December [General] Newsletter

EPO Guidelines 2026

The Working Group on Guidelines (WP/G), part of the Advisory Committee to the President of the European Patent Office (SACEPO), met on 14 October 2025 for its second and final meeting of the year on the draft Guidelines on the European Patent Convention (EPC), EPO Procedures under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT-EPO) and the Unitary Patent (UP).

The EPO shared these draft guidelines with the members of the SACEPO Working Party/Group and invited them to submit their comments. The EPO received around 400 comments, and the meeting focused on the points that were considered to be of particular importance. Points on which no agreement was reached, or proposals that require further detailed consideration, will be considered in future revision cycles.

The 2026 guidelines are scheduled to come into effect on April 1, 2026, and a preview version will be released in February.

Once the official version of the guidelines is published, a public online consultation will be held.

Examiner consultation with the French Industrial Property Institute (INPI)

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) held an examiner consultation with the French Industrial Property Institute (INPI) from October 6th to 10th, 2025. The examiner consultation is held to foster trust and deepen mutual understanding through discussions with examiners from overseas intellectual property offices about each other's prior art document search methods and examination practices, and to promote the mutual use of prior art search results and examination results.

The JPO and INPI have been holding examiner consultations since 2020, and this was the first time that an examiner consultation was held in which an INPI examiner was hosted by the JPO.

Five patent examiners from the JPO and two from the INPI participated in this examiner consultation, discussing patent cases common to both offices in two technical fields (terminal components and semiconductor devices), and exchanging information on prior art document search methods and tools, trial and appeal systems, etc. In addition, one intellectual property counselor from the French Embassy in Japan also participated in part of the program, and an exchange of opinions was also held at the French Embassy in Japan.

USPTO begins trial of accelerated examination of patent applications with simple claims

On October 1, the USPTO announced the launch of a Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program, which requires patent application claims to meet certain conditions. Applications that meet the requirements of having only one independent claim and a total of 10 or fewer claims are eligible.

The outline of this trial program is as follows:

• The affected patent applications are regular applications filed electronically on or before October 26, 2025, but do not include continuation applications or design patent applications. Also excluded are patent applications that claim priority and patent applications that have already been assigned to an examiner.
• The applicant must file a petition along with the payment of the required fee, and voluntarily amend the application in question to satisfy the following requirements: one independent claim, no more than 10 total claims, and no multiple dependent claims.
• If an application is approved for accelerated examination, the first office action will be processed first. After the first office action, the application will be treated like a regular application.
• The same inventor (including co-inventors) may not apply to more than two applications under this program. In addition, if an application has requested non-disclosure, that request must be withdrawn by the time of applying for application under this pilot program.
• The pilot program will begin on October 27 and continue until the earlier of either October 27, 2026, or the date on which at least 200 eligible applications are received per examining division (TC). Information on the number of applications received per TC will be provided and updated via the USPTO website.

The USPTO explains that through this pilot program, it wants to evaluate the impact of simplifying claim structure on examination wait times and examination quality.

Trilateral Patent Office Heads' Meeting

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the European Patent Office (EPO) held the 43rd Trilateral Patent Office Directors' Meeting in Alexandria, USA. Prior to the meeting, on Monday, October 20, the day before, the Japan-US-Europe Industry Trilateral (IT3) user groups were invited to a Trilateral Patent Office Directors' and Users' Meeting. These meetings discussed how advanced IT tools can be used to improve the efficiency and quality of patent examinations and further solidify the patent system.

In addition, Commissioner Kasai held a bilateral meeting with Director John Squires of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on the sidelines of the 43rd Trilateral Meeting, and Patent Superintendent Yasuda held a bilateral meeting with Deputy Director General Lisa Jorgensen of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on the sidelines of the 43rd Trilateral Meeting.

Newsletter translated into English

EPO Guidelines 2026

The Working Party on Guidelines (WP/G), which is part of the Standing Advisory Committee before the European Patent Office (SACEPO), convened on 14 October 2025 for its second and final meeting of the year to discuss the draft guidelines concerning the European Patent Convention (EPC), EPO procedures under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT‑EPO), and the Unitary Patent (UP).

The EPO had shared these draft Guidelines with the members of SACEPO WP/G and invited them to submit comments. The EPO received approximately 400 comments, and during the meeting, discussions focused on the items considered to be of particular agreement importance. Issues on which no was reached, or proposals requiring further detailed consideration, are expected to be reviewed in future revision cycles.

The 2026 edition of the guidelines is scheduled to enter into force on 1 April 2026, with a preview version planned for publication in February.

Following the publication of the official version of the guidelines, a public online consultation open to the general public will be conducted.

Examiner-to-Examiner Meeting with French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI)

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) held an examiner-to-examiner meeting with the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) from 6 to 10 October 2025. These meetings aim to strengthen mutual trust and deepen understanding with examiners of foreign intellectual property offices through discussions on prior art search methodologies and examination practices, thereby promoting the mutual use of prior art search results and examination results.

The JPO and INPI have been conducting such examiner meetings since 2020. This year's meeting marked the first time that the meeting was held in a format where INPI examiners were hosted at the JPO.

A total of five patent examiners from the JPO and two patent examiners from the INPI participated in the discussions. They held consultations on common patent cases in two technical fields (terminal components and semiconductor devices) and exchanged information on prior art search methods and tools, as well as on appeal and opposition systems. Additionally, one intellectual property counselor from the French embassy in Japan participated in part of the program, and an exchange of views was also conducted at the Embassy of France in Japan.

USPTO Launches Pilot Program for Expedited Examination of Patent Applications with Streamlined Claim Sets

On October 24, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the launch of an expedited examination pilot program, the Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program, which requires that the claims of a patent application satisfy certain conditions. Applications meeting the criteria of having only one independent claim and no more than ten claims in total will be eligible for this program.

The outline of this pilot program is as follows:

• Eligible patent applications are regular applications filed electronically on or before October 26, 2025. Continuation applications and design patent applications are excluded. In addition, applications claiming priorities or applications that have already been assigned to an examiner are also excluded.
• Applicants must pay a prescribed fee when they file the request, and must voluntarily amend the application to meet the requirements of having only one independent claim and no more than ten claims in total, and no multiple dependent claims.
• If accepted for expedited examination, the first Office Action will be issued on a priority basis. After the first Office Action, the application will be treated in the same manner as a regular application.
• The same inventor (including co-inventors) may not use this program for more than three applications. For applications in which a nonpublication request has been made, the nonpublication request must be withdrawn before a request to use this pilot program can be filed.
• The pilot program will commence on October 27 and will continue until either (1) October 27, 2026, or (2) the date on which at least 200 eligible applications per Technology Center (TC) have been received, whichever occurs first. Information on the number of applications accepted per TC will be provided and updated through the USPTO website.

The USPTO explained that it aims to evaluate the effects of simplifying claim structures on both the pendency and the quality of examination through this pilot program.

Trilateral Heads of Office Meeting

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the European Patent Office (EPO) held the 43rd Trilateral Heads of Office Meeting in Alexandria in the United States of America. In advance of this meeting, on Monday, October 20, user organizations from Japan, the United States, and Europe (IT3: Industry Trilateral) were invited to a Trilateral Heads and Industry Meeting. During these meetings, participants discussed ways to strengthen the patent system by enhancing the efficiency and quality of patent examination through the use of advanced IT tools.

In conjunction with the 43rd Trilateral Heads of Office Meeting, JPO Commissioner Kawanishi held a bilateral meeting with USPTO Director John Squires, and JPO Deputy Director General Yasuda held a bilateral meeting with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Deputy Director General Lisa Jorgenson.