Fast-tracking patents at the JPO
But many businesses want to obtain patent rights quickly in order to begin exploiting them simultaneously throughout the world.
Two options are available to an applicant in order to speed up the JPO’s patent prosecution procedures: the applicant can use the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) or request an accelerated examination.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a mechanism by which an application whose claims have been deemed by the Office of First Filing (OFF) to be patentable is eligible for fast-track examination in the Office of Second Filing (OSF) via a simple request procedure by the applicant.
“Two options are available to an applicant in order to speed up the JPO’s patent prosecution procedures: the applicant can use the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) or request an accelerated examination.”
Japan and the United States signed the first PPH agreement in 2006 under the initiative of the Japanese government. Today, eight countries (Germany, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Austria, Singapore, Hungary and Canada) and one organisation (the European Patent Office) participate in the PPH programme. The PPH uses all available search and examination information to support applicants in their efforts to efficiently obtain uniform patent rights around the world and to reduce the search and examination burden on patent offices.
The accelerated examination system, in contrast, is used by the JPO to speed up examination procedures following a request from the applicant.
The JPO will accept a request for an accelerated examination for the following types of applications:
