India-Japan to cooperate for patent verification

India and Japan have agreed to cooperate as competent International Searching and International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA) for any international patent application filed with them. This was drawn last week under the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on industrial property between the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO).

Both sides reconfirmed the importance of innovations that support society and the essence of a robust Industrial Property system for promoting investment and innovation amidst the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The DPIIT, in an official statement, said both sides acknowledged the importance of strengthening IP enforcement, enhancing capacity building, raising IP awareness and encouraging innovation to promote their goals.

It expressed its appreciation to the JPO for its cooperation in conducting training programmes to welcome trainees from India since the last meeting and the JPO agreed to continue conducting the invitational training programmes for Indian stakeholders. The DPIIT recognized the importance of industrial designs as industrial design education.

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Indian and Japan also agreed to commerce the function of offices acting mutually as competent ISA/IPEA under the PCT, from 1 July 2021. Their respective offices agreed to hold a meeting of experts for smooth and appropriate operation. They decided to hold a meeting at least once a year, of experts, to discuss the functioning of the Japan-Indian Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme. They agreed to continue holding an Information Exchange Programme of patent experts from the offices to further expand mutual understanding of the patent examination practices. Furthermore, the two sides agreed to hold the IT experts meeting once a year between the offices to share information and experiences on initiatives regarding development of the IT infrastructure.