On Wednesday, November 19, 2014, The United States Patent and Trademark Office held a Roundtable on Harmonization of Substantive Patent Law where we sought input on certain matters relating to international harmonization of substantive patent law. In view of the importance of the harmonization of substantive patent law to the successful reutilization of the examination work of one intellectual property office by another, or work sharing, the USPTO was particularly interested in stakeholder comments on these key patent examination-related issues: the definition and scope of prior art; the grace period; and standards for assessing novelty and obviousness/inventive step. Interested members of the public were invited to attend in person and via webcast.
Further Information
- Agenda
- Final Report - 2015-03-10