EUIPO and JPO Renew Strategic Partnership to Support Innovation in the Digital Age

The European Union Intellectual Property Office, the EUIPO’s Executive Director, João Negrão, and the Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Yasuyuki Kasai, met in Alicante, Spain on 21 May 2026 to reaffirm their commitment to a robust intellectual property (IP) landscape supporting businesses in the EU and Japan.

The high-level bilateral meeting, held at the EUIPO headquarters on the margins of the IP Case Law Conference, culminated in the official renewal of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the two offices, which has been supporting bilateral collaboration since 2018.

Key topics on the agenda included discussions on bilateral technical cooperation and the exchange of best practices in trade mark and design examination, as well as collaboration within the five largest trade mark (TM5) and design (ID5) offices globally to harmonize practices and improve user services.

A cornerstone of this renewed partnership is the EU-Japan IP Action project, inaugurated on 27 April in Tokyo by Commissioner Kasai, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation, and the EUIPO Deputy-Director of the International Cooperation Area. Funded by the European Union and implemented by the EUIPO, this initiative moves the collaboration toward a proactive roadmap. It ensures that frameworks evolve alongside industrial advancements like AI and virtual reality. It also helps businesses in the EU and Japan in securing and protecting their IP assets in the two jurisdictions and building synergies for strengthening IP protection and enforcement in the digital age.