Patent applications in fields of high technologies before the world five leading IP offices – tendencies and expectations

Author:
prof. Gjorgji Filipov

Ss. Cyril and Methodius University
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FCSE),
Skopje, North Macedonia

1. Introduction

 The five IP offices (IP5) is the name given to a forum of the five largest intellectual property offices in the world that was establish in 2007 “to improve the efficiency of the examination process for patents worldwide”.[1] These IP5 Offices together handle about 80% of the world’s patent applications, and 95% of all work carried out under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The heads of the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNIPA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agreed to established ten foundation projects on which they are going to work together in purpose to improve world IP system.

The projects are divided in three working groups (WG) (Table 1): WG1, Common Hybrid Classification, WG2, which consist of six subgroups (Common Documentation, Common Search and Examinations Support Tools, Common Application Format, Mutual Machine Translation and Common Access to Search and Examinations Results, and WG3 that contains three subgroups, Common Training Policy, Common Examination Practice Rules and Quality Management and Common Statistical Parameter System for Examination. The heads of the groups are appointed from the offices on the regular meetings (Table 1).

In 2019, the five offices decided to further advance their co‑operation in new emerging technologies (NET) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by setting up a special task force to co‑ordinate their initiatives. One year later, during their second meeting, the task force evaluated initial ideas and possible project proposals and developed a comprehensive roadmap for these projects and future work to be undertaken by the various IP5 working groups. In June 2021, the IP5 Heads of Office endorsed the IP5 NET/AI Road map (Fig.1).[2]

The last (15^th Annual) meeting among the heads of IP5 Offices via video conference was held on 9^th Jun 2022 that resulted with “progress in their joint initiatives and agreed on further enhancing the patent system to better support innovators globally”. The meeting of the IP5 Heads was hosted by the EPO. The various groups are working intensively on shortly distance between meetings.

Summarizing all up to now activities of the  Group IP5 Offices, it can be concluded that the main idea is the necessity of building as soon as possible World IP System with purpose to escape huge costs for administration, search and examination and to extend scientific, technological, and economic collaboration among the countries and regions preparing the mankind for the new technological epoch at the same time characterized by an accelerated changes of political, global natural, climate and urbanistic conditions.

Table 1[3].

Considering the modern scientific and technical level of development by using new daily terminology where dominates wording as it is: robots, drones, bots, AI (Artificial Intelligence), blockchain, IT, high technologies, biotechnology, etc., and the exactly defined technological fields through the International Patent Classification and specific classifications in some of the patent office’s we shall use concrete patent classes for the purpose of analyzing the situation, tendencies and expectations in the field so called – high technologies.

Fig. 2. (Fig.4.4)[4] describes the distribution of the 2021 applications by the more detailed fields of technology at each office (left column for each IP5 Office), and the change in application counts compared to 2020 (right column). Although, the whole International Patent Classification which comprises 8 (eighth) sections and more hen 120 classes, the EPO patent’ and the 5 IP Offices Group’ statistics are giving attention to 35 technological fields.

Fig. 1.

Actual shares and percentage changes in application counts are shown for the top 10 leading fields at each Office. Three fields are leading fields at all the IP5 Offices:

1.Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy, 10. Measurement and 13. Medical technology. Six of the leading fields at the USPTO, five of the leading fields at the KIPO and four of the leading fields at CNIPA are related to the Electrical engineering sector (1 to 8). At the JPO, KIPO and USPTO, most of leading fields are related to the Electrical engineering sector (1 to 8) or to Instruments sector (9 to 13). At the CNIPA and the EPO, the leading fields are more spread between sectors. The highest shares in a field can be found in 6. Computer technology receiving 14% of all applications at the USPTO and 13% at the CNIPA.

Comparing Fig. 1 and Fig.2 it seems logical the activity of IP5 Offices resulting with   developing a such kind of IP5 NET/AI Road map because the whole spectrum of new emerging technologies is part of the fields: electrical engineering, computer technology, measurement, instruments, IT methods for management and audio-visual and telecommunication technology, semiconductors as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutics.

Fig. 2

2. Characteristics of IP Offices

a. European Patent Office

The European Patent Office (EPO) was establish by the European Patent Convention (EPC) of 1973. It applies a single, uniform procedure to patent filings in any of its three official languages (English, French and German), and thus enables independent inventors, companies and researchers to protect their inventions in a market of some 700 million people. Until now there are 39 European countries which have signed EPC: Albania, Cyprus, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovenia. United Kingdom, Estonia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Romania, Spain, Croatia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Netherlands, San Marino, Sweden, and Montenegro. There is one extension state, Bosnia & Herzegovina and four validation states: Morocco, Cambodia, Tunisia, and Moldavia. The next extension state is going to be Georgia.

In 2022, the EPO received 193460 EP applications (Fig.3)[5], which is 2,46 % more than in 2021. In 2022 the EPO published 81754 EP, which is 24,85% less than 108799 European patents granted in 2021, which was 2% fewer than in 2020 when was launched digital file marketplace that “played an important role in managing the workload effectively in 2021”.

This decreasing in the number of granted patent relates to Covid-19 measures and financial politics and management strategy of the EPO administration.  Otherwise, it could not be explained the announcement of the EPO that, “The digitalization in EPO implied efficiency in timeliness of the EPO’s products and services”, considering that, “In 2021, the EPO launched an AI-based pre-classification engine built in-house, giving it full control over a crucial activity. The new engine was used to allocate over 50.000 EP and PCT applications to EPO examiners in the second half of the year. Also, another digital service that started in 2021 was the pilot on conducting oral proceedings in opposition via video conferencing. This digital transformation has had a positive impact on the EPO’s footprint in 2021”[6].

The Unitary Patent, that is expected to start on 1 June 2023 is really of enormous meaning for the patent system in Europe. The unitary patent “offers significant potential for innovation, investment and technology transfer at a time when they are needed more than ever”. Unitary patent understands also Unified Patent Court that will have exclusive competence in relation to unitary patent and, notably, will eventually also gain exclusive competence for conventional European bundle patents within the territory of the participating Member States (25 of them) upon expiry of a seven-year transitional period.

In 1992, the Council of Ministers of European Community adopted the Council Regulation concerning the creation of a Supplementary Protection Certificate for medical products, as an evident necessity of the pharmaceutical industry[7] and desire to exists a harmonical solution on the Community level. The directive for Supplementary Protection Certificate has several amendments. The last one was in 2029 by Regulation (EU) 2019/933 (Manufacturing Waiver Regulation), which took effect on 1 July 2019. Basically, the SPC offers possibility for maximum 5 year longer patent protection for medical products in the case all the conditions would be fulfilled.

