December 16, 2024
Korea-Japan-China Agreed on Full Implementation of ‘10 Year Vision for Trilateral IP Cooperation’
On December 4, 2024, the delegation of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), led by Commissioner KIM Wan Ki, attended the 24th TRIPO Heads Meeting among the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and KIPO, hosted by the CNIPA in Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
On December 4, 2024, the delegation of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), led by Commissioner KIM Wan Ki, attended the 24th TRIPO Heads Meeting among the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and KIPO, hosted by the CNIPA in Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Accounting for 62% (as of 2022) of the patent applications filed across the world, the three offices have maintained close cooperative relationship since 2001, apart from their participation to the IP5 cooperation, which spans from trademark and designs to human resources and to trial and appeal. Every year since 2013, the heads meeting is accompanied by a user symposium which aims to facilitate information sharing and communication with various IP service users and stakeholders.
2024 TRIPO Heads Meeting Approved the Implementation Measures for the '10 Year Vision'
In the 9th Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Summit held in May 2024 in Seoul, Korea, the national leaders adopted the '10 Year Vision for Trilateral IP Cooperation' as the annex to the Joint Statement. The three offices accordingly had worked on developing specific action plans for the effective implementation of the Vision, and in this year's meeting, the heads adopted the implementation measures and showed their commitment to the successful achievement of it.
More specifically, they agreed to carry out a comparative analysis in respective guidelines for the examination of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and in examination results produced on mutually filed AI applications. Once completed, the analysis result will be published to the public in the form of formal report. In accordance with the analytic study published by WIPO in July this year, Korea, Japan and China together were responsible for 82% of the patent family publications relevant for Generative AI, based on the inventor addresses published on patents in 2023. The statistics indicates that the three countries are at the forefront of innovation and patenting activity in the area of artificial intelligence. The launch of three-way cooperation on AI application examination is expected to help future applicants be better able to meet the filing requirements of the three countries.
KIPO-CNIPA, KIPO-JPO Heads Meetings Enhanced Cooperation on Data Exchange and Examination of Cutting-edge Technologies
The delegation also held separate meetings with the CNIPA and JPO. In the meeting with the CNIPA, the heads signed the renewed memorandum of understanding on data exchange, and agreed to add enriched citations made by respective examiners to the list of exchanged data between two offices. This cooperation is expected to help both offices enhance the examination quality by inducing a more thorough review process, while allowing users to quickly view information about which references were cited in specific application office actions.
In the bilateral meeting, the Commissioners of KIPO and JPO shared a common view on the importance of examination cooperation for cutting-edge technologies, and agreed to continue a working-level discussion on developing cooperative activities for the areas such as AI, semiconductor, and secondary battery.
12th User Symposium, a Window onto TRIPO Policies on IP Data Services
The 12th TRIPO User Symposium was held the following day as usual under the theme "Building a better Business Environment Through IP Public Service." In his opening remarks, Commissioner Kim emphasized the importance of patent data and information as well as the significance of TRIPO cooperation on the subject. In the following sessions, the representatives from each office introduced respective policy efforts to run better IP data services and promote effective dissemination and utilization of IP data.
Noting the strong presence of the three offices in the global IP community, as well as the value the TRIPO cooperation has added over the years, Commissioner Kim Wan Ki stated, "Taking the momentum formed at the meeting, we will exert all efforts to ensure the 10 Year Vision officially supported by the national leaders of the three countries would proceed successfully and bring tangible results."