IP5 Launch Website; Trilateral Offices Meet On Trademarks

The world’s five “major” intellectual property offices, the so-called “IP5,” have launched a website to detail their joint projects, the European Patent Office reported today. In particular, the website will document progress on ten projects agreed to last year on “harmonising the global environment for patent searches and examination and enabling work-sharing,” the EPO release said.

The IP5 are: the EPO, Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office, State Intellectual Property Office of China, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Meanwhile, the trilateral IP offices (the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market [OHIM, the trademarks and designs registration office of the European Union], JPO and USPTO) [corrected] are holding a meeting on trademarks in Alicante, Spain from 9-11 December. The meeting will discuss possible collaboration and progress on ongoing projects. A draft agenda is available here [pdf] and a list of expected attendees is available here [pdf]. It appears from the draft agenda that the trilateral group will make a decision on a request for participation by KIPO at this meeting.