An Effective Way to the Harmonization of Patent System -- How to promote the harmonized supporting IT systems in the fie

1. An Effective Way to the Harmonization of Patent System--How to promote the harmonized supporting IT systems in the field of Intellectual Property LU JIANJUN JPO SIX MONTHS STUDY-CUM-RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

2. Me and My Research I am the deputy director of project management division of automation department of State Intellectual Property Organization of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO). Since 2001, I have been in charge of the management of IT projects in SIPO for almost nine years. My research report would like to talk about the important role of IT systems to promote the harmonization of patent systems. The report is divided into five chapters as shown in the right side.

3. Background

4. IP World in the Future EPO advanced “SCENARIOS FOR THE FUTURE” in 2007.These scenarios draw the IP world of 2025. The focal questions which these scenarios seek to answer are: How might IP world evolve by 2025? What global legitimacy might such IP world have? Market Rules Whose Game? Trees of Knowledge Blue Skies

5. Actuality & Questions The patent system, which supported our industrialized world in the past one hundred years, has come to maturity in the 20th century, but the world environment is changing now. Globalization and harmonization are the worldwide concerned topics since the very beginning of the 21th century. Even there are still many competing, negotiating, collaborating with each other among the patent offices, whether it is a national, regional or international patent office, the co-exist is the reality. What is the development direction of patent system? What can we do for the patent system? How to harmonize the patent system to adapt the globalization? Are there some effective ways to the harmonization of the patent system?

6. About Harmonization Harmonization, the noun of “harmonize”, is defined as “to be suitable together, or to make different people, plans, situations, etc. suitable for each other” in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. The keyword of “harmonization” is “together”, which means we have to work together to make things suitable. We have built the patent system together, and we will develop the patent system together in the future.

7. About Patent System- History From establishment of the first statute about patent and patent law which issued in 1474 by the Republic of Venice, the patent system has spent over 500 years. In these 500 years, many laws and rules are established for the former social situation. Patent system consists of patent laws, patent examination standards and the procedures of patent examination. The patent law is different from country to country, and the format and style of patent applications and procedure are also different.

8. About Patent System- Actualities With the increasing of patent fillings, many problems appear, such as the acceptance of documents, the examination of applications, the sharing of the patent information. The rapid growth of patent application draws much attention of the countries, and all patent office begin to attach importance to the harmonization of patent system. WIPO,EPO, SIPO, USPTO, JPO, KIPO and other offices have done many efforts to try to harmonize the patent system, mainly focus on the harmonization of patent law and procedure. Source: WIPO Statistics Database

9. Existing Framework PCT- Patent Cooperation Treaty The trilateral co-operation Patent Examination Cooperation PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) AIPN (Advanced Industrial Property Network) ……

10. COMPARISONS AND HYPOTHESIS

11. Comparison of Business Japan vs. China -Patent law Legislative purposes Requirements of grant Other principles -Patent Examination Standards Novelty Inventiveness Practical applicability -Procedures of Patent Examination

12. Comparison of IT systems Electronic Application System Internet e-filing software- Electronic Filing Software of JPO E-filing System- Electronic Application System of China

13. Comparison of IT systems Examination & Searching System-China Patent Electronic Examination System (E-system) Patent Search and Service System (S-system)

14. Comparison of IT systems Examination & Searching System-Japan Patent Examination & Searching System of Japan There are several systems to help the examiner of JPO searching and examining the patent applications.

15. Comparison of IT systems Database Construction Data Collecting and Processing Flow in SIPO Outline of Record Master System in JPO Other Systems……

16. Analysis and Hypothesis- PEST Political factors Governments have given full attentions not only to the ideology but also the position of IP. It would still lead to many problems and obstacles within the cooperation because the country's political system and ideology are different . Economic factors With the impact of the global financial crisis , the current world's economic landscape has undergone a subtle change. Governments have been aware of the important role of IP rights in economic development The imbalance of economic development has also led to the different requirements in different countries. Social-cultural factors We have entered into technology-driven society. We enjoy a new culture given by science and technology. We are not satisfied with the existing social and cultural environments. we prefer to promote the process of globalization under the minimum prerequisite of maintaining our own society and culture. Technological factors Computers and the Internet have spread to almost any country in the world. The current level of technology already has the conditions of harmonization. The application of the information technology in patent system is unbalance.

