The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution

Patent prosecution

Patent prosecution describes the interaction between applicants and their representatives, and a patent office with regard to a patent, or an application for a patent...

 procedures by sharing information between some patent office

Patent office

A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...

s. It also permits each participating patent office to benefit from the work previously done by the other patent office, with the goal of reducing examination workload and improving patent quality.

Cooperations

The cooperations involve the following patent offices:

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  The Canadian Intellectual Property Office is the patent, trademark, and copyright administration body of Canada. Structurally the CIPO functions as a Special Operating Agency which is associated with Industry Canada....
  
   (CIPO)
• European Patent Office
  European Patent Office
  The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...
  
   (EPO)
• German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO)
• Israel Patent Office
  Israel Patent Office
  The Israel Patent Office , affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Justice, handles issues related to intellectual property rights in Israel, including patents, designs, trademarks and appellations....
  
   (ILPO)
• Japan Patent Office
  Japan Patent Office
  The Japan Patent Office is a Japanese governmental agency in charge of industrial property right affairs, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry...
  
   (JPO)
• Korean Intellectual Property Office
  Korean Intellectual Property Office
  The Korean Intellectual Property Office is the patent office and intellectual property office of South Korea. In 2000, the name of the office was changed from "