United States Patent and Trademark Office and Japan Patent Office Collaborative Search Pilot Program
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is initiating a joint Work Sharing Pilot Program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) to study whether the exchange of search results between offices for corresponding counterpart applications improves patent quality and facilitates the examination of patent applications in both offices. In the pilot program, each office will conduct a prior art search for its corresponding counterpart application and exchange the search results with the other office before either office issues a communication concerning patentability to the applicant. As a result of this exchange of search results, the examiners in both offices may have a more comprehensive set of references before them when making their initial patentability determinations. Each office will accord special status to its counterpart application to first action. First Action Interview (FAI) pilot program procedures will be applied during the examination of the U.S. application and make the search results of record in the form of a Pre-Interview Communication.
- Task
- Read the news
- Patent or trademark
- both
- Legacy system
- —
- Current entry point
- www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/07/10/2015-16846/united-states-patent-and-trademark-office-and-japan-patent-office-collaborative-search-pilot-program (permanent link in the Federal Register, verified 2026-09-30)
- Legacy system and where it moved
- No legacy system name mention in title or summary )
- Fee
- No fee mention in title or summary )
- What you need (account or API key)
- No account or key mention in title or summary )
- Published
- 2015-07-10
- Document type
- Notice
- Source
- USPTO documents published in the Federal Register (Federal Register API)(retrieved 2026-10-06)
Everything in the same category
Read the news (all 1988) · both (all 2333)
Related entry points
- United States Patent and Trademark Office and Korean Intellectual Property Office Collaborative Search Pilot Program
- Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot Program
- Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot Program Extension
- Elimination of Publication Requirement in the Collaborative Search Pilot Program Between the Japan Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Extension of, and New Combined Petition Option for Participation in, the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot Program
- Extension of the Full First Action Interview Pilot Program and Request for Comments
- Changes To Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims
- Glossary Pilot Program
- Enhanced Examination Timing Control Initiative; Notice of Public Meeting
- Notice Regarding the Elimination of the Fee for Petitions To Make Special Filed Under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Programs
- Post-Prosecution Pilot Program
- Changes To Facilitate Applicant's Authorization of Access to Unpublished U.S. Patent Applications by Foreign Intellectual Property Offices
- Changes To Facilitate Applicant's Authorization of Access to Unpublished U.S. Patent Applications by Foreign Intellectual Property Offices
- Automated Search Pilot Program
- Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program
- Changes to Practice for Petitions in Patent Applications To Make Special and for Accelerated Examination