Summary of the 25th Trilateral Conference
Alexandria, Virginia
November 9, 2007
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) met at the 25th Trilateral Conference inAlexandria, Virginia on November 9, 2007. The Trilateral Offices-Reconfirming their commitments to Trilateral cooperation based on common
recognition of the role of industrial property as a basic system supporting theprogress of industry, technology, and international economic growth,-Identifying timely processing of increased workloads of patent applications andhigh quality examination processes as common objectives of the Trilateral
Offices and its user communities,-

Recognizing the benefits of promoting reduction of processing times andreducing or eliminating redundant work through a coordinated Trilateralapproach,-

Recognizing the benefits of promoting the improvement of the quality ofincoming applications as a means to reduce Office workloads,-

Recognizing the desire of stakeholders for “one application, one search, oneexamination,”-

Understanding the benefits of harmonizing patent law and procedures,-

Recognizing the benefits of developing common infrastructure and compatibledata for electronic business systems and search tools,-Recognizing the value of patent information as means for raising the quality of
applications filed,-Highlight the following as major achievements of the common efforts of thethree offices this year:o Establishment of a new Governance structureo Creation of an enhanced work sharing mandate and roadmap

o Agreement on a concept for prioritization of first filed
applications-SHARE (Strategic Handling of Applications for Rapid
Examination)o Agreement to develop a pilot project framework for the “Focus”
worksharing approach projecto Agreement to implement the Patent Prosecution Highway between theUSPTO and the JPO and to conduct a PPH comparable pilot between theUSPTO and the EPO
o Agreement to conduct a “Triway” piloto Implementation of electronic priority document exchange among thethree Officeso Creation of an e-learning working groupo Adoption of a dispute resolution procedure and terms of reference for theHARMONY classification projects
o Agreement on the common application format

Furthermore, understand as follows:

GovernanceTo achieve optimal use of resources, improve meeting efficiency, and to provide a more
focused direction for Trilateral cooperation, the Trilateral Offices established agovernance structure for overseeing all activities. The Annual Conference will bemaintained as the summit meeting with the Strategic Working Group, the Information
Technology Group, and all working level meetings integrated into the structure. The
mandates for the individual working groups will be reviewed by the Trilateral Offices inearly 2008. The Trilateral Offices will utilize identified long-term cooperation activities
as one means for planning and monitoring achievable specific goals.

Effective Access To and Use of Work Results
The Trilateral Offices reaffirmed their commitment to more aggressively utilize theframework of Trilateral cooperation to re-use work results of other Trilateral Officesand through this activity recognize the potential to significantly reduce workloads by
avoiding duplication of work among the Offices.
(a) Enhanced Work Sharing
To carry out this commitment, the Trilateral Offices established a mandate and aroadmap for an enhanced work sharing working group to develop and coordinate
solutions for reutilizing work results of the other Offices to the maximum extent
practicable.
(b) Prioritization of First-Filed Applications - SHARE
As part of the activities of this working group, the Trilateral Offices agreed to focus onprioritization of search and examination of first-filed applications by means of theUSPTO-proposed concept known as SHARE (Strategic Handling of Applications for
Rapid Examination). The Offices will investigate the feasibility of each officeprioritizing the search and examination of applications for which it was the office offirst filing with the intention of coordinating a pilot project beginning in April 2008. The
Trilateral Offices welcomed the JPO’s initiative to implement its approach forprioritizing first filed applications. The Trilateral Offices also have a consensus thatcooperation of users is indispensable to proceed with the Trilateral examination
work-sharing.
(c)“Focus” Project
The Trilateral Offices agreed to develop a pilot project framework based on:-Selection of applications from areas where there is a high degree of cross filings
between the Trilateral Offices;-Concentration of activities to maximize work sharing in these areas;in order to obtain comprehensive worksharing results. The pilot project will be designed
to coordinate with the SHARE project on prioritization of first filings to provide acomprehensive evaluation of Trilateral efforts to optimize the reuse of the work resultsof the Office of First Filing to the maximum extent practicable.

(d) Patent Prosecution Highway
The Trilateral Offices re-confirmed that the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) enables
users to expeditiously obtain a foreign patent at an early stage and contribute toreducing the examination workload of an Office. The JPO and the USPTO have been
operating a pilot program since July 2006 and confirmed plans to fully implement thisprogram on a permanent basis in January 2008. The EPO and the USPTO agreed toconduct a bilateral, PPH comparable pilot program, in which European applicants canparticipate on the basis of an EPO Extended European search report. The JPO will study
the possibility of a new work sharing framework by using an EESR outside the PPHframework.
In addition, the Offices will continue to implement the Patent Prosecution Highway incooperation with patent offices outside the Trilateral framework.
(e) Triway
With a view towards finding new ways to improve quality and reduce pendency, theTrilateral offices will undertake a limited pilot involving the concept of sharing searches,or, in the case of the JPO, search and examination results. This Triway pilot will employ
both new mechanisms and existing accelerated examination procedures within therespective Offices.
(f) File Wrapper Access
The Trilateral Offices confirmed that the usage of the Trilateral Document Access Tools
and feedback from examiners is an important component for analyzing the current statusand problems with the exploitation of search and examination results of the other offices.
Accordingly, the Trilateral Offices will continue to share information on usage of thetools by examiners, usability from the viewpoint of examiners, and will continue toimprove the tools to facilitate worksharing.