EPO Data Bases are providing the public with patent data remaining the most comprehensive collection of patents whose total number of records in the EPO worldwide bibliographic database (DOCDB) now passed the 140 million patent publications mark. EPO worldwide legal event data (INPADOC) relates to information on the events during the lifetime of a patent application. INPADOC contains legal events from over 50 international patent authorities worldwide, available as backfile and front file data. EPO databases are accessible through services such as ESPACENET, as well as via numerous commercial providers and partner institutions. Users interested in performing statistical analyses of patent data can take advantage of the EPO’s PATSTAT database and the PATSTAT online services.

The EPO’s Patent Index provides a comprehensive overview of the figures representing recent activity in the global patent system and insights into emerging technology trends. Users wishing to explore the statistics behind the Patent Index, customize their own graphs and download selected data, can do so by visiting EPO website.

The EPO’s online Statistics & Trends Center expanded to 326 patent information centers (PATLIBs) in 2021, the EPO helped users and potential patent applicants understand the patent system and boost technology transfer across its member states. To empower the centers as creators, the PATLIB 2.0 project now offers tailored service packages enabling PATLIB centers to teach effective use of patent information and patent tools (train-the-trainers), perform analytics and statistics based on patent data and draw conclusions on trends in specific technical fields.

The EPO continued to successfully organize several high-level online events including the European Inventor Award, together with a whole range of online seminars and meetings. Resting on an extensive digitalization, the EPO “New Normal” will see new working environments for its examiners and supporting staff, as well as a wealth of 12 IP5 Statistics Report 2021 Chapter 2 – The IP5 Offices new tools for a better customer experience, at the service of applicants and public.

The EPO’s geographical coverage has grown further, increasing to a total of 2.020 billion inhabitants by the end of 2021 through 38 Member States, 2 extension states, 4 validation states (soon 5 with Georgia) and 10 reinforced partnerships. Throughout 2021, several patent offices joined the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) standard, including those in Morocco, Romania, and Bulgaria. By the end of the year, around 65 million patent documents were classified in the CPC.

Concerning the participation of the high technology or, NET according to the IP% Offices vocabulary, the number of patent applications filed before the EPO in 2022 it is a little bit different than the situation in IP5. The leading filed is 1. Digital communication, 8,6% growth, followed by, 2. Medical Technology, 81%, 3. Computer technology, 7,9%, 4. Electrical Machinery, 7,2%, 5. Pharmaceutical, 4,8%, 6. Transportation, also, 4,8%, 7. Measurement, 4,7%, and 8. Biotechnology, 4,2%.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

b. Japan Patent Office (JPO)

After his appointment as the new commissioner (July 2022) of the JPO, Mr. Hamano Koichi declared that (citations):

“1. The functions of the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (INPIT) of JPO will be strengthened to enhance support for small and medium-sized enterprises, business start-ups, and universities, which are all important drivers for creating innovation….

2. Considering the rapid development of digitalization, more and more cross-industry licensing negotiations are taking place involving standard essential patents because of that JPO has recently revised and published the second version of the “Guide to Licensing Negotiations Involving Standard Essential Patents”, which will provide useful information for achieving smooth licensing negotiations, as well as an early dispute resolution…
3. As part of JPO effort to promote innovation that contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), JPO is actively supporting the initiatives of WIPO GREEN, by developing and released the Green Transformation Technologies Inventory (GXTI). Also, to communicate the role of the IP system in solving social challenges, JPO is promoting the I-OPEN PROJECT toward the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. At the same time, JPO will vigorously promote cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and overseas IP Offices, while also supporting IP Offices in emerging and developing countries.
4. The JPO will continuously maintain the world’s fastest examinations. While providing these high-quality services, JPO also launched a new division in April 2022 titled the “Business Process Re-engineering Office”, in order to be adaptable to new tasks amidst systemic changes and new policies. And
5. The JPO will work closely with the relevant ministries and agencies to introduce non-disclosure of selected patent applications based on the Economic Security Promotion Act, while paying attention to balancing Japan’s economic activities and innovation promotion with its national security”.[8]

Mission, Vision, and Values shared by JPO[9]:

Closely support innovative ideas; Combine state-of-the-art technologies with professional knowledge and experiences that JPO has accumulated and refined through the years; and Co-create an IP ecosystem, in which ideas exploring the future can be developed to generate new values, with all stakeholders involved in IP.

Committed to promote innovation in order to achieve a society in which each individual is encouraged to enhance creativity to deal with various challenges, from improving the quality of life to solving social issues.

Mission: To achieve a society in which ideas are respected and each individual is encouraged to ignite creativity.

Vision: To promote innovation* through enhancement of IP rights by co-creating an IP ecosystem* in which ideas exploring the future can be developed to generate new values.

Values: Conduct business operations with integrity and fairness based on transparency; Act from the users’ standpoint; Continue to improve without being bound by past practices; Act proactively as a professional expert; Think and deal with issues as a united JPO entity.

IP ecosystem refers to the so-called ecology of IP, which also includes the concept of IP cycle, i.e., a positive cycle of development to create, protect, and make strategic use of IP. Specifically, this indicates a system, in which based on IP being created under the IP cycle, people have a positive impact upon each other and upon the society in order to autonomously establish new ideas and values.

The word “innovation” is not limited to technological matters. Rather, it has a broad meaning that includes the development of new business models and social systems.

It is obviously that the JPO is fully committed to fulfill the Goals of UN and WIPO considering the ecological protection of the planet and social responsibility for mankind helping to start-up’s, SME and Universities researchers and individuals showing big awareness for the future development in global meaning of the word. Of course, it does not mean that the JPO is not enough interesting in IP5 Offices collaboration and cooperation as well as other kind of international collaboration.

JPO and its International collaboration

JPO traditionally is fully engaged in collaboration in the framework of world Intellectual Property Organization, (WIPO) but also with other international and regional organizations and countries.

Concerning the multilateral collaboration, JPO has regularly developed engagement in mutual projects with the countries in so called Group B+ ( WIPO Group B member countries, EU member countries, European Patent Convention (EPC) member countries, the European Patent Office (EPO), the European Commission, and South Korea), afterwards IP5 Offices Group, Triliteral Cooperation (JPO – EPO – USPTO), another Triliteral (JPO – CNIPA – KIPO), JPO – ASEAN, JPO – ARAB Offices and  JPO – African Offices.

Bilateral collaboration relates to mutual projects and activities between: JPO – USPTO, JPO – EPO, JPO – European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), JPO – INPI  (French “National Institute of Industrial Property”), JPO – DPMA (German Patent and Trademark Office, Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt), JPO – UKIPO (United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office), JPO – CNIPA, JPO – IPO (“Indian Patent Office”, or precisely, “Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks”), JPO – Caribbean und South American IP Offices, JPO – INPI (Argentinian “National Institute of Industrial property”), JPO – INPI (Brazil National Institute of Industrial Property), JPO – IPO (Israel Patent Office), JPO – SAIP (Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property), JPO – TPI (Turkish Patent Institute), JPO –  EPO (Egyptian Patent Office), JPO – OMPIC (Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial property), as well as collaboration between JPO – any interested in developing country in the world.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) – JPO Specifics[10]

This Japanese specifics (PPH) “enables an application whose claims have been determined to be patentable in the Office of First Filing (OFF) to undergo an accelerated examination in the Office of Second Filing (OSF) with a simple procedure upon a request from an applicant on the basis of bilateral office agreements” (Fig. 5).

