The 18th TRIPO Heads Meeting was held on December 13 in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Jiang Chaoliang, Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Wang Xiaodong, Governor of Hubei Province met with a delegation led by Shen Changyu, Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA); Commissioner Naoko Munakata of Japan Patent Office (JPO) and Commissioner Park Won-joo of Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) attended the meeting.

Jiang Chaolong expressed his welcome to the convening of the meeting in Wuhan on behalf of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Hubei Provincial Government. Shen Changyu remarked that the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Hubei Provincial Government had paid high attention to the IP cause for a long time, and provided strong support for the successful convening of the meeting; hopefully the meeting may actively promote the communication and cooperation between Hubei Province, Japan and Korea in the IP field.

In the morning of December 13, Shen Changyu, Naoko Munakata and Park Won-joo presented at the 18th TRIPO Heads Meeting. During the meeting, CNIPA, JPO and KIPO summarized achievements of their cooperative projects in 2018, made positive comments on the progress of trilateral cooperation, exchanged views on the future trilateral cooperation and determined the work plan for the next year.

Shen Changyu remarked that the trilateral cooperation mechanism of CNIPA, JPO and KIPO had played a positive role in the development of the three offices, coordination of reginal IP affairs and the advancement of scientific and technological innovation of the three countries since its establishment in 2001. IP cooperation has become an important content of China-Japan-Korea cooperation. He hoped that the three offices may further increase the efficiency of cooperation, pursue practical cooperative achievements, and make contribution to the trilateral cooperation of China, Japan and Korea and the development of regional IP environment.

Naoko Munakata and Park Won-joo made positive comments on the achievements of cooperation between CNIPA, JPO and KIPO in the passing year, believing that the cooperation of the three offices is heading towards a more active and practical direction. Such cooperation not only contributes to the development of IP cause of the three countries, but also effectively promotes economic and trade, scientific and technological as well as cultural exchanges of the three countries.

During the meeting, the three offices briefed on the latest development of IP cause in their countries respectively, made in-depth exchanges on cooperation in the fields of re-examination, design and human resources, adjustment of trilateral and bilateral meeting mechanisms, operation of trilateral websites and user seminars, and exchanged views on the feasibility of introduction of new cooperative issues such as trademark and the cooperation of non-governmental IP institutions of the three countries. The three offices also decided that the 19th TRIPO Heads Meeting would be held in Japan in 2019. After the meeting, the three offices signed the Summary of the 18th TRIPO Heads Meeting.

In the afternoon of December 13, to further strengthen communication and mutual understanding, hear opinions of the industrial circle and provide better services to the public and IP users, the three offices jointly held the 6th China-Japan-Korea IP Users Seminar. Shen Changyu. Naoko Munakata and Park Won-joo attended the meeting.

Shen Changyu remarked that the theme of the seminar was IP protection, which is a commonly concerned topic for the three offices as well as the industrial circle. Chinese government has paid high attention to IP protection, made sustained efforts to promote IP-related legal construction, and continuously stepped up efforts to fight infringements to IP rights. In addition, CNPIA has been devoted to deepening international IP cooperation and communication, actively participated in multilateral and bilateral affairs under the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and strived to promote the global IP rules to move towards an open, tolerant, balanced and effective direction so that innovation and creation may benefit people of various countries in a better way.

Naoko Munakata and Park Won-joo remarked that the three offices shall further strengthen their cooperation, enhance communication and exchanges with IP users as well as expand fields of cooperation, so as to provide strong support for the economic development of the three countries.

Over 200 attendees from the three offices, the industrial circle, the academic circle and IP agencies made discussion and exchanges in the seminar. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)