Triway Pilot Program

In order to eliminate the duplication of work done by three patent offices, the Triway Pilot Program, a search-sharing project between the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO), was launched in July 2008.

The purpose of this program is for the Offices of Second Filing and the Offices of Third Filing to utilize the search results of the Office of First Filing.

For example, applications filed first with the USPTO are deemed eligible if the corresponding applications claiming priority from the US application are filed with the EPO and the JPO as the offices of second and third filing, respectively. The claims of the applications also need to correspond sufficiently to each other and applicants must request participation.

The pilot program is limited to 100 applications and the USPTO will accept 15 requests per each technological field.

The pilot program will either terminate within a year or upon acceptance of 100 requests.

Wilhelm Prozesky
Professional Assistant
wilhelm-p@adamsadams.co.za