IP NEWS:SOEI Patent & Law Firm

41 countries, including Japan, the United States and European Union members held an unofficial meeting for commissioners of the patent offices on October 24, in Geneva. They agreed to draw up a new convention that establishes a first-to-file system as the basis of the patent system.

The United States decision to abandon its first-to-invent system for the first-to-file system was the key development at this convention. The convention will also include the principle criteria that will serve as principles for determining inventions which are worthy of patent protection.

The draft of the convention will be prepared before the meeting for commissioners of the patent offices scheduled for November in Tokyo.

The new global convention will solve conflicts caused by the difference in the systems between countries. It should also shorten the examination period by unifying the principle criteria. Furthermore, it is expected that a patent right registered in one country will be the basis of a “world patent” that will be accepted internationally.