[Ecommerce] USPTO Meeting on harmonization with Canada, Australia, Japan and the EC

[Manon Ress]

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an
=93exploratory=94 meeting February 3-4, 2005 at USPTO headquarters in
Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss the current state of substantive patent
law harmonization and possible approaches for moving harmonization
forward. Harmonization of patent laws will facilitate obtaining
worldwide protection, which is essential to success in the global
marketplace. Talks on substantive patent law harmonization at the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have been delayed until May
2005 as a result of disagreement among WIPO member states over the
content of a proposed harmonization treaty and the best way to proceed
with discussions.

=93This meeting will be an important step in getting substantive patent
law harmonization back on track,=94 noted Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of
Commerce for Intellectual Property. =93Harmonization promises to bring
substantial benefits, including uniform patent examination, reduced
patent office workloads, and enhanced patent quality. The sooner we can
agree on a basic framework, the sooner we can begin providing these
benefits to patent applicants, patent offices and the public alike.=94

Among those invited to participate in the USPTO meeting are
representatives from Canada, Australia, Japan, the European Commission,
the European Patent Office and the Member States of the European Patent
Convention. The meeting will be limited to government representatives only.

--
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology in Washington, DC
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036, USA
Tel.:  1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176

Consumer Project on Technology in Geneva
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Tel: +41 22 791 6727