The PPH facilitats an applicant’s acquisition of a patent at an early stage worldwide and enhance the utilization of search and examination results between the IP Offices to reduce the burden of examination and to enhance the quality of examination worldwide.  Also, PPH should reduce the costs and increase the granting number of patents. More information for PPH could be find on https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/pph.html. Till now, there are more the 50 offices which accepted using the possibilities offered by PPH. The PPH, typically based on a bilateral agreement between two Offices, and must be implemented between the first Office (OFF) and the second Office (OSF)., The Offices that attended PPH Working-Level Meeting held in Singapore in 2014 agreed on PPH Policy[11], proposed by the JPO. Each Office participating in the PPH should endorse and realize the policy in order to promote the transparency and effectiveness of the PPH.ease a grant rate and reduce costs.

Fig.5

JPO Concept of the AI Related Inventions

In October 2022, the Patent Examination Department of the JPO has published report with headline – “The Recent Trends in AI-related Inventions”[12], as an answer to the remarkable interest of the common people as well as of the experts for the concept of “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”. The targets of this research were Japanese applications and international applications based on PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) and transferred into the national phase in Japan, and for which the application year was between 1988-2020. The experts from JPO believe that the growth of AI-related technology patent applications will continue in the future. The situation in the end of 2022 will be present in shorth text, using appropriate number of figures.

Fig.6

The patent examiners from “Electronic Department” of JPO divided AI related inventions in two groups (see Fig.6, Screen Shot from the Fig 1 in the Report) – 1. Artificial Intelligence Core Invention comprising inventions in IPC Class, G06N, and 2. AI Applied Inventions, comprising inventions in IPC Class, G06T1/40, G05B13/02 etc.

According to the JPO, 1. “AI core inventions are Inventions characterized by mathematical or statistical information processing technology that forms the basis of AI, such as various machine learning methods including neural networks, deep learning, support vector machines, reinforcement learning, in addition to knowledge-based models and fuzzy logic, etc”. (The FI2 to be assigned is mainly G06N3). 2.”AI-applied Inventions are inventions characterized by applying mathematical or statistical information processing technology that forms the basis of AI to various technical fields such as image processing, speech processing, natural language processing, device control/robotics, various diagnosis / detection / prediction / optimization system, etc”. (A several FI would be assigned).

The Fig.7 (Fig. 4 from the Report)[13], shows the number of applications classified into G06N from 1990 till 2020.

Fig. 7

In the beginning of the “First boom” of interest about  expert systems, robotics , telecommunications etc., in  the first half of the 1990’s, all applications were classified into any of G06N3/02-3/10 (neural network), G06N5/ (knowledge base), G06N7/ (fuzzy logic etc.) and G06N20/ (machine learning; G06N99/00, 150-159 before FI revision)  increased, but then began to decline, and as for G06N5/ and G06N7/, the number of applications remains low today. Application growth after 2014 is the influence of the so-called the third AI boom, and machine learning including neural networks which plays a leading role (especially, deep learning roles a major position). The factors pushing up the number of applications for the third AI boom are G06N3/02-3/10 and G06N20/.

The Fig.8 shows that G06T (image processing technology) has been on the rise since 2016 and the largest since 2019, surpassing G06N, as main classification assigned other than G06N. In addition, G06Q (business; including G06F17/60 before FI revision), A61B (medical diagnosis), G01N (material analysis), G06F16/ (information retrieval / recommendation; including G06F17/30 before FI revision), G16H (health care), G05B (control system and adjustment system in general), G06F40/ (natural language processing), H04N (video processing) and so on are also major AI-application area. The number of other G06F (information in general) is also large, including the information technology such as G06F3/ (man machine interface) and G06F21/ (information security). The technical fields that can be grouped under “Others” is also on the rise, suggesting that the application of AI technology is expanding.

Fig. 8 Disposition of main classes of AI-related inventions between 2010-2020

The Fig. 8 shows the number of national applications to the Five IP Offices and PCT filed through WIPO and classified into IPC: G06N. Like the situation in Japan, the number of applications into G06N is increasing in each of the offices. In particular, the USPTO and CNIPA are the major application destinations in the world. As a trend of applications related to neural networks, Figure 8 shows the number of applications classified into IPC: G06N3/02-3/10 (neural network). The number of applications filed is on the rise worldwide. In particular, the number of applications filed in China is higher than the number of applications filed in any other Office.

KIPO – Korean Intellectual Property Office

Short historical data about KIPO

In 1908, the Patent Decree laid the foundation in Korea for institutionalizing intellectual property. The Korean Intellectual Property Office[14] was stablished in 1949 as an external bureau of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the name of Patent Bureau. In 1967 Korea joined the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Fig. 9 Number of applications to each IP5 Office and WIPO classified into G06N, (2013 – 2019)

In 1977 the Patent Bureau became an external administration of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the name – Korean Industrial Property Office (KIPO) and in 1979 it joined WIPO, while one year later Republic of Korea joined the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. In Korea 1984 joined the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). In the same year the KIPO moved the main office from Seoul to Daejeon. In 2000 was renamed the Korean Industrial Property Office to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, in 2003 Korea joined the Madrid Protocol. In 2006 was changed the legal status of KIPO to a central executive agency under the Act on Establishment and Operation of Executive Agencies.

In 2007 KIPO became member of IP5 Offices. In 2008, KIPO was restructured its organization to more efficient one in line with the new government’s policy of streamlining government organizations and already in 2008 was held the 2nd IP5 Heads Meeting in Jeju. In 2011 in Korea was stablished the PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination Division, while the number of registered patent surpassed 1 million. In 2012 was lanuched the KIPOnet system. In 2013, it has been established Intellectual Property Protection & International Cooperation Bureau. In 2014, Korea deposited accession to the Geneva Act of the Hague, Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and it was held the 7th IP5 Heads Meeting in Busan. In 2015 it was held Korea’s 50th Invention Day. In 2016 was held “Global IP-Sharing Korea” event. In 2017 was held “Heads of IP Offices Conference”. In 2019 was held the 12th IP5 Heads of Office Meeting in Incheon, and KIPO surpassed 2 million Total Patent Registrations.

