The five major intellectual property offices (IP 5) recently announced that they have laid out a blueprint for work sharing and collaboration. The five offices are the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Japan Patent Office, and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China.
The five offices adopted the following vision statement for the work sharing initiative: “The elimination of unnecessary duplication of work among the offices, enhancement of patent examination efficiency and quality, and guarantee of the stability of patent rights.” The work sharing initiative should result in improved efficiency in all five offices.