JPO-DPMA Examiner Exchange Program Held

January 9, 2026

From December 8 to 12, 2025, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) held an *Examiner Exchange Program with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA).

The JPO has continued Examiner Exchange Programs with the DPMA since 2000, and this time conducted the program in an in-person and online format with some of participating JPO examiners visiting the DPMA.

In the program, three JPO patent examiners and two DPMA patent examiners discussed cross-filed applications in two technical fields of surgical and therapeutic devices and locks and exchanged opinions on how they use their respective examination guidelines in actual examination. Additionally, officers in charge of examination-related measures in the two Offices also participated in the program. They explained their respective initiatives on AI use, machine translation, and examination quality management, and exchanged opinions on these initiatives. Through these activities, participants from the two Offices successfully deepened their understanding of each other’s patent examination practices.

The JPO will continue to cooperate on patent examination with IP Offices of other countries.

• Link to the Examiner Exchange Program page in the JPO Status Report 2025

*The Examiner Exchange Program is designed to foster a relationship of trust and deepen mutual understanding between the examiners of the JPO and those of an overseas IP Office and to promote mutual use of prior art search results and examination results through discussions on each other's prior art search methods and examination practices.

[Last updated 9 January 2026]