KIPO Patent & Utility model Applications and Registration Statistics[15]

According to the Korean view on the matter of intellectual property “The purpose of the patent system is to accelerate the development of technology though the protection, encouragement, promotion, and utilization of inventions, and thereby contribute to the development of industry”. Following the principal of the Paris Convention on Industrial Property “the publication of inventions, which applied for a patent protection, leads to the accumulation and utilization of technology and the advancement of industry. The granting exclusive rights for the commercial usage of a patented invention promotes commercialization, encourages the development of inventions, and leads to the advancement of industry”. One invention that requires for right to be a patent “must have industrial applicability and must be usable in industry”. If it is about technology, “The technology must have novelty; it must not be known to the public (prior art) before an application is submitted and must have an inventive step; it must not be easily derivable from prior art, even though it differs from prior art. The time period of a patent right, “commences when the establishment of patent right is registered; it ends 20 years after the filing date of the patent application”. The corresponding term for a utility model is 10 years. As the other industrial property right, “the effect of a patent right is subject to the principle of territoriality; that is, it is valid only in the country where the right is obtained”.

Table 2

From the Table 2, 3 and 4 the number of patent applications and the number of granted (registered) patent is very similar to the numbers given in EPO patent statistics. During the process of analyzing the data must be considered that according to the Korean Patent Act one the patent right can be granted only for one invention.

Table 3

Table 4

KIPO Specifics – Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

The basic concept of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) before KIPO[16] is almost the same as it was in the case of JPO.  Namely, if the office of first filing (OFF) has assessed the patentability of a patent application, the office of second filing (OSF) offers the applicant an accelerated examination for the corresponding application, provided that certain conditions are met. With the PPH program, the examination results of the OFF are used to expedite the application process in the OSF, thereby reducing the workload and improving patent quality. If deemed patentable by the OFF, corresponding application is filed in advance for accelerated examination in the OSF.

The Global PPH has commenced on 6 January, 2014. Each of the IP5 Offices took participation in the first meeting under JPO initiative. The other offices offices involved till now in the Global PPH (GPPH) pilot are as follows:  IP Australia (IP Australia), Austrian Patent Office (APO), Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), Estonian Patent Office (EPA), Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO), Icelandic Patent Office (IPO), Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ), Israel Patent Office (ILPO), Nordic Patent Institute (NPI), Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru (INDECOPI), National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile (INAPI), Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (PPO), Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT), Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV), United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), and Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI), Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO).

KIPO developed collaboration in Patent Prosecution Highway with ne next Intellectual property offices all around the world: DPMA (German patent and Trademark Office), IPOHIL (Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of the Philippines), TIPO (Taiwan Intellectual Property Office), SIC ( Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of the Republic of Colombia), EAPO (Euro-Asian Patent Office), IP Viet Nam, SAIP (Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property), INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil), MyIPO (Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia), JPO (Japan Paten Office), USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), DKPTO (Danish Patent and Trademark Office), UKIPO (United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office), CIPO (Canadian Intellectual Property Office), ROSPATENT (Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patent and Trademarks), NBRF (National Board of Patents and Registrations of Finland), SPTO (Spanish Patent and Trademark Office), CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration), HIPO (Hungarian Intellectual Property Office), IPOS (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore), APO (Austrian Patent Office),

KIPO IP Policy approaching Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies[17]

Looking for possibility to develop appropriate service which shall respond to the rapid changes in the IP environment, KIPO implemented new measures to improve its patent examination. It was made an organizational restructuring which led to the establishment of a new “Digital Convergence Examination Bureau” dedicated to the examination of technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and bio-health and other NET (New emerging Technologies).

Restructuring the Organizational Chart of the Examination Department

Before this reorganization, KIPO’s patent examination was carried out by four bureaus: the Patent Examination Policy Bureau and Patent Examination Bureau 1, 2, and 3. A more efficient system was established according to technology fields and the relocation of examiners with specific expertise. Since 2019, there are five bureaus managing patent examinations: 1. Patent Examination Policy Bureau; 2. Digital Convergence Examination Bureau; 3. Electricity & Telecommunications Examination Bureau; 4. Chemical & Biotechnology Examination Bureau; and 5. Machinery & Metals Examination Bureau.

Considering the specificity of 4^th IR-related technologies, the Digital Convergence Examination Bureau consists of six divisions and teams related to the 4IR: 1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Examination Division; 2. Internet of Things Examination Division; 3. Biotechnology & Healthcare Examination Division; 4. Intelligent Robot Examination Division; 5. Smart Manufacturing Examination Division; and 6. Autonomous Driving Technology Examination Team. It is important fact that the new examination criteria were established through consultation between the Bureau and industries which will play a pivotal role to promote the development and growth of 4IR-related technologies and industries. Accelerated examination allows a way to preferentially review necessary applications while responding to continual changes in industrial structure and advancement of the technological environment.

New Patent Classifications

Corresponding to the emerging technologies, a new patent classification system was established for seven technological fields in 2018, and nine technology fields were newly added in 2019 which can benefit from the program.

They are shown on the Figure 10:

1) Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, autonomous vehicle, big data, cloud computing, intelligent robot;

2) Innovative new drug, customized healthcare, smart city, AR/VR, renewable energy, drone, new generation communication, intelligent semiconductor, and advanced material. Currently, eligible patent applications filed under the accelerated examination are registered in an average of 5.5 months, up to 10 months earlier than general examinations.

Fig. 10 Technology of the 4^th IR, Convergence Service Fields & Industry Technology

c. CNIPA – China National Intellectual Property Office

China Files Record-High European Patent Applications in 2022[18]

Under such a headline was published last news on the web site of CNIPA (Apr 07, 2023).  Chinese companies and inventors filed a record high of 19,041 patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO), growth 15.1%, the highest among the 20 major patent filing countries, according to the Patent Index 2022 revealed by EPO recently. The top five applicant countries are the United States, Germany, Japan, China and France, with China (15.1%) and the United States (2.9%) and South Korea (10.0%) being the main engines of growth in patent filings.

In 2021, a total of 1.586 million invention patent applications were filed in China, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. Among them, 1.428 million were domestic applications, accounting for 90.0% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; 158,000 were foreign applications filed in China, accounting for 10.0% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%. Among the domestic invention patent applications, 1.314 million were applications for service inventions, accounting for 92.0%, with a year-on-year increase of 8.2%.

In the company ranking, Huawei was still the busiest filer at the EPO in 2022, filing 4,505 patents, up more than 27 % year-on-year. LG of South Korea, Qualcomm of the United States and Samsung of South Korea ranked second to fourth. Apart from Huawei, eight other Chinese companies including OPPO, ZTE, Tencent, BOE Technology, VIVO, Baidu, Xiaomi and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Limited (CATL) also made the top 50.

Digital communication was once again the field with the most patent applications last year, with a total of 16,705 applications, up 11.2% year-on-year, closely followed by medical technology and computer technology with 15,683 and 15,193 ones respectively. China surpassed Japan (19.9%) and the United States (18.1%) in electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (including battery technology), up 47.7% year-on-year. CATL paced all Chinese companies in machinery/energy, and ranked third overall in Europe. China posted a 44.3% and 39.9% increase in biotechnology and organic fine chemistry respectively, and had the biggest gains in the latter among major patent filing countries. China is not only strong in digital communication and computer technology and AI, but also growing more active in patenting in many other areas such as biotechnology and medical technology.

