EPO, JPO and USPTO Heads Meet in Vienna on Global Assignment and AI

By Haedar

Photo: Pexels / Pixabay

The heads of the European Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office met in Vienna on 21 October 2026 for the 44th Trilateral Heads of Office meeting. EPO President António Campinos hosted JPO Commissioner Kasai Yasuyuki and USPTO Director John Squires, with WIPO represented by Isozumi Tsuyoshi of its PCT Services Department. A joint session with industry groups took place the day before.

The main concrete item was Global Assignment, a project to let applicants record a change of ownership of patent applications once and have it reflected across offices, instead of filing the same transfer documents again in each country. According to the EPO, a shared technical design is due to be put before the IP5 heads when they meet in June 2027.

AI was the second theme. The Trilateral AI Working Group, set up last year, is working towards a shared view on the responsible use of AI by patent offices, for example in search and classification tools. The heads also discussed examination quality, efficiency and pendency.

Users were represented by IT3, the industry coalition of JIPA, AIPLA, IPO and BusinessEurope, as well as by epi, the institute of European patent attorneys. The JPO will host the 45th meeting in 2027.

Indonesian angle. Indonesian companies and universities that hold patent families in Europe, Japan and the US often lose time recording assignments office by office after a merger, spin-off or licence deal. A working Global Assignment system would cut that cost. DJKI is not part of the Trilateral, but its PCT and patent prosecution highway links with these offices mean Indonesian applicants should watch the June 2027 proposal.

Sources

• EPO: Trilateral offices meet in Vienna to advance Global Assignment and co-operation on AI (26 Oct 2026)
• JPO: Trilateral Heads of Office Meeting Held (28 Oct 2026)