Examiners’ exchange
Using the Examiners’ Exchange program as a tool for enhancing understanding ofpatent systems and examination practices, building confidence among offices in work
performed, and promoting the effectiveness of exchange of work results in order tomaximize work sharing activities, the Trilateral Offices will utilize the 2007-2008
examiner exchange program as a means to further work sharing activities.

The Trilateral Office will commence the new round of Examiners’ Exchanges inAutumn 2007 at the USPTO. Through this program, the Trilateral Offices will continue
to evaluate exchanging search strategies and database information used by examiners.
The Trilateral Offices will also continue to develop e-learning modules as pre-training
materials for examiner exchanges and to promote mutual understanding of examination
practices. In this regard, the Trilateral Offices agreed to create a virtual e-learning
working group to deal with an e-Learning project in 2008 and agreed to a mandate androadmap for the group.
Project WM:

Workload Management

The Trilateral Offices recognized the importance in harmonizing Office practices andprocedures in order to gain efficiencies within the Offices and for the applicants. With
this in mind, the Trilateral Offices agreed to undertake a comprehensive, technology
focused collaborative approach to enhancing the examiner exchange program, and othercooperative efforts.

Electronic Business Systems
The Trilateral Offices support the concept of building interoperability of its systems.
Therefore, the Trilateral Offices agreed to develop an action plan within the IT Trilateralgovernance structure to achieve this objective.
The Trilateral Offices agreed to develop a long-term approach for updating Annex F tomake it technology neutral and adaptable to evolving technology.
The Trilateral Offices agreed that text based processing of PCT applications in XML isan important means for increasing Office efficiencies. In this regard, the Offices willreview taking a step-by-step approach in digitizing PCT applications in the long-term.
The Offices will form a working group to review all relevant issues and determine atime line for developing a project in which the Receiving Offices will forward XML
data to WIPO along with the OCR text data.

Dossier AccessThe Trilateral Offices agreed to revise the specification to accommodate the WIPO
Digital Access Service.

TRINetThe Trilateral Offices will review the services and availability monitoring of TRInet in
the short-term and will continue to review future options for providing updated
technical architecture for interconnectivity. The Trilateral Offices also reaffirmed theimportance of continually evaluating the security policy to ensure it meets the evolving
needs of the three Offices.

Priority Document Exchange
The Trilateral Offices recognized the achievement of implementation of electronic
Priority Document exchange between the three Offices. This new system allows fordirect office-to-office transmission of priority documents that eliminates the need forcustomers to request and mail these documents, thereby providing considerable savingsin terms of costs and time for both applicants and offices.
The Trilateral Offices will continue to refine its procedures for this process and willdevelop a plan to expand this service to other Offices.

Biotechnology
Aiming toward realization of the common search results among Trilateral offices, theTrilateral Offices agreed to continue to exchange information and discuss on search
environment and strategies for exchange of biotechnology work results including
sequence exchange and search related information. In order to assist the Offices inmeeting its needs in this area of technology, the Offices will review the mandate of thebiotechnology work group and develop long-term strategic objectives for this working
group.
The Trilateral Offices reiterated that cooperation in this field was significantlysuccessful with the publication of the Trilateral Search Guidebook and will serve as animportant tool for both applicants and examiners.

Linguistic tools
In order to advance progress in the use of search and examination results, the Trilateral
Offices will work toward improving machine translation of dossier contents intoEnglish. The Trilateral offices will continue to cooperate by providing translation
feedback on the JPO’s system in order to further develop the dictionary. The Trilateral
Offices will continue to exchange information on machine translation of Chinese
documentation. The Trilateral Offices welcomed the work by the EPO on the European
Machine Translation Program and will review the dictionary technology used for thissystem. The USPTO and the JPO appreciate the work that the EPO has performed inproviding machine translation documents in full text searchable form and welcomed thecontinued exchange of information on this effort.

Harmonization of Classification
The Trilateral Offices recognize the importance of harmonizing classification work toreduce redundancies and facilitate mutual acceptance of search results. Thus, theTrilateral Offices reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate progress of theclassification Harmony projects and will strive to improve efficiencies in completing
projects by prioritizing work and expanding the issue resolution procedure to include anArbitration panel to resolve disputes. In this regard, an arbitration board terms ofreference was adopted to define the parameters of the board and provide a dispute
resolution procedure.
The Trilateral Offices also welcomed contributions from other Offices on thedevelopment of the Harmony projects.

