Trilateral Offices - Definition

The so-called Trilateral Offices, or Trilateral Patent Offices, are a group of patent offices consisting of the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 89 % of the patents in force in the world are either European patents (or part of European patent in a contracting state), Japanese patents or US patents [1] (http://www.european-patent-office.org/tws/tsr_2003/ch2.pdf).

See also

• Triadic patent families
• Patent family
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

External links

• Trilateral web site (http://www.european-patent-office.org/tws/twsindex.htm)