The USPTO recently announced that a number of business organizations and companies, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), Microsoft Corporation, and others will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Trilateral Cooperation with a conference to be held on November 8, 2007. According to the USPTO (link below), the USPTO, the Japanese Patent Office (JPO), and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 1983 created a Trilateral Cooperation to recognize that those three offices share the same “challenges and goals.” Those three patent offices, in combination, review over half of all international patent applications. The anniversary conference, entitled “Trilateral Cooperation… Successes, Opportunities, and Challenges” will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC, and will feature speakers from a number of conference sponsors, each of the three national patent offices referenced above, international companies, and law firms. Registration for this event can be facilitated via the conference webpage link below.

USPTO Announcement (mid-page): LINK
Conference Webpage: LINK
Conference Agenda (PDF): LINK