17. Analysis and Hypothesis- VRIO Value Great amount of patent data Arbitrary state power Effective tools Spiritual power Rarity Unique resources Governmental authority Appropriate organizations Inimitability Could not be replicated Applications Organization Reasonable organizations

18. Analysis and Hypothesis- SWOT OT analysis-looking outside Opportunity The cooperation is enhanced and got more and more results with the progress of globalization. The high-speed development of world economy and constant renewal of the science & technology put forward new demands Threats The differences of political conditions affect the patent system harmonization process. The disequilibrium economic development makes different demands of the schedule and the degree of harmonization. The uneven development of scientific and technological level leads to different levels for the use of technical means. The standard of patent examination is imperfect and there are differences in patent examination practice. SW analysis-looking inside Strength The patent law gives each country a powerful tool. We accumulated a large number of patent-related data. The organization goal is simpler and identity is strong. Supporting IT systems in each national patent office have begun to take shape. Weakness The needed impetus for the harmonization of patent system is various. The data standards need further improvement. The data-sharing and data-exchanging need to be further strengthened. The information system islands became the problems presented to our eyes.

19. Hypothesis Hypothesis 1: The harmonization of patent system is the trend of the world. The construction of the supporting IT systems is one of the ways to promote the harmonization. Hypothesis 2: Mostly IP offices are dependent on supporting IT systems to ensure the running of their business. There are the demands of sharing and harmonizing in the IP office. Hypothesis 3: It is possible to harmonize the patent system by all the ways, especially through the promoting of the harmonized supporting IT systems. overall hypothesis: “Because of the requirements of technology and economic development, the patent system will be oriented towards the development of internationalization and harmonization. We have made some achievements by the harmonization of patent law, patent examination practices and the supporting IT systems, but the harmonization of patent system will be a long-term sustainability, and it is possible to promote the development of the harmonization of patent system by harmonizing supporting IT systems at first”.

20. POSSIBLE PATHS

21. Harmonization of Business The harmonization of the patent business is one of the possible paths to achieve the harmonization of patent system. We must have patience to promote this harmonization under plan, and gradually push forward it. The current standards of patent data cannot meet the requirements of the development of patent system. The first possibility way to harmonize the patent system is to conduct a harmonization of patent business at first. But the first step of the harmonization of the patent business would be a further harmonization of patent data standards.

22. Harmonization of IT Systems The second possible path to promote the harmonization of patent system might be the harmonization of supporting IT systems. A set of harmonized supporting IT systems by which different countries and offices can do business will be very effective to understand and cooperate in deepening in term of the technical cooperation. It will be better to promote the harmonization of patent system by the regional harmonization of supporting IT systems.

23. Harmonization of Two Paths Data standards are the basis of the establishment of IT systems Patent data would become increasingly standardized through further development of standards of patent data. Examination practice is the guidance of the establishment of IT systems The practice of patent examination system guided the construction of patent information system, and the system has also helped to further improve and optimize the practice of patent examination after the IT systems was established. IT systems are the best practice of the data and the examination Through the better utilization of patent examination practices and data standards, supporting IT systems achieve an integration of technology, while the patent examination practices and data standards achieve their optimal and value maximization.

24. INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRES

25. Interviews The governmental level: ask some questions to JPO's IT staffs to get a better understanding of the efforts of the harmonization of patent system made by JPO . The general public level: hope to understand the efforts of the patent information services provided by Japan government and the feedback and attitude of public for the services through these interviews from one side.

26. Questionnaires General Situation of Questionnaires The questionnaire includes three parts: the harmonization of legislation, the harmonization of examination practice and the harmonization of supporting IT systems, in which totally there are 33 questions. The questionnaires have been sent to 192 persons, including 13 participants of “2009 WIPO Japan-Funds Training Course on the Use of Information Technology in Industrial Property”, 32 staffs concluding the patent examiners, design examiners, patent administrators, IT staffs, re-examiners and policy makers in SIPO, 52 persons in Japan including the staffs in JPO and the applicants and attorneys, 20 persons in Tanaka-lab of TIT and 75 patent-related persons including former researchers and trainees from different countries. At the deadline of for submission of the questionnaires, there were 60 replies received, the response rate is 31.25%. These replies are from 11 countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, USA, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand and Papua New Guinea.

27. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q1: With the development of the patent law and the examination practice in recent years, I think the current patent system is well designed to promote the development of industry. 65.22% respondents from Japan believe that Japan's patent system adapts to the industry development; while in China, more than 50% of respondents partly agree the opinion that China's patent system are well designed to promote the industry development in China; in other countries, mainly respondents agree that the patent system in their countries is well designed to promote the development of industry. As a whole, more than 50% of respondents believe that their country's patent system adapt to industry development. As a developing country with a short history of patent system, it seems that China needs more efforts and confidence to improve the patent system.

28. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q3：Although there are many differences among the patent laws in different countries, the harmonization of patent law is still possible. Considering the possibility of the harmonization of patent law, 52.17% respondents from Japan, 70.83% respondents from China and 53.85% respondents from other countries agree the harmonization of patent law is possible. Although approximately 60% respondents believe the possibility in total, there are still 33.33% respondents who have some doubt on it. Comparing these data, the respondents from China have more confidences than the respondents from other countries. The researcher believes that on one hand these confidences comes from the hope for China's integration into the world, on the other they are from the self-confidence of China's abilities. Q5: I am satisfied with the actuality of harmonization of patent laws. The satisfaction of the actuality of the harmonization of patent law is not so high, especially in Japan. The satisfaction in China is 25%, higher than 13.04% in Japan, of which the possible reason was the history of patent law in China is short than in Japan. In total, 46.67% respondents hold the unidentified attitude. The researcher thinks there is a long way to go to harmonize the patent law.

29. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q15: I am satisfied with the procedures of the patent examination in my country. 50.00% respondents from China and 53.85% respondents from other countries believe the procedures of the patent examination in their countries are good, but only 39.13% respondents from Japan have the same idea. In these countries, there are approximately 30% respondents partly agree this opinion. So, maybe the procedures are not the most important issue, but the arguably one.

30. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q21: The patent examination standards and rules are well designed and perfect for the development of the patent system. Only 34.78% respondents from Japan, 37.5% respondents from China, 46.15% respondents from other countries and 38.34% in total think the standards and rules of patent examination practice are well designed and perfect to the development of the patent system. There are still 43.33% respondents partly agree this point. Q24: From the view of the manner of harmonization, I think the regional harmonization of IT systems is easier. 48.83% respondents from Japan, 83.33% respondents from China, 61.54% respondents from other countries and 65% in total think the regional harmonization of IT systems is easier. We can see the confidence of China. Q25: In my country, the patent office has many supporting IT systems to help people dealing the routine work about patent. These supporting IT systems play an important role in deed to help my work. 91.30% respondents from Japan, 83.33% respondents from China, 76.92% respondents from other countries and 85% in total agree that the supporting IT systems in their offices play an important role indeed. From these data, we can find out the development of IT systems in Japan are really helpful to the public because of the high satisfaction, and the development of IT systems in China improves the ability of patent examination practice.

31. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q27: With my understanding of the harmonization of patent system, I think the harmonization of supporting IT systems such as the electronic application system and the patent searching system is the most important step to harmonize at first. 60.86% respondents from Japan, 58.34% respondents from China, 76.92% from other countries and 63.33% in total agree that the harmonization of supporting IT systems is the most important step to harmonize at first. We all realize the importance of supporting IT systems. Q30: From the view of the manner of harmonization, the first step of the harmonization of supporting IT system will be regional harmonization. 30.44% respondents from Japan, 45.84% respondents from China, 61.54% respondents from other countries and 43.33% in total agree that the first step of the harmonization of supporting IT system will be regional harmonization. According to the fact that the rates in Japan and China are lower than the rate of other countries, the researcher guesses the reason of this fact would be that these two large patent offices have built their own IT systems and have some doubts on the regional harmonization.

