KYOTO -- Officials in charge of the patent system in Japan, the United States and Europe agreed Friday to cooperate to reduce the costs and time needed to grant patents.

Hisamitsu Arai, commissioner of the Japanese Patent Office; Bruce Lehman, commissioner of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and Ingo Kober, president of the European Patent Office, issued a plan to step up cooperation toward the creation of patents that are globally recognized.

From January 1998, each office will investigate the validity of new patent claims from their region and will then come together to compile the results. The investigations will cover 18 technical fields such as digital image processing, microprocessors and digital versatile disks, they said. Currently such procedures are conducted independently by each office, leading to lengthy and costly examination processes.

They also agreed to create a joint on-line network by the end of 1998 to exchange data on examination procedures. In addition, they proposed to set up a joint web site to provide information on patents, which will be accessible to the public free of charge.

Arai said that such collaborations will greatly contribute to facilitating technological research and development. The three offices receive 80 percent of the world's patent applications. Kober and Lehman said it will take a long time to harmonize the three systems but it is important to take steps toward that goal.