet to be disclosed) which will allow applicants to prepare a single acceptable application format in each of the three Offices.

Certain aspects regarding the initiative to cooperate in examination include collaboration among examiners; development of comparative studies; development of uniform search guidelines; and exploration of use of common search tools, techniques, and resources; and continual collaboration after the development of products.