32. Questionnaires-Frequency and Correlation Q31: From the view of the manner of harmonization, the harmonization of supporting IT system will directly be the international harmonization. 60.87% respondents from Japan, 45.83% respondents from China, 46.15% respondents from other countries and 51.66% in total agree that the harmonization of supporting IT system will directly be the international harmonization. For this opinion, the confidence in Japan is obviously higher than other countries including China. Less people disagree it, but almost 1/3 people have some doubt on it.

33. Questionnaires Correlation Analysis- Japan Question 3 and Question 11: The correlation coefficient is 0.619, the highest one in this chart. Question 3 is talking about the possibility of the patent law harmonization, which should not be affect by the differences among countries; questions 11 is talking about the harmonization of patent law will directly be the international harmonization. The relationship between these two questions is positive correlation, from what we can think the harmonization of patent law could be harmonized in different countries toward to the international harmonization directly; they are synchronized. Question 15 and Question 21: The correlation coefficient is 0.854. Question 15 is talking about the satisfaction about examination procedures; question 21 is talking about the well-designed examination standards and rules .So, it should be supposed that the better the patent examination standards and rules are designed, the more satisfactions with procedures of the patent examination. There is a strong positive correlation here. Question 27 and Question 31: The correlation coefficient is 0.794. Question 27 talks that “the harmonization of supporting IT system is the most important step to harmonize at first”; question 31 is “the harmonization of supporting IT system will directly be the international harmonization”. It seems that the harmonization of supporting IT system should be promoted toward international harmonization directly. They are progressing together.

34. Questionnaires Correlation Analysis- China Question 5 and Question 10: The correlation coefficient is 0.725. Question 5 is talking about the satisfaction of harmonization of patent law; question 10 is talking about the first step of the harmonization of patent law will be the regional harmonization. There is a strong positive correlation between them. It should be supposed that the regional harmonization of patent law be pushed forward by the satisfaction of harmonization at first; the possibilities about regional harmonization are high. Question 17 and Question 18: The correlation coefficient is 0.684. Question 17 is talking about WIPO’s leading role of the harmonization of patent examination practice; question 18 is talking about the efforts made by PCT. This relationship is obviously. PCT is the framework of WIPO. WIPO could make progress in patent examination practice cooperation by using PCT to be the leader. Question 24 and Question 25: The correlation coefficient is 0.859. Question 25 is talking about the supporting IT systems in patent office play an important role in routine work. Combining question 24, it shows the more important the supporting IT systems are, the easier the regional harmonization of IT systems is.

35. Questionnaires Correlation Analysis- Other Countries Question 3 and Question 5: The correlation coefficient is 0.663. Question 3 is talking about the possibilities of the harmonization of patent law; question 5 is talking about the satisfactions of patent laws. There is a strong positive correlation between them. It could be supposed that the possibilities of patent law harmonization should be increasing along with the increasing satisfactions of patent laws. Question 12 and Question 21: The correlation coefficient is 0.883. Question 12 is “patent examination practice is already very mature and does not require to be changed”; question 21 is “the patent examination standards and rules are well designed and perfect for the development of the patent system”. It shows the standards & rules are the measurement of patent examination practice’s maturity. Question 23 and Question 31: The correlation coefficient is 0.748. Question 23 is talking about the importance of using computer language; question 31 is “the harmonization of supporting IT system will directly be the international harmonization”. It can be suggested that the international harmonization of supporting IT systems should concern about the using of computer language.

36. Questionnaires Correlation Analysis- Total Question 1 and Question 2: The correlation coefficient of these two questions is 0.472. The relationship of question 1 and question 2 shows: patent law protects the patent right and achieve the technology; these protection and the achievement could help the development of the industry; the patent law and patent system develop together toward the same goal. Question 12 and Question 21: The correlation coefficient is 0.663. As discussed above, it shows the standards & rules are the measurement of patent examination practice’s maturity. Question 23 and Question 27: The correlation coefficient is 0.648. 0.748. Question 23 is talking about the importance of using computer language; question 27 talks that “the harmonization of supporting IT system is the most important step to harmonize at first”. It shows the utilization of computer software should help the harmonization of patent system.

