글로벌 특허심사협력 제도 발전방향에 관한 연구

With the development of technology and the expansion of open innovation, the number of patent filings has grown sharply over the past few years. In particular, the growth in filings and pending applications at the five major intellectual property offices (IP5), namely KIPO, SIPO, the JPO, the USPTO, and the EPO, has necessitated further interoffice work-sharing. The number of applications that can be utilized by a second office is currently estimated to be around 250 000 per year. Thus, enhanced work-sharing among the IP5 offices could significantly increase the examination capacity. The IP5 Heads Meeting at Jeju in October 2008 emphasized quality and timeliness as two prerequisites for work-sharing among the IP5 offices. The offices consequently acknowledged the enormous benefits of work-sharing and agreed to implement ten foundation projects aimed at addressing those issues of quality and timeliness. The vision expressed at the heads meeting was "the elimination of unnecessary duplication of work among the offices, enhancement of patent examination efficiency and quality, and guarantee of the stability of patent rights". In light of that vision, this paper explores the benefits and advantages of the following work-sharing mechanisms: the PCT, the PPH, SHARE, JP-FIRST, the UPP, Triway, and New Route. It also looks at the historic development of the IP5 framework of cooperation and the implementation of the ten foundation projects.In addition, the paper examines and compares the features of two other interoffice cooperative schemes set up for mutual exploitation of examination results: namely the ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation and the Vancouver Group Offices, which consist of the IP offices of the UK, Canada, and Australia. Another initiative that aims to enhance the quality of examinations is the Peer-to-Patent project being piloted in the US, Australia, Japan, and Korea. This project enables a patent office to utilize the expertise of qualified members of the community when assessing patent applications. Members of the public are invited to identify and retrieve prior art that can be used to assess the novelty and inventive step of specified patent applications. The paper focuses on the various features of the Peer-to-Patent projects being piloted in different jurisdictions and concludes that the participation of intellectual property users and communication among examiners are crucial for enhancing the quality of patent examinations.