Patent Applications before Public Disclosure can be applied for Japan-US Collaborative Search Pilot Program

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that they decided to carry out joint examination even before patent applications are disclosed. Now Japanese companies can file patent applications with both the JPO and the USPTO and request for applying this program to their patent applications.

This decision is based on the Japan-US Collaborative Search Pilot Program (CSP) which started last year.

According to the Japan-US CSP, Examiners at the JPO and USPTO conduct search on patent applications respectively at an earlier stage, which are filed with both patent offices, and Examiners at both patent offices share the search results. Then, the first examination reports are sent to the applicants at the same time.

Previously, it was necessary to wait for patent applications to be disclosed in Japan and in the U.S. in order to request for this program. Thus, it has been impossible to request for the program within 18 months from the earliest filling dates.

Since patent applications before the public disclosure will be applied for this pilot program, it becomes possible to request for the program at least 6 months earlier in advance, when the applicants file patent applications with the second patent office.

It was announced that more than 30 patent applications were sought for this pilot program in the last one year after the start of this program, therefore earlier acquisition of patent rights both in Japan and in the U.S. is to be expected.