The U.S. and UK have made significant progress reconciling their separate intellectual property rights rules.
Both countries have worked on an action plan which will follow up on research conducted and released by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) in March of last year titled “Economic Study on Patent Backlogs and a System of Mutual Recognition.”
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and UKIPO will now work more closely together and allow their officers to collaborate and re-use work done by their cross-Atlantic counterparts in order to streamline the trademark application process.
USPTO director David Kappos said: “The joint action plan highlights that while 21st century patent challenges are global in scope, so too are their solutions.
“Work sharing is a powerful tool that equips examiners to extract value from our skilled colleagues in other patent offices.”
Mr. Kappos’ UK counterpart Baroness Wilcox added that patent backlogs make it difficult for businesses to innovate and this agreement would go some way toward addressing the problem.
Recently, Inc.com advised business owners in the U.S. to trademark their name as this could help them prevent cybersquatting in the future.