On December 1st, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) hosted the 20th Trilateral Intellectual Property Offices (TRIPO) Heads Meeting among the KIPO, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and Japan Patent Office (JPO) via video conference.

The three offices have been in cooperative relationships since 2001, with a goal of sharing information on intellectual property (IP) examination and harmonizing IP systems. Since then, the TRIPO Heads Meeting has been held every year, and this year marks its 20th meeting.

The three offices have been holding expert meetings for each of six cooperation fields (e.g., patent and informatization) in the past 20 years, striving to bolster IP protection level to ensure that applicants acquire intellectual property rights (IPRs) in a prompt manner and that the acquired IPRs be well protected.

As a result, the proportion of patent applications filed in three countries jumped from about 40% of the global patent filings in 2001 to about 60% in 2020. In the same period, the proportion of trademark applications jumped from about 10% to about 60%. In essence, the three countries have grown to become the world's largest IP economic bloc.

In commemoration of the 20-year long cooperation, the three offices agreed to set a cooperative vision for the next 10 years with focuses on the following action plans, and to officially adopt this vision when Korea-China-Japan Summit is held in the future.

First, the three offices jointly respond to new challenges such as digital transformation trend and Covid-19 pandemic, and improve their IP examination systems and practices to help create and protect innovative technologies.

Second, the three offices promote the technological development and innovative growth of three countries by improving the accessibility and applicability of patent-related information held by each country.

Third, the three offices contribute to bridging the gap in the IP field between the three countries and ASEAN by promoting IP cooperation.

(Source: KIPO      Published on 12/18 2020)