Given the country’s focus on protecting intellectual property rights to help boost its economic growth, the record number of Chinese patent applications at the EPO has a global significance for the protection of intellectual property rights. Also, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) unveiled the results of international filings of patents. China has remained the top origin of PCT international applications for the fourth last years: in 2019, 58990, in 2020, 68720, in 2021, 69540 and in 2022, 70015.

CNIPA Organizational Structure

The administrative establishment of the CNIPA contains 143 staff members. There is one commissioner, four deputy commissioners, and 24 departmental directors and deputy departmental directors (including one full-time deputy secretary of the CNIPA Party Committee).

1.The General Office is responsible for the daily operation of the CNIPA, and works on safety, confidentiality, public complaints, open government, informatization, etc. It also conducts policy research, organizes and carries out work related to intellectual property publicity, and releases important government information.

2.The Department of Treaty and Law coordinates and puts forward plans for the drafting and modification of international intellectual property treaties and for foreign-related intellectual property negotiations; drafts relevant laws, regulations, and codes; conducts the legality review of normative documents, administrative reconsideration, administrative litigation, etc.; formulates examination policies and criteria for judging the confirmation of authorization IP rights.

3.The Strategic Planning Department formulates national IP  strategies and policies and measures to build national IP  strength; formulates national IP development plans; undertakes the budgeting and final accounting of the CNIPA and the financial, asset and infrastructure planning of the units directly under the CNIPA; carries out IPR statistical investigation, analysis, and release.

4.The IP Protection Department carries out work related to building the IP protection system; organizes the formulation of standards for judging of IP infringement and inspection, appraisal and other relevant standards for protection and law enforcement; undertakes administrative adjudications such as trademark review, patent reexamination and invalidation; protects appellations of origin and geographical indications, integrated circuit layout designs, distinctive marks, Olympic signs, World Expo signs and other official signs, and directs the handling of local IP disputes, rights protection assistance and dispute mediation.

5.Intellectual Property Utilization Promotion Department formulates and implements management policies and systems to strengthen the creation and utilization of intellectual property; directs and standardizes the evaluation of intangible assets of intellectual property; carries out work related to compulsory patent licensing, trademark and patent pledge registration, and transfer license filing management, etc.; formulates policies to regulate intellectual property transactions; and formulates policies and measures for the development and supervision of intellectual property intermediary services.

6.The Public IP property information public service system and IT application development, promote the facilitation, intensification and efficiency of information services; conducts the dissemination and utilization IP  information, the research, analysis and release IP  application, authorization, registration and other information-related work.

7.The International Cooperation Department (Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs) coordinates foreign-related intellectual property affairs; studies foreign development trends of IP; formulates policies on foreign-related work of IP; handles related matters involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

8.The Personnel Department carries out the work on officials and personnel, organizational setup, labor wages and education of the CNIPA departments and offices.

9.The CNIPA Party Committee. It is responsible for the Party-mass work of the CNIPA and its directly affiliated units in Beijing.

CNIPA – Statistics data

Table 5. Patent Grans (Jan.- Sep. 2022)

From the Table 5 can be understand that the number of granted patent for the period of January-September 2022 was 533099. 26% of them belongs to the Colleges and Universities, 7,1% to the scientific Research Institutions, 63,4% (the largest percentage, or 337815 patents) belong to the Enterprises, the smallest amount of 1,4% to the Public Institutions and 2,1% to the Individuals. It is really huge number, considering that in other members of the Group 5IP Offices, this percentage in this category is not higher than 10%. Obviously that Chinese policy is to invest in Research and Development (R&D) in the universities and scientific and institutions. It is not a case when we analyze the relation in the granted patents for Utility models and Designs.

Table 6.  PCT Applications (Jan.- Sep. 2022)

Table 7. Domestics and Foreign Patents in Force (Sep. 2022)

On Table 6 they are the results for PCT Applications only till September 2022, but we can see that the number of Chinese applications is continually growing and even more, China has remained the first position of PCT applications for the fourth last years.  According to the WIPO data, the number of Chinese PCT applications for 2022 is 70015. Concerning the patents in force, till September 2022 in China there are 3.969.065 serviced patent for invention in force. The most of them are domestic 3.123.084 (79%) and the rest of them, 845.981 (21%) are foreign.

CNIPA – International Collaboration

Belt and Road Initiative – Challenges for the future

At the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda meeting in January 2021, China’s President Xi Jinping promoted “peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, that “the world will not go back to what it was in the past. In essence,     “Xi proposed a novel, multilateral approach to global issues… In the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Xi has compared himself to the Western Han Dynasty’s imperial envoy Zhang Qian, who had traveled to Central Asia 2,100 years ago to initiate the first transcontinental linking of Asia and Europe by way of friendly contacts in Central Asia. Xi’s vision of a China-led global integration initiative is similar to the Silk Road in its scope, genesis, and functionality. Like the Silk Road, the BRI includes a nearly hegemonic amount of the global population and global trade. This ambitious, transcontinental trade and infrastructure project involves more than 139 countries, 63 percent of the world’s population, and 40 percent of global GDP. Like the original Silk Road, the BRI promises to build efficient land routes between East Asia and Europe (the belt), and sea routes between East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa (the road). While the Silk Road’s ancient Eurasian land routes were largely replaced due to the dominance of modernized naval trade, the BRI aims to revitalize the importance of Eurasian land trade for the global economic system, as well as increase the efficiency of Afro-Eurasian sea routes. A 2019 World Bank study indicates that the BRI’s land and sea routes have the potential to benefit all countries with planned infrastructure sites as well as the global economic integration system, if transport costs can be reduced through improved infrastructure[19]”.

Strengthening Cooperation between Countries along the Belt and Road in the Field of Intellectual Property and Joint Statement on Pragmatic Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property among Countries along the Belt and Road[20]

In the IP cooperation CNIPA already work on this matter and until now have been realized several projects like the last one for the purpose of implementing the Common Initiatives for Strengthening Cooperation between Countries along the Belt and Road in the Field of Intellectual Property and the Joint Statement on Pragmatic Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property among Countries along the Belt and Road (BRI Countries) and fostering the pragmatic cooperation among BRI Countries.

It was conducted a “Comparative Study on Examination Procedures of Patents”. On a voluntary participation basis, the first phase of the study report is completed by four patent offices, which are: 1.The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) from east Asia;2.The State Service of Intellectual Property and Innovation under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzpatent) from middle Asia; 3.The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT) from Europe; and, 4.The Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP VIETNAM) from southeast Asia.

