The Special Session of the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of IP Offices Meeting was Held

September 14, 2020

On September 10, 2020, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the intellectual property (IP) offices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States held the Special Session of the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of IP Offices Meeting via video conference. This meeting was the second in series, following the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of IP Offices Meeting held on July 8 this year.

At the meeting, the JPO and participating ASEAN Member States shared the same recognition that it is necessary to appropriately protect IP rights toward promotion of innovation to tackle COVID-19, and, accordingly, that they utilize the Japan-ASEAN Patent Experts Meeting for enhancing convenience of IP systems.

The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) presented an interim report of their study on patent examination practices of AI-related inventions at IP offices of ASEAN Member States. This study uses AI-related case examples from the JPO Examination Handbook and investigates examination results for each case, judging in accordance with laws and regulations of respective countries and regions. The contents of this report will be also discussed at the first ASEAN-Japan Patent Experts Meeting to be held this fall. Through the discussion, standardization of patent examinations for AI-related inventions at ASEAN Member States is expected to develop.

The JPO will continue to promote further international cooperative initiatives with overseas IP offices.

The Special Session of the Tenth Japan-ASEAN Heads of IP Offices Meeting

[Last updated 30 September 2020]