Fast-tracking patents at the JPO

01-08-2010

Ryo Maruyama

On average, it takes two and a half years for an applicant to receive a first office action from the Japan Patent Office (JPO) after filing a request for substantive examination.

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.


Fast-tracking patents, Green patents

WIPR