Generally, the procedure rules in each office relate to a board scope in examination practice, in which the provisions in many items among the offices are same or similar. However, there are still some differences. The report should serve as foundation to the Comparative Study, and as reference to the IP users.

CNIPA Collaboration on Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program

China National Intellectual Property Administration and the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) have jointly decided to extend their Patent prosecution highway (PPH) pilot program for an indefinite time from April 1, 2023. Also, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) have jointly decided to extend their Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program for another five years from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2028. The established Guideline of CNIPA-NIPO PPH Request remains controlling the pertinent requirements and procedures governing applicants’ PPH requests at the two offices.  The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic have jointly decided to extend their Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project – which was activated on January 1, 2018 – for another three years from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2025.

CNIPA and IP5 Offices PPH Collaboration                                                                                The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), European Patent Office, (EPO) Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have jointly decided to extend their IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project for another three years from January 6, 2023, to January 5, 2026. The pertinent requirements and procedures governing applicants’ PPH requests under the pilot project remain unchanged.

The 14th BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting

On 15.09.2022 the CNIPA hosted the “14th BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting”[21] that was held online on September 15. CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu anchored the annual gathering that was attended by Cláudio Vilar Furtado, President of the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI) of Brazil, Yuri Zubov, Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) of Russia, Unnat P Pandit, Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, GI (CGPDTM-India), and Rory Voller, Commissioner of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) of South Africa. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Daren Tang conveyed his regards to the event via video while WIPO Deputy Director General Wang Binying and Assistant Director General Edward Kwakwa attended the meeting as special guests. In his opening remarks, Shen praised the results achieved since the start of the BRICS IPR Cooperation. He said in the past 10 years since its establishment, the cooperation initiative has become an important platform for the BRICS members to seek mutually-beneficial development and tackle challenges in the IPR field, adding that it has become a key body representing emerging countries on the international IPR stage.  Shen quoted the 14th BRICS Summit Beijing Declaration.”We look forward to more practical outcomes in such fields as patent, trademark, and industrial design.” China is looking forward to deepening cooperation among the BRICS offices and it is also expecting the BRICS offices to further enhance communication and cooperation with the WIPO and contribute the BRICS power to the construction of the global IP ecological system.

d. USPTO – United States Patent and Trademark Office

USPTO functions in accordance with the USA Constitution

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)[22] is the federal agency for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks. According to the USA Constitution the Office’s functions are to: “Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” On the web page of the USPTO is emphasized that: “The strength and vitality of the U.S. economy depends directly on effective mechanisms that protect new ideas and investments in innovation and creativity”, which is shown with “The continued demand for patents and trademarks underscores the ingenuity of American inventors and entrepreneurs. The USPTO is at the cutting edge of the nation’s technological progress and achievement”; 2. “Advise the president of the United States, the secretary of commerce, and U.S. government agencies on intellectual property (IP) policy, protection, and enforcement; and promotes the stronger and more effective IP protection around the world; and 3. “Carry out further effective IP protection for U.S. innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide by working with other agencies to secure strong IP provisions in free trade and other international agreements”.

US Patent’s characteristics

USA’s patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office[23].

Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available. The right conferred by the patent grant is, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.

There are three types of patents: 1) Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof; 2) Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and 3) Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant. Any person who “invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,” subject to the conditions and requirements of the law. The word “process” is defined by law as a process, act, or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy in an atomic weapon. See 42 U.S.C. 2181(a).

Some differences between USPTO and EPO patents[24]

A Business method before USPTO is patentable if it tied to another statutory class (apparatus) or transform subject matter to a different thing. Otherwise, generally there is no protection for abstract concepts or ideas. Considering the EPO, the business method needs for a technical character.  Also, the computer programs before the EPO is not patentable as such. It must have technical character (construed broadly) and other conditions as they are novelty/inventive step rest on technical features.  The USPTO is more open and ready to recognize patent for computer program.

In USA and EU, diagnostic methods[25] are not patentable if claim defines a “law of nature”. They can be patentable if go beyond law of nature Similar concerning the gene sequences[26] as they naturally exist in the human body are not patentable. They can be patentable if they are modified. Methods for treatment by surgery or therapy, diagnostic methods, and human stem cells are acceptable and patentable in USA, nonpatentable before the EPO. Transgene animal and plants are patentable before both patent offices (USPTO and EPO).

USPTO International Collaboration in the field of Patents[27]

Tin the framework of the organizational structure of the USPTO is the Office of International Patent Cooperation, which was established in 2014 to support and improve the international patent system. The office assist U.S. inventors and businesses in protecting their patent rights worldwide and supports the global innovation community, mostly in two critical areas: “increasing certainty of intellectual property (IP) rights and reducing costs for international stakeholders”.

There are various program and activities, as follows:

“a) Access to relevant prior art initiative, aiming to increase patent examination quality and efficiency through automatically importing relevant prior art and other pertinent information into pending U.S. patent applications as early as possible.

b) Global Dossier, that provide stakeholders with secure, one-stop access to related applications across the IP5 largest patent offices in the world.

c) Cooperative Patent Classification, a partnership between the USPTO and the European Patent Office to harmonize their existing classification systems and migrate towards a common classification scheme.

d) Collaborative Search Pilot Program (CSP) providing applicants who cross-file their patent applications internationally with search results from multiple offices early in the examination process; Further, already known,

e) PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway which speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating intellectual property offices.

f) Patent Cooperation Treaty, an international treaty making it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in many countries by filing a single “international” patent application instead of filing several separate national or regional patent applications.

g) PCT Collaborative Search & Examination Pilot where the examiners from the IP5 offices collaborating on the search and examination of a single international application, resulting in an international search report (ISR) and written opinion (WO) from the chosen International Searching Authority (ISA) based on contributions from all participating offices.

h) Hague Agreement concerning international registration of industrial designs which enable an international registration system which offers the possibility of obtaining protection for up to 100 industrial designs in designated member countries and intergovernmental organizations by filing a single international application in a single language.

I) Patent Document Exchange (PDX) which avoids fees associated with ordering, filing, and transmitting certified priority documents to separate foreign IP offices; and,

j) Internationally Authority Files with main purpose of the authority file of published patent documents is to allow all interested parties to assess the completeness of the available patent documentation from the industrial property office (IPO) that generated the authority file[28]“.

Patent Statistical USPTO Profile[29]

According to the statistical data published by WIPO, but sent to WIPO from USPTO, this patent office has received in 2021, 509.962 patent applications. Almost half of them were sent to the USPTO from inventors who used to live in USA (262.244), and the others (247.710) are from inventors who lives in USA (see Table 8). Because of these numbers USPTO was ranking on the 1^st place for the abroad applications, to 2od place for the domestic applications and on the first place for the member of PCT applications which entries into national phase (210984) and 70,1% were abroad applications using the PCT System. The first five ranking companies as applicant are from the USA and all of them are coming from the field of high technologies.

