US And UK Highlight Progress On Patents Cooperation

The US and UK governments have highlighted the progress made on a joint action plan launched in March 2010 to combat the problem of patent backlogs and their effects on the economy and job creation.

The announcement was made in London by David Kappos, US Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and Baroness Wilcox, UK Intellectual Property Minister.

The action plan is a follow-up to the study commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and released in March 2010 entitled ‘Economic Study on Patent Backlogs and a System of Mutual Recognition', which examined the economic impact of delays in processing patents. The study found that patent office delays stifle innovative competitiveness, drag down R&D investments, and minimise incentives to create, especially for inventions in the hi-tech sectors.

The USPTO-UKIPO action plan is designed to allow a patent examiner in one office to reuse work done by an examiner in the other office on a corresponding application to the maximum extent possible in order to reduce duplication of work, speed up processing and improve quality in both offices.

USPTO Director David Kappos said: “The joint action plan highlights that while 21st century patent challenges are global in scope, so too are their solutions. Work sharing is a powerful tool that equips examiners to extract value from our skilled colleagues in other patent offices. By reducing redundant workloads and chipping away at the backlog, we can collaborate to unleash millions of jobs lying in wait and breathe life into our economies.”

The offices will continue to collect and analyse data from the project to identify areas for further cooperation and improvement of the scheme, for a more robust 21st Century international patent architecture.

(BMcN)