US & Japan - trial of New Route for obtaining patents in foreign countries

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has announced that in conjunction with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) the "New Route" for obtaining patents abroad will be trialed in a pilot project. The "New Route" project will allow the examination results from the first filing of a patent application to be utilised by foreign Patent Offices when subsequent applications are filed.

The New Route will deal with applications filed through the Direct Application Route (Paris Route). "Under the New Route, a patent application filed with the Office of First Filing (OFF) will be regarded as being filed on the same date as the filing date in the Office of Second Filing (OSF). The search/examination results obtained in the OFF will be transmitted to the OSF within a certain period of time. At the same time, the New Route gives an applicant sufficient time (30 months from the filing (priority) date) to think over whether or not his/her application should undergo an examination in the OSF based on the search/results issued by the OFF."

"The New Route reduces the examination workload and increases the examination quality by providing for the mutual utilization of search/examination results on a full scale for Paris-Route applications, while giving an applicant more time to make a decision about whether to file overseas and the payment of accompanying costs."

As the New Route would require changes in the law in the US and in Japan, the pilot project will simply test the concept using the existing framework under the existing laws. In order to get the results of the pilot in a limited period of time, the applications for the pilot will be examined expeditiously at the OSF.

The trial will begin on 28 January 2008 and will finish when either 50 applications have been processed or 28 January 2009, whichever occurs first.

Sources and for further information

Japan Patent Office news - Analogous New Route Pilot Project between the JPO and the USPTO

Japan Patent Office - Outline of the New Route Proposal for Applications Abroad