Table 8. USPTO Patent application in 2021

Fig.11 Top technical fields and top foreign destinations

What it can be seen from Fig.11 is that, a) The 5 top technical fields are in the Groupe of high    technologies: Computer technology, Medical technology, Digital communication, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology and b) Top foreign destinations in which inventors asked for protection are exactly the countries and regions members of the Group of IP5 Offices, EPO countries, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, plus Canada

On Fig 12 are given numbers of patent applications before USPTO from domestic as well as from foreign applicants. It is obviously that there is no big difference among the number of applications beginning from 2012 till 2021. The relations “domestic vs. foreign” are regularly in favor of domestic (1-4) %, for example for 2021, the difference is 51,42 % vs. 48,58 %. This difference in the case of Chinese applications is 90% vs. 10%, (total number of Chinese PA in 2021 is 1.586.000, which of on the residents belong 1.428.000, and the abroad PA are 158.000).  Concerning the top foreign countries were from are coming applications (Fig. 13), Japan is on the first place, following by China, Korea, Germany & United Kingdom.

In the case of Patent Granted (Fig. 14), the situation is opposite. Namely, the percentage of foreign granted patents before the USPTO is higher than domestic ones, 329.229 vs. 262.244.

Figure 12. Number of Paten Applications before USPTO from 2012-2021

Table 13. Country of origin of foreign applicants before USPTO in 2021

Table 14. USPTO – Statistics for Patent Applications and Patent Granted in 2021

3. Conclusions

3.1. The five IP offices (IP5) is a forum of the five largest IP offices in the world that was establish in 2007 “to improve the efficiency of the examination process for patents worldwide”. These IP5 Offices together handle about 80% of the world’s PA, and 95% of all work carried out under the PCT. The heads of the EPO, the JPO, the KIPO, the CNIPA and the USPTO agreed to “established ten foundation projects on which they are going to work together in purpose to improve world IP system”.

3.2. Each of the IP Offices has its characteristics, which are depending of the political, sociological, constitutional, historical, traditional, natural and people resources that implies differences among them despite the cat that all of the countries are member of WIPO and all international treaties and conventions supporting intellectual property protection. Considering the headline and essence of this Symposium in Sofia the enclosed paper gave the biggest attention to the patented inventions, and utility models and industrial designs and patents for them this time were not topic of treatment. Though, in all Five IP Offices are applying the rule of “First filed” and all of them are members of the PCT family as well as are using the Patent Prosecuted Highway (PPH) route.

3.3. In 2019, the five offices decided to further advance their co‑operation in new emerging technologies (NET) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by setting up a special task force to co‑ordinate their initiatives, Already in In June 2021, the IP5 Heads of Office endorsed the IP5 NET/AI Road map.

3.4. The 15^th Annual meeting among the heads of IP5 Offices was held on 9^th Jun 2022 that resulted with “progress in their joint initiatives and agreed on further enhancing the patent system to better support innovators globally”. The meeting of the IP5 Heads: António Campinos, EPO, Mori Kiyoshi, JPO, Lee Insil, KIPO, Shen Changyu, CNIPA and Kathi Vidal, USPTO, was hosted by the EPO. Representative from WIPO attended as an observer. The focus was done to “the role of intellectual property in building a sustainable future”. Together with representatives of IP5 Industry, the IP5 heads of office celebrated ten years of industry involvement since the first such meeting took place in June 2012.

3.5. The heads of the IP5 offices have appointed that joint projects are user driven. The IP5 offices and IP5 Industry marked the occasion highlighting the main achievements of the past decade of co-operation in the fields of: patent classification, IT, work-sharing and quality, patent practice alignment and statistics, including, a) The creation of the Global Dossier, which allows applicants to retrieve information about progress of their patent dossiers at the IP5 level free-of charge and in a single location; b) The Common Citation Document, which consolidates the prior art cited by all participating offices for the family members of a patent application and unites all prior art retrieved by the offices on a single page; c) Easier access to the patent system via the IP5’s comprehensive PPH programme, which enables inventors and  businesses to obtain patents more quickly and efficiently d) Alignment in the practices of the IP5 offices in order to make the patent process more transparen; and e) The IP5 initiated a dialogue with IP5 Industry on the contribution of IP to addressing global challenges in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

3.6 The IP5 heads of office agreed to focus future joint activities on: (1) Optimizing co-operation with IP5 Industry to ensure high-quality services and a user-friendly international patent landscape; (2) Enhancing outreach and awareness-raising of the benefits of IP and the potential of innovation to support sustainability.

3.7. In the 5 IP Offices Group’ statistics the highest attention is gave to 35 technological fields. Three fields are leading fields at all the IP5 Offices: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy, Measurement and Medical technology. Six of the leading fields at the USPTO, five of the leading fields at the KIPO and four of the leading fields at CNIPA are related to the Electrical engineering sector (1 to 8). At the JPO, KIPO and USPTO, most of leading fields are related to the Electrical engineering sector (1 to 8) or to Instruments sector (9 to 13). At the CNIPA and the EPO, the leading fields are spread between sectors. The highest shares in a field can be found in 6. Computer technology receiving 14% of all applications at the USPTO and 13% at the CNIPA.

3.8. In accordance with the statistical data, it seems logical the activity of IP5 Offices considers with developing such a kind of IP5 NET/AI Road map, because the whole spectrum of new emerging technologies is part of the fields: electrical engineering, computer technology, measurement, instruments, IT methods for management and audio-visual and telecommunication technology, semiconductors as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutics.

3.9. According to the Fig. 15 the highest number of actual patents in force can be found in the registers of EPO.  It seems that the most appreciated and valuated receiving office, industrial capacity, science and research and development activities as well as the market is the European one (39 countries). Otherwise, the number of patent applications and patent granted is the highest in China.

Fig. 15. Patent in force among IP5 Offices end of 2020.

3.10 Considering the specifics of each one of the IP5 Offices, they are as follows:

The European Patent Office (EPO) applies a single, uniform procedure to patent filings thus enables independent inventors, companies and researchers to protect their inventions in a market of 39 European countries, which have signed European Patent Convention. The Unitary Patent, applicable on the EU countries “offers significant potential for innovation, investment and technology transfer at a time when they are needed more than ever”. Unitary patent understands also Unified Patent Court that will have exclusive competence in relation to unitary patent and, notably, will eventually also gain exclusive competence for conventional European bundle patents within the territory of the participating Member States (25 of them) upon expiry of a seven-year transitional period. Supplementary Protection Certificate which offers possibility for (maximum 5 years, it means 25, instead 20) longer patent protection for medical products in the case all the conditions would be fulfilled.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), JPO Specifics enables an application whose claims have been determined to be patentable in the Office of First Filing (OFF) to undergo an accelerated examination in the Office of Second Filing (OSF) with a simple procedure upon a request from an applicant based on bilateral office agreements”. The JPO divided AI related inventions in two groups: 1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Core Invention (IPC Class, G06N), which are characterized by mathematical or statistical information processing technology that forms the basis of AI, such as various machine learning methods including neural networks, deep learning, support vector machines, reinforcement learning, in addition to knowledge-based models and fuzzy logic, etc”. (The FI2 to be assigned is mainly G06N3); and 2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applied Inventions (IPC Class, G06T1/40, G05B13/02 etc.), which are characterized by applying mathematical or statistical information processing technology, that forms the basis of AI to various technical fields such as image processing, speech processing, natural language processing, device control/robotics, various diagnosis / detection / prediction / optimization system, etc.

