It has been announced on the Patent Prosecution Highway Portal Site that, as from 6 January 2014, 13 intellectual property offices intend to pilot a new Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) arrangement. Under the pilot, it will be possible for a request for accelerated processing to be made at any participating office based on work products, including a PCT written opinion from either the International Searching Authority or the International Preliminary Examination Authority, or an international preliminary report on patentability (IPRP) (Chapter II), from any one of the other participating offices, provided that at least one claim has been found to be patentable by the office of earlier examination, and that any other applicable eligibility criteria are met. The pilot will use a single set of qualifying requirements and aims to simplify and improve the existing PPH network to make it more accessible to users.
The following Offices have decided to participate in the pilot:
Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Danish Patent and Trademark Office
Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT) (Russian Federation)
Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom) (an operating name of the Patent Office)
IP Australia
Japan Patent Office
Korean Intellectual Property Office
National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
National Institute of Industrial Property (Portugal)
Nordic Patent Institute
Norwegian Industrial Property Office
Spanish Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
For further information you may visit the Patent Prosecution Highway Portal Site.
Source: WIPO, PCT Newsletter, December 2013
