On September 11, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Deputy Director Michelle K. Lee discussed a number of key intellectual property (IP) issues at the Intellectual Property Rights Working Group meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), co-chaired by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Deputy Director Lee welcomed Assistant Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, TONG Daochi and his delegation of Chinese IP officials this week for the opening of the JCCT meeting. The meeting included a tour of USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and commemorated 35 years of USPTO and U.S. Commerce Department training and assistance on IP matters with China.

In her remarks, Deputy Director Lee said, “We maintain close and effective office-to-office relationships with our counterpart agencies in China and have a strong history of collaboration. Our relationship rests on a firm foundation and we look forward to expanding our engagement and exchanging ideas in the future.”

The Chinese delegation visited the Global Intellectual Property Academy, a facility which serves as the U.S. government’s preeminent facility for enabling exchange of thoughts and ideas concerning intellectual property. Then they participated in the JCCT meeting, which covered patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret issues that are at the forefront of the U.S.-China relationship.

Over the next two weeks there will be four separate delegations visiting from China that include:

• A legislative-affairs study tour, part of the Cooperative Framework Agreement with China, to support outreach and capacity-building on intellectual property matters;
• A delegation from Jiangsu Province to discuss patent enforcement;
• A delegation from the sub-offices of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the China Trademark Office and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, to hold discussions focused on trademark examination and appellate issues; and
• A delegation of officials from China’s State Intellectual Property Office to confer on enhancing patent examination quality.

A leader in promoting strong intellectual property rights and cooperation worldwide, the USPTO was instrumental in expanding the scope of the original “Patent Trilateral” that originally consisted of the U.S., E.U., and Japan, to the current “IP5,” that now includes China and South Korea. The USPTO is also engaged with other specialized multi-lateral bodies such as the “TM5,” consisting of the world’s five largest trademark offices and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Additionally, under the Office of Policy and International Affairs, which is integrally involved in developing domestic and international intellectual property policy, the USPTO has IP Attachés in seven countries.  There is currently an opening as an IP Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India with an application deadline of September 19th.

In October, Deputy Director Michelle K. Lee will lead a delegation to China to continue advancing the relationships with Chinese IP partners.