"The establishment of the Office of International Patent Cooperation reflects the USPTO's strong commitment to the IP community in improving the international patent system," said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Michelle Lee. "It will allow us to increase certainty of IP rights while reducing costs for our stakeholders and moving towards a harmonized patent system."
The USPTO's Office of International Patent Cooperation efforts will improve the quality, efficiency, and predictability of the patent family prosecution-increasing the certainty of global patent rights.
► Collaborative Search Pilot Program (CSP): The USPTO is conducting two pilots, one with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and another with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). The purpose of CSP is to provide our stakeholders with search results from two Offices early in the examination process so applicants can determine their next steps in patent prosecution.
► Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) The Cooperative Patent Classification effort is a joint partnership between the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office to harmonize their existing classification systems (European Classification (ECLA) and United States Patent Classification (USPC) respectively) and migrate towards a common classification scheme.
► Global Dossier Global Dossier provides all stakeholders with secure, one-stop access to related applications across the IP5 (link is external), the five largest patent offices in the world.
► Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) The Patent Prosecution Highway speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating intellectual property offices.
► Global Patents Search Network (GPSN) Search Chinese full-text patent documents in the English or Chinese language, including: published applications, granted patents and utility models from 1985 to 2012.
► International Patent Legal Administration The International Patent Legal Administration educates and assists the patent community, develops policy, and resolves legal issues. The administration covers the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, and the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH).
We want your input! Please send us your feedback and ideas regarding international patent cooperation to OIPC@USPTO.GOV.