Information Dissemination
The Trilateral Offices reaffirmed their current core dissemination principles and havecommitted to continue to review dissemination practices and policies. The Officeshave also readdressed their information dissemination policy to address rapid
advancements in future information technology and its effect on patent information
dissemination.
The view of the Trilateral Offices towards commercial web search sites such asGoogle™ and NAVER of South Korea is generally very positive and the policy is towelcome these providers based on the strong surge of interest in patent information theyare creating. These services are promoting dissemination and raising awareness ofpatent information for the general public in view of the much larger audience reachedby these convenient entry points to the world of patent information.
The Trilateral Offices confirmed that opportunities of joint participation are significant
providing the TO's with venues where the results of the Trilateral cooperation activities
could be broadly disseminated. In 2008, the Trilateral Offices will continue to support
these events in the three regions.
The Trilateral Offices confirmed the need to provide data in the most efficient and costeffective manner. Accordingly, the three Offices will work toward media-less dataexchange.
Within the framework of reducing the Offices workload, the Trilateral Offices
recognized the importance of promoting patent information as a means for improving
the quality of incoming applications. With this in mind, the Offices will work
cooperatively to evaluate and provide common guidance on the importance of prior art
searches through the use of tools and services made available to the public.

Legal Issues(a) Common Application Format
The Trilateral Offices agreed on a common application format in consultation with users.
This format allows an applicant needing to file an application in each office to prepare asingle application in the Common Application Format, and it will be accepted by each
office without the need for amendments related to formalities. This will provide

significant savings to applicants in the filing and processing of patent applications
before the Trilateral Offices. The Trilateral Offices will consider proposing amendmentsto the PCT to reflect the progress made in the Common Application Format. In response
to a request from users, the Trilateral Offices will continue to discuss relevant legal
issues raised by users within the Trilateral Framework.
(b) New Route
Recognizing the need to evaluate various approaches to promote efficient processing ofpatent applications, the USPTO and the JPO will commence a New Route pilot projectby the end of January 2008. The pilot will be implemented for a period of one year.
The two offices will then evaluate the result of the pilot to determine next steps.
(c) Developing the PCTTaking into account the current situation in which the PCT is widely used by applicantsof the Trilateral regions, the Trilateral Offices confirmed they will continue their workin further enhancing the PCT administrative procedures. As part of this work, thethree Offices will review the electronic environment for the next generation PCT
e-filing system and will consider development of a plan to enable more efficient andexpeditious processing. Through a work group on developing the PCT, the TrilateralOffices will also study the feasibility of providing for a claims fee in the PCT system.
The Trilateral Offices agreed to take an active role in the development of objective
criteria for the future addition of PCT publication languages. The Trilateral Offices have
prepared a preliminary set of possible criteria and will continue to work with the WIPO
as it develops recommendations for the PCT Assembly.
(d) Quality Initiatives
As quality is of significant importance to all of the Offices, the Trilateral Offices will
exchange information on quality management in each respective Office. The Trilateral
Offices also recognize the Peer Review initiative in which the USPTO is participating asa means for raising quality.
(e) Comparative Studies on Examination Practices
To facilitate the preparation of high quality applications, the Trilateral Offices
acknowledged the significance of the comparative study on disclosure and claims. TheTrilateral Offices will disseminate the results of this study by posting it on the Trilateral
web site. The Trilateral offices will conduct a study on inventive step/non-obviousness
based on a review of the examining guidelines and laws.

Technical Cooperation Activities
The Trilateral Offices will undertake approaches in developing their collaborative
activities regarding technical assistance cooperation. In this regard, the Trilateral
Offices will exchange information on their respective activities and will formulate
common objectives for future Trilateral collaborative activities with IP officials in othernations and regions.
For 2008 the Trilateral Offices will investigate developing trilateral cooperative
programs based on the needs of each Office and the users. A seminar on design
protection with joint participation from SIPO is under consideration.

Economics of Patent Activity
The Trilateral Offices recognized the importance of economic studies related topatenting and innovation and intend to take a lead in building a network in this respect.
A micro economic approach would be most suitable for the Trilateral Offices. However
to support strategic considerations a macro economic context will be investigated.
Such a study may require involvement of other partners. The Trilateral Offices will form
the core part of the network. Duplication of work and studies already performed byother entities will be avoided. The EPO will take a lead and will draw up a plan forward.
The three Offices will continue discussions in this area and will expand thesediscussions to other interested parties. The Offices will begin this review byidentifying near term issues of importance to the three Offices.

Cooperation with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the StateIntellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China

Recognizing the significance of the KIPO and the SIPO as key players in global patentactivities, the Trilateral Offices welcome a meeting of the Heads of Offices and any
working groups as appropriate in 2008 to assess progress of all activities from 2007 anddiscuss next steps.