Japan-ASEAN Joint Statement for IP 2024 Adopted

1. Background

ASEAN Member States have been advancing efforts to improve the IP environment in the ASEAN region in accordance with the ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Action Plan 2016-2025, which was formulated under the framework of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC).

The JPO has been advancing cooperation with ASEAN Member States in various ways over the years to support efforts taken by the Member States. As part of this, in 2020, the JPO and ASEAN IP offices established a Japan-ASEAN Patent Experts Meeting bringing together working-level officials from these IP offices and, since then, the meeting has been holding repeated discussions on ideal approaches to patent examinations for emerging technologies, such as AI and IoT.

The JPO and ASEAN Member States held the 14th Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices Meeting in Brunei Darussalam, aiming to further enrich cooperation between them.

2. Summary of outcomes

(1) Adoption of the Japan-ASEAN Joint Statement for Intellectual Property 2024

The JPO and ASEAN IP offices adopted a Japan-ASEAN Joint Statement for IP. In this joint statement, the partner countries confirmed the discussion outcomes from the First to Fourth Japan-ASEAN Patent Experts Meetings and agreed to fortify the cooperation framework. Specifically, they agreed to recognize the importance of publishing patent examination standards and developing a system for correcting mistranslations of filed applications in order to address the issue of applicants potentially losing their rights due to such mistranslations.

• JAPAN-ASEAN JOINT STATEMENT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 2024(PDF:88KB)

(2) Agreement on the FY2024 Japan-ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan

The JPO reported that all specific initiatives shown in the FY2023 Japan-ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan had been carried out. In addition, the partner countries focused on the FY2024 Japan-ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan and agreed that they will address the following initiatives while continuing the ongoing Japan-ASEAN cooperation.

• Continuing the ongoing research by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA);
• Convening the Fifth Japan-ASEAN Patent Experts Meeting;
• Advancing the cooperation in accession of ASEAN Member States to the international application systems (Madrid Protocol/Hague Agreement) and the cooperation in their operation;
• Advancing the cooperation in human resource development and management of examination practices; and
• IP commercialization and awareness-raising of IP.

(3) Interim report by ERIA on its research

ERIA published an interim report on its research on branding strategies and research on examination practices involving pharmaceuticals and other remarkable technologies. Some details explained in this report are scheduled to be discussed at the Fifth Japan-ASEAN Patent Experts Meeting, and this discussion is expected to facilitate the improvement of examination practices involving pharmaceuticals and other remarkable technologies in ASEAN Member States.

​3. Future actions

The JPO will continue to further enrich mutual cooperation with ASEAN IP offices by holding high-level and working-level meetings and will proactively advance efforts for the improvement and development of IP systems in ASEAN Member States, thereby contributing to appropriately securing the IP rights of Japanese companies in the ASEAN Member States.

Related Link

• Outcomes from the Fourteenth Meeting of the Japan-ASEAN Heads of Intellectual Property Offices

Division in Charge

International Policy Division, Policy Planning and Coordination Department, Japan Patent Office