KIPO has formed “Digital Convergence Examination Bureau” dedicated to the examination of technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and bio-health and other NET (New Emerging Technologies). Digital Convergence Examination Bureau consists of six divisions: 1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Examination Division; 2. Internet of Things Examination Division; 3. Biotechnology & Healthcare Examination Division; 4. Intelligent Robot Examination Division; 5. Smart Manufacturing Examination Division; and 6. Autonomous Driving Technology Examination Team.

Chinese inventors filed a record high of 19,041 patent applications at the EPO, which means growth of 15.1%, according to the Patent Index 2022 revealed by EPO recently. In 2021, a 1.586 million invention patent applications were filed in China, 1.428 million were domestic, and 158.000 were foreign. Chinese company, Huawei filed USA and Samsung of South Korea ranked second to fourth. Apart from Huawei, eight other Chinese companies including OPPO, ZTE, Tencent, BOE Technology, VIVO, Baidu, Xiaomi and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Limited (CATL) were in list of  top 50.  CNIPA has is its organizational chart The CNIPA Party Committee Department.  China promoted Belt and Road Initiative – Challenges for the future, for peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, which means a novel, multilateral approach to global issues… Like an ancient “Silk Road”, the BRI includes a nearly hegemonic amount of the global population and global trade and infrastructure project, that involves more than 139 countries, 63 percent of the world’s population, and 40 percent of global GDP. It would be building efficient land routes between East Asia and Europe (the belt), and sea routes between East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa (the road). The BRI aims to revitalize the importance of Eurasian land trade for the global economic system, as well as increase the efficiency of Afro-Eurasian Sea routes. In 2022 the CNIPA hosted the “14th BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting”. CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu anchored the annual gathering that was attended by President INPI, Brazil, Head of the Rospatent, Russia, Controller of CGPDTM, India, and Commissioner of CIPC,  South Africa. WIPO Director General Daren Tang conveyed his regards to the event via video while WIPO Directors attended the meeting as special guests. China praised the results achieved since the start of the BRICS IPR Cooperation adding that it has become a key body representing emerging countries on the international IPR stage.  But China quoted that “they are looking forward to more practical outcomes in such fields as patent, trademark, and industrial design”.

USPTO has received in 2021, 509.962 PA. Half of them were sent to USPTO from inventors who live in USA (262.244), and 247.710 PA are from inventors who live in USA. USPTO was ranking on the 1^st place for the abroad applications, to 2nd place for domestic applications, and on the first place PCT applications, which entried into national phase, (210.984), and 70,1% were abroad applications using the PCT System. The first five ranking companies QUALCOMM, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Google, and 3M).  USA recognizes three types of patents: 1) Utility patents,  granted to anyone who invents new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof; 2) Design patents,  granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and 3) Plant patents,  granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant. The Law excludes the patenting inventions useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy in an atomic weapon. A Business method before USPTO is patentable if it tied to another statutory class (apparatus) or transform subject matter to a different thing. Considering the EPO, the business method needs for a technical character. The computer programs before the EPO are not patentable, as such. It must have technical character (construed broadly) and other conditions as they are novelty/inventive step rest on technical features.  The USPTO is more open and ready to recognize patent for computer program. In USA and EU, diagnostic methods are not patentable if claim defines a “law of nature”. They can be patentable if go beyond law of nature, similar concerning the gene sequences they naturally exist in the human body are not patentable. They can be patentable if they are modified. Methods for treatment by surgery or therapy, diagnostic methods, and human stem cells are acceptable and patentable in USA, nonpatentable before the EPO. Transgene animal and plants are patentable before both patent offices (USPTO and EPO).

Literature:

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[1] ) IP5 Statistics Report, 2023, https://www.fiveipoffices.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/Key%20IP5%20statistical%20data%20202.pdf

[2] ) https://www.fiveipoffices.org/activities/NET_AI

[3] ) Filipov, G.  Possibilities for patenting inventions in software and IT – Current possibilities in Europe for patenting software and other IT artifacts and inventions. IEEE v Tools Event, FCSE, 11.02.2016, Skopje. (https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/38344

[4] ) https://www.fiveipoffices.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/IP5%20Statistics%20Report%202021_1.pdf

[5] ) EPO Statistical Report 2022 (www.epo.org)

[6] ) https://www.fiveipoffices.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/IP5%20Statistics%20Report%202021_1.pdf

[7] ) Ridderbusch, O., Uexkuil, A. (editors), Petkoska, I., Damjanski. V., Filipov, G. & others (contributors). European SPCs Unraveled – A practitioner’s Guide to supplementary Protection Certificates in Europe. Wolters Kluwer. United States.

[8]) https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/introduction/message/august2022.html

[9] ) https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/introduction/tokkyo_mvv.html

[10]) www.jpo.go.jp/e/system/patent/shinsa/soki/pph/index.html

[11] ) www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/docs/pph-policy-en.pdf

[12] ) www.jpo.go.jp/e/system/patent/gaiyo/ai/document/ai_shutsugan_chosa/report.pdf

[13] www.jpo.go.jp/e/system/patent/gaiyo/ai/document/ai_shutsugan_chosa/report.pdf

[14] https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=10200&catmenu=ek01_02_01

[15] https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=91000&catmenu=ek02_01_01

[16] https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=100016&catmenu=ek02_02_03#a20

[17] https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=91001&catmenu=ek02_01_02

[18] https://english.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2023/4/7/art_3090_183358.html

[19] https://hir.harvard.edu/what-does-the-belt-and-road-initiative-mean-for-the-future-of-the-international-integration-system/

[20]

[21] https://english.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2022/9/30/art_1340_179070.html

[22] https://www.uspto.gov/about-us

[23] https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/general-information-patents

[24] Intes, D. Building up a patenting strategy. University of Strasburg, LLM, Skopje, 2014.

[25] Mayo vs. Prometheus case (March 2012)

[26] Myriad case (June 2013)

[27] https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/international-patent-cooperation

[28] The USPTO authority files, and information about international standardization for these files is available on the USPTO authority file webpage.

[29] www.wipo.int/edocs/statistics-country-profile/en/us.pdf