On the morning of December 2, Premier of China's State Council Li Keqiang and UK Prime Minister David Cameron held a meeting, jointly witnessing the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation documents covering investment, science & technology, finance, ect. In IP field, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) and the British Intellectual Property Office (BIPO) signed an agreement on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program.

In the afternoon of the same day, SIPO Commissioner Tian Lipu met chief executive of BIPO John Alty in Beijing. Both sides exchanged opinions on issues such as the PPH pilot program and cooperative plans in 2014.

Tian Lipu introduced the latest development of SIPO to John Alty. He said the number of China's patent applications continually grows with the increasing investment in R&D and innovative consciousness deeply rooted in people's heart. From January to October this year, SIPO has received 600,000 invention patent applications, up 23% than that of last year. Tian hoped the close relationship between the two sides could be maintained and the cooperation could be intensified in IP field.

Alty expressed his appreciation of the measures that SIPO takes to promote China's IP development. He said the PPH pilot program between the two sides marked a significant milestone of the biliteral cooperation, which would accelerate examination, improve patent quality, save cost, stimulate innovation and benefit economy as well. He wished the cooperative relaions between the two sides could be futher strengthened. 

It is known that the PPH pilot program will be launched from July 1, 2014, a new starting point of the biliteral cooperation. As of now, British enterprises have filed accumulatively 24,221 invention patent applications and more than 1,500 patent applications from January to October this year.

(China IP News)