EPO and Canada extend PPH pilot
The European Patent Office (EPO) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) have extended a patent prosecution highway (PPH) pilot agreement.
The extension of the pilot, which allows applicants who have been successful in obtaining a patent at one office to request accelerated examination at the other, was announced on Friday, January 5.
Based on the success of the pilot, the offices agreed to extend the agreement for a three-year period.
The extension came into effect on Saturday, January 6 and means that CIPO applications no longer need to have been filed or have entered the national phase at CIPO on or after January 5, 2015.
By the end of September 2017, the EPO received 102 requests under the trial. Nearly 65 of the requests were based on Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) work products, whilst 38 were based on national work products.
Meanwhile, CIPO received a total of 406 requests within the same timeframe. While 325 of the requests were based on PCT work products, the remaining 81 were based on regional work products.
CIPO said that its goal for all PPH agreements is to provide a first office action within 90 days of receiving an application. It said that around 37% of PCT-PPH applications, and 26% of PPH applications, are allowed without an office action.
These figures are higher than for non-PPH national applications, which stand at 3%, reflecting a saving of time and effort for the office and its clients, claimed CIPO.
Requests for advanced prosecution under the PPH programme will be processed free of charge by CIPO, although regular fees for requesting examination will apply.
Last week, WIPR reported that China’s State Intellectual Property Office had launched PPH schemes with the National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile and the Czech Republic Industrial Property Office, which will last until December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 respectively.
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