In a statement signed in Geneva on 24 September, both offices recognised the need for more effective worksharing and agreed to co-operate to the maximum extent possible oninitiatives such as the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and Strategic Handling of Applications for Rapid Examination (SHARE). They also plan to co-operate on examiner exchange programmes, the development of a hybrid classification system and a common search database, utilisation of the PCT system as a global infrastructure, harmonisation of substantive patent laws and improving the quality of patent applications.

For more information see http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/linke.cgi?url=/torikumi_e/puresu_e/mou_uspto2008.htm

The recent move towards e-government in Japan led the JPO to issue its draft Business and System Optimisation Plan in August for public comment by 5 September 2008. Aiming at creating a "smarter and leaner" search system and reducing operating costs, the plan acknowledges the growing importance of Chinese and Korean patent data and foresees multilingual translation functions for improving access to non-English data. The redesign of the JPO's search systems (including the public services) is expected to be completed in 2013/2014. The draft plan is available at: http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/link.cgi?url=/iken/iken_systemsaitekika.htm (Japanese only)