On September 1, 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Israel Patent Office announced ILPO’s participation in the Cooperative Classification Patent system. 

The ILPO will classify its newly filed Israel national stage patent documents into the CPC thereby expanding CPC’s coverage of patent documents throughout the world and enabling Israel documents to be searched alongside other countries. 

“Today’s announcement illustrates the usefulness of the Cooperative Patent Classification system and demonstrates the excellent bilateral relationship and spirit of cooperation between the USPTO and ILPO,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee. “The CPC helps innovators and businesses who are filing both domestically and abroad and USPTO looks forward to working with ILPO as it begins the process of classifying documents into the Cooperative Patent Classification system.”

The USPTO provided training in CPC to ILPO in July. The USPTO and ILPO plan to conduct further training and exchange related to CPC.  The cooperation between ILPO and the USPTO is being expanded and achieves the goal of ILPO classifying its patent collection in CPC. 

"Israel joining the CPC system is an important step forward promoting the ILPO and putting it at par with the world's leading patent offices. Inviting the ILPO to take part in this project is a significant vote of confidence in its professional capabilities. With the transition to this new system, the ILPO aims to enhance the professionalism and efficiency of the examination carried out by the examiners, and to improve the service rendered to Israeli applicants" said the Director of the Israel Patent Office, Asa Kling.

The ILPO, which operates under the Ministry of Justice, is the competent authority in Israel which provides examination and registration of industrial intellectual property rights. The rights examined and registered pertain to patents, designs, trademarks and appellations of origin, which are granted to those deserving that protection in accordance with the relevant laws of Israel and in compliance with international treaties.

The Cooperative Patent Classification system (CPC), debuted on January 1, 2013. Since October 2010, the USPTO and EPO have worked jointly to develop a common, internationally compatible classification system to be used by both offices in various examination-related processes in an ongoing effort to enhance efficiency through work-sharing initiatives and reduce unnecessary duplication of work. For further information about the CPC, please visit www.cpcinfo.org.