On 4 March 2015, the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held the 33rd meeting of the Trilateral Heads of Office in Yokohama, Japan. On the occasion of the meeting, on 3 March 2015, the Offices held discussions with invited groups of users from the Trilateral regions.
At the meeting, they shared a common recognition of the importance of advancing co-operation to achieve the goals, including developing an environment under which general users, as well as examiners, are able to utilise one-stop access to filing status information of multiple IP offices and developing a new IT-related service for users. In addition, in response to a request from users on the harmonisation of the patent examination practices, they also affirmed the importance of harmonisation through their co-operative efforts.