Australia extends EPO fast-track patent examinations

Australia’s IP office, IP Australia, and the European Patent Office (EPO) have agreed to continue the patent prosecution highway (PPH) programme, following a successful pilot phase.

Under a PPH, applicants whose claims have been found to be patentable by either office can ask for accelerated processing of the corresponding application at the other office. It also allows each office to exploit the work previously done by the other office

A pilot programme between the two offices was  launched in July 2016, initially running for three years. The pilot was then extended in July 2019 for another three years.

Now, the two IP offices have agreed to continue the PPH programme, which covers both Patent Cooperation Treaty and Paris Route applications.

“Making the programme ongoing means Australian applicants can continue to request fast-track examination of their corresponding patents filed with the EPO, the second most popular destination for Australian patent filings overseas,” a press release from IP Australia said.

In addition to this programme, the EPO has operational PPH pilot programmes with the IP5 offices. The IP5—the world's five largest IP offices—consist of the EPO and the patent offices of China, Japan, Korea, and the US.

The EPO also has PPH programmes with the national patent offices of Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, and Singapore. Its PPH programmes with the Eurasian Patent Office and Russia are suspended.