On 22 May, 2015, the Heads of the world's five largest intellectual property offices (IP5), meeting in Suzhou, China, pledged to step up their cooperation in order to further optimize their services to users and the public so that innovation can flourish with the help of intellectual property. The meeting was chaired by Shen Changyu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), with the participation of Benoit Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Kihara Yoshitake, Deputy Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Mr. Choi Donggyou, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and Russell Slifer, Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). John Sandage, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), attended the meeting as an observer.

Shen Changyu pressed that, SIPO would take effective measures to make a fair and transparent IP market environment, and jointly promote the international IP rule to be more effective. Shen speak highly of the IP5 cooperation, and pointed out that, it was important to be focus on improving services to users and the public.

Recognizing the vital role of intellectual property in boosting technological innovation and economic development, the IP5 Heads signed the  Joint Statement of the IP5 Offices. The IP5 Offices agreed in their statement to work together to further optimize their services to users and the public, with the aim of creating efficiency in the patent application procedure and reducing costs for applicants.

The Heads of the IP5 Offices took stock of recent progress made in their cooperation which includes introduction of a common application format (CAF), machine translation, the Common Citation Document (CCD), the IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), patent information policy, and the Global Dossier. They also agreed on a number of future joint activities.

Prior to the meeting, on 21 May, the Heads of IP5 Offices met 150 representatives of industry from the five countries/regions to directly address their needs. The IP5 Offices reaffirmed the importance and benefits of user involvement in the IP5 cooperation. 

(China IP News)