JPO Participates in Five Trademark Offices (TM5) Mid-Term Meeting

June 12, 2026

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) participated in the Five Trademark Offices (TM5)^*1 Mid-Term Meeting, whose members include Japan, the United States, Europe, China, and Korea, which was held from May 26-28, 2026.

During the meeting, participants discussed future goals and progress regarding the 11 cooperative projects that TM5 is promoting to harmonize trademark practices/procedures and improve trademark services, and also with respect to several new projects. A TM5 User Session was additionally held, inviting user representatives from industry groups and trademark attorney organizations.

With respect to the "Bad Faith Trademark Project^*2", one of the three initiatives being led by the JPO, we reported the results of a survey conducted among participants in the workshop on countermeasures against bad faith trademark filings, held in February this year for the staff of the Department of Intellectual Property Thailand. The feedback included comments such as, "it was a valuable opportunity to learn about the examination practices of each office." In addition, it was agreed to continuously hold similar events within the ASEAN region.

Regarding the "User Involvement Project^*3," we discussed holding a pilot TM5 Joint Workshop at the Annual Meeting of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI^*4), to be held in Budapest this September. This would provide another opportunity to introduce the examination practices of TM5 Offices to users, in addition to the International Trademark Association (INTA^*5) Annual Meeting to be held in San Diego next May.

As for the "IT Support for Trademark Examination Project*6," the TM5 Offices also agreed to hold an online IT expert meeting in June to exchange information on the AI utilization initiatives that each office has been working on in recent years.

The TM5 user session, held on the final day of the meeting, provided a valuable opportunity for representatives from each TM5 Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to report on the latest policy developments, as well as to exchange opinions with participants.

The 15th TM5 Annual Meeting, which will summarize this year's activities, is scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China in November 2026.

JPO will continue to help promote the appropriate protection and utilization of trademark rights through its TM5 initiatives.

*1. The TM5 meeting consists of five trademark offices: the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), and the Ministry of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Korea (MOIP). Each office takes turns hosting this annual meeting, and CNIPA is this year’s host. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is also participating as an observer.

*2. The purpose is to exchange information and notify users with respect to the systems and operations of each office regarding bad faith trademark filings (i.e., taking advantage of the fact that another party's trademark is not registered in the country/region in question in order to submit a trademark application for improper purposes).

*3. We hold TM5 Joint Workshops in cooperation with the International Trademark Association (INTA) to disseminate information to the general public.

*4. International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI): An organization of patent attorneys with over 5,000 members in 80 countries and regions worldwide. The federation represents the position of patent attorneys working in firms around the world, and expresses opinions on newly-proposed treaties, domestic laws, etc., in addition to disseminating information from various countries through publications and magazines.

*5. International Trademark Association (INTA): A body comprised of over 6,600 organizations, including government agencies, educational institutions, and companies, and approximately 38,000 professionals from 182 countries.

*6. The purpose is to exchange information on IT systems that will lead to more efficient examination processes.

Photo - Representatives from individual participating agencies
Representatives from individual participating agencies

JPO Participates in Five Trademark Offices (TM5) Mid-Term Meeting

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