A brief look at what is making news at the National and Regional Intellectual Property Offices around the world as at 11 May 2012:
> Brazil and EPO to enhance co-operation on patents – The INPI and EPO will exchange patent documents in Portuguese and English to create bilingual text corpora for use in the free Patent Translate service. [Refer to EPO]
> EPO and WIPO sign agreement to enhance co-operation – The agreement aims at improving the procedural framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with a view to increasing its use by patent applicants. [Refer to EPO, WIPO]
> USPTO to Test New Option for Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) – The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the start of the Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) pilot program as part of its on-going efforts towards compact prosecution and pendency reduction. [Refer to USPTO]
> USPTO and Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) sign Memorandum of Understanding on Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program – The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding making permanent the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program between the two offices and setting forth the common desire to implement further developments of the PPH program during a high level event in Budapest honoring Hungarian inventors and innovative companies. [Refer to USPTO]
> Commencement of the Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program between the JPO and the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property – The Japan Patent Office (JPO) will commence a PPH*1 pilot program with the National Institute of Industrial Property of Portugal (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial, INPI) on April 18, 2012. This will bring the number of Japan’s PPH partners to 22. This PPH will allow Japanese companies to obtain patent rights quickly and protect their rights effectively in Portugal, which currently does not have an accelerated patent examination system, and will lead to the facilitation of their business expansion in that country. [Refer to JPO]
> Commencement of the Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program between the JPO and the Israel Patent Office – The Japan Patent Office (JPO) will commence a PPH*1 pilot program with the Israel Patent Office (ILPO) on March 1, 2012. This will bring the number of Japan’s PPH partners to 21. This PPH will allow Japanese companies to obtain the patent right quickly and protect their rights effectively in Israel, leading to the facilitation of their business expansion there. The period of the pilot program is one year, but will be extended if necessary. [Refer to JPO]
> The State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C. (China) has reported that at the end of 2011, the number of valid invention patents in China totalled just under 700,000, including 351,000 belonging to domestic owners. This makes it the first time the number of valid domestic invention patents has exceeded the number of invention patents in China owned by foreign right holders. [Refer to SIPO]
> Enhancement to the ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (ASPEC) Programme – The ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (ASPEC) Programme was recently enhanced as part of a regular review. A key feature is that it will now operate in the English language in all participating ASEAN IP Offices. [Refer to IPOS]