US-JP Collaborative Search Pilot Program

November 1, 2024
ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS DIVISION

1．US-JP Collaborative Search Pilot Program

The US-JP Collaborative Search Pilot Program (hereinafter referred to as the “US-JP CSP” or the “program”) is a joint effort between the USPTO and the JPO in which the examiners of the two Offices respectively conduct a prior art search for cross-filed patent applications to share search results along with opinions and respectively provide initial examination results to the applicant early and around the same time.

2. Pilot Period of the US-JP CSP (The program ended due to the expiration of the pilot period as the third phase on October 31, 2024)

The JPO and the USPTO agreed to cooperate to enhance the quality of patent examination through collaboration between JPO and the USPTO examiners and launched a US-JP Collaborative Search Pilot Program on August 1, 2015 according to the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) signed in Suzhou, China on May 21 of the same year. After completing a two-year pilot program as the first phase of the US-JP CSP, the two Offices implemented a three-year pilot program as the second phase under a new operation scheme from November 1, 2017.

On November 1, 2020, the Offices started a two-year pilot program as the third phase. Furthermore, they extended the third phase for another two years. On October 31, 2024, the pilot period expired. Now the program is closed to new requests.

3. Requesting the US-JP CSP (The program ended due to the expiration of the third phase)

The US-JP CSP already ended due to the expiration of the third phase. However, the Offices have been or will be conducting eligibility determinations for the US-JP CSP and prior art searches regarding applications filed during the pilot period.

Eligibility determination for the US-JP CSP

The JPO will determine whether the application satisfies the requirements under the US-JP CSP and inform the USPTO of its determination.

When the application is eligible for the program, the JPO will notify the applicant of such eligibility determination within 30 days of the submission of the request form.

When the application is not eligible based on the information provided in the request form, the JPO will notify the applicant of such ineligibility determination.

The procedure from the filing of a request to the notification of eligibility/ineligibility is as follows.

Fig. 1-1: Procedure using combined request form

Fig. 1-2: Procedure using former request form

4. Workflow of the US-JP CSP

The workflow of the US-JP CSP after the JPO notifies the applicant of its eligibility determination is shown below. This workflow applies to both cases of the JPO as the Office of First Filing and the USPTO as the Office of First Filing.

Fig. 2: Workflow of the US-JP CSP

5. Other things to keep in mind

As a general rule, the two Offices exchange preliminary initial examination results in the form of draft office actions within four months of granting a request for the US-JP CSP. However, if the USPTO’s draft office action is unavailable within that period for some reason, the JPO will send the applicant a notice that says "four months have passed since the JPO granted your request for the US-JP CSP, but we have not received search results from the USPTO as of today. We thus send our initial examination results only based on our search results."

For more information on the US-JP CSP, see the following pages.

6. Analysis Results of the US-JP CSP Phase 1 & Phase 2

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[Last updated November 1, 2024]

Examination Policy Planning Office

Administrative Affairs Division

Patent and Design Examination Department

Japan Patent Office

Tel: +81-3-3581-1101 (ext. 3103)

E-mail: PA2260@jpo.go.jp

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