JPO FURTHER INCREASES ITS COMPETENCE TO ACT IN THE CAPACITY AS AN INTERNATIONAL SEARCHING AUTHORITY (ISA) AND INTERNATIONAL PRELIMINARY EXAMINING AUTHORITY (IPEA) FOR PCT INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS

TOKYO, Feb. 25 -- Japan Patent Office issued the following press release:

Updates The JPO to act as a competent International Searching Authority (ISA) for Uruguay

1. Purpose: With an increasing number of Japanese companies creating their R&D centers in emerging markets, their intellectual property activities in these countries are becoming more important than ever. As a result, the need is rising for Japanese businesses to ensure that their inventions are appropriately acquired and protected as patent rights in these countries.

The JPO has held international discussions to increase its competency to act as an ISA and IPEA for PCT applications received by IP offices of other countries or filed with the International Bureau (IB) by such c...