37. Questionnaires Factor Analysis- Japan Factor 1: International Patent Examination Practice Harmonization with IT Systems Factor 2: International Cooperation and International Organization Factor 3: Patent Examination Practice with well-designed standards Factor 4: Protection and Harmonization

38. Questionnaires Factor Analysis- China Factor 1: World-wide Standard Patent Information Database Factor 2: Maturate Patent System Factor 3: Patent Examination Practice Harmonization and International Cooperation Factor 4: Harmonization of Patent Law

39. Questionnaires Factor Analysis- Other Countries Factor 1: Importance of the Harmonization of IT Systems Factor 2: Patent Examination Practice Harmonization with IT Systems Factor 3: International Cooperation and IT Systems Factor 4: World-wide Standard Patent Information Database

40. Questionnaires Factor Analysis- Total Factor 1: Importance of the Harmonization of IT Systems Factor 2: Patent Examination Practice Harmonization and International Cooperation Factor 3: International Patent System Harmonization Factor 4: Patent Examination Practice Harmonization

41. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

42. Conclusions Governments have fully recognized the necessity of patent system harmonization; it has become a consensus that the harmonization of patent system is the developmental trend in today's world. Over the years, governments have made great progress in the harmonization of patent examination practice and patent law through their own efforts and international cooperation. Among them, in order to strengthen its operational capacity and international competitiveness, each national patent office invested a lot of energy in information technology system constructions. These achievements of IT constructions have furthered the application and development of patent examination practice, thereby promoting the harmonization of patent system. Together with the joint efforts of WIPO, EPO, SIPO, JPO, USPTO and other offices, there are some successes for harmonization of patent laws and patent examination practice. The effect of the existing harmonization of patent system has an initial expression, but still cannot meet the development needs of the harmonization of patent system. It is necessary to further strengthen international cooperation and further promote the harmonization of patent system.

43. Conclusions Through the patent data standardizations and further patent examination practices improvements, we could build more efficient and widely used IT systems. These IT systems could include business execution systems such as electronic filing system and patent examination and searching systems, and also might include a worldwide standardization patent information database. The process of international harmonization of patent system should be further promoted through these applications of the harmonized IT systems. The patent system harmonization may include the harmonization of patent law, patent examination practice and many other elements. It is possible to harmonize the patent system by all the ways, especially through the promoting of the harmonized supporting IT systems. Harmonized IT systems are effective tools to promote the harmonization of patent system. Governments, through the construction of information systems, have promoted the process of the harmonization of patent system in national and international cooperation. These information technology systems not only provide operational support for the patent office, but also promote the development of patent system through the promotion of business. Supporting IT systems are becoming more and more significant in each patent office, and mostly patent offices are dependent on supporting IT systems to ensure the running of their business. At the same time, due to scientific and technological development, the requirements for the sharing and utilization of data resources among countries are getting higher and higher. There are the demands of sharing and harmonizing in the IP office.

44. Recommendation The Future of IT Systems The harmonization of supporting IT systems has become a task before us. we need to focus on the further improvement of the standards and data sharing in particular. It should be the emphasis job to carry out regional cooperation, and to strengthen the dissemination of information systems through such regional cooperation. It should be a good attempt to strive for breakthrough of individual IT systems harmonization in order to promote the overall development locally.

45. Recommendation All in all, for our patent offices in Asia, particularly SIPO and JPO, the principles of the harmonization of patent system in the future could be summed up into two “one”: Establishing one regional organization, integrating one set of IT systems. Mode of Harmonization The researcher recommended the strengthening of regional organizations establishment, first of all try to achieve the regional harmonization of patent system. we can build a unified standard database to share data. we can try to unify data entry and strengthen co-operation by the construction of electronic application system and data exchange systems.

46. Recommendation Some suggestions to SIPO SIPO should more involve in international affairs to influence and promote the patent system harmonization. SIPO should promote regional cooperation actively, and try to build a regional organization of Asia along with other patent offices. SIPO should strengthen the development of qualified personnel, not only learning experience from advanced offices, but also sharing experience with some small or middle-size offices. SIPO should further promote the harmonization and utilization of its IT systems.

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