The 22nd Meeting of IP5 Deputy Heads of Office was held in Inchon, South Korea on June 11. Deputy Commissioner Cheon Sechang of Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) chaired the meeting. Deputy Commissioner Gan Shaoning of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), Vice-President Christoph Ernst of European Patent Office (EPO), Deputy Commissioner Shimano Kunihiko of Japan Patent Office (JPO) and Deputy Commissioner Mark Powell of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) headed delegations respectively to attend the meeting.

During the meeting, the deputy heads listened to work reports of the five offices for the past year on classification, global files, work sharing, improvement of IP5 cooperation mechanism and procedures, emerging technology and the Patent Harmonisation Experts Panel, discussed on cooperation of the five countries with regional re-examination and invalidation institutions, and exchanged views on the influence of and preparation for emerging technology/artificial intelligence and the future of IP5 cooperation, two strategic issues that may be discussed on the Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office and the IP5 Industry Meeting. Lastly, the meeting deliberated and agreed on the 2019 IP5 Joint Statement and the press release, and approved various cooperation achievements to submit to the Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office for authorization.

Deputy Director General John Sandage of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) attended the meeting as an observer.(Source: CNIPA)