TOKYO, April 2 -- Japan Patent Office issued the following news:
What is the "Group B+"?
Group B+, a framework of developed countries comprising the IP offices from 47 countries and 2 organizations*1, aims to harmonize substantive patent laws. The group primarily discusses four major topics related to substantive patent law harmonization (SPLH): grace period, conflicting applications, prior user rights and prior art, as well as Client-Patent Attorney Privilege (CAP).
*1 Specifically speaking, this includes WIPO Group B (developed countries) member countries, EU member countries, European Patent Convention (EPC) member countries, the European Patent Office (EPO), the European Commission, and South Korea.
Recent Meetings
Group B+ Plenary MeetingJuly 2024
On 16 July 2024, Group B+ held its Plenary Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, which was hosted by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as the secretariat. The Industry Trilateral*2 (IT3), International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), and IP Federation were invited.
AIPLA, AIPPI and FICPI presented the outcomes of the Substantive Patent Law Harmonization (SPLH) colloquium held in June 2024 in Munich, and the EPO reported on behalf of the European delegations on the ongoing European SPLH alignment process.
The delegation of Australia took over the position of leading the Core Group from the delegation of Switzerland, and the decision was made to continue the discussions on CAP.
*2 The IT3 is composed of the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Business Europe (BE).
Study on Substantive Patent Law Harmonization (SPLH)
In order to advance discussions at the Group B+ meeting, the JPO has conducted studies on matters including grace period, and is disseminating the results both domestically and internationally, as follows:
The rest of the document can be viewed at https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/news/kokusai/b-plus/index.html
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
