4th JPO-DPIIT Review Meeting held Virtually under Indo-Japan MoC on Industrial Property

On 12^th March 2021, 4^th Review Meeting held virtually between Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI) of Japan under Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Industrial Property signed in 2015.

• The 1^st Phase of the meeting was Co-chaired by Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, DPIIT & Mr. Toshihide Kasutani, Commissioner, JPO. Similarly, the 2^nd Phase of the meeting was Co-chaired by Shri Ravinder, Joint Secretary, DPIIT and Mr. Toshihide Kasutani.

Background:

i.In June 2015, JPO & Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) (predecessor to the DPIIT) signed an MoC in the field of Industrial Property.

ii.As part of this MoC, from 2017 both these entities hold the review meeting every year.With this success, In 2019, the JPO became the first Intellectual Property (IP) office in the world to start the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program with India.

Initiatives Agreed in 4^th Review Meeting:

i.Agreed to act mutually & competent International Searching and International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA) for any international patent application filed with them under the PCT, from 1 July 2021.

ii.Agreed to acknowledge the importance of strengthening IP enforcement, enhancing capacity building, raising IP awareness, and encouraging innovation to promote their goals.

iii.Both sides reviewed the progress on the industrial property between India and Japan, as well as the Action Plan between the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) of India.

iv.The Ministries agreed to hold the IT Experts Meeting once a year between the Offices to share information and experiences on initiatives regarding development of IT infrastructure.

About Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT):

• Established – 1995 & Reconstituted in 2000.
• The department was earlier called Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and was renamed as DPIIT in January, 2019.