BEIJING, Jun.12 -- The 9th Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office between China, United States, Europe, Japan and Korea took place in Tokyo, Japan from May 31 to June 2. The meeting was chaired by Hitoshi Ito, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO). Deputy Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) He Zhimin, President of the European Patent Office (EPO) Beno?t Battistelli, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) Choi Donggyou and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Michelle Lee led delegations to the meeting. Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Francis Gurry attended the meeting as the observer.

At the meeting, the heads of the Offices listened to the achievements of the IP5 cooperation over the past year, and approved project documents such as the Global Dossier, patent information dissemination policy, common patent prosecution highway (PPH) request form. The heads of the offices also co-signed the IP5 Joint Statement in Tokyo 2016, reiterated the goal in the 2015 IP5 Joint Statement that "to provide better services for users and the public", and confirmed three key cooperation directions of "Enhancement of the relationship with users", "Continue providing high-quality and reliable examination results" and "Exploring the IP Offices' readiness to respond to emerging technologies".

The 16th Meeting of IP5 Deputy Heads of Office held in previous days has paved the way for the Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office and IP5 Industry and related topics. During the meeting, He Zhimin held bilateral talks with John Sandage, Deputy Director General of WIPO, Raimund Lutz, Deputy Director of EPO, and Masayuki Koyanagi, Deputy Commissioner of JPO respectively. (Translated from China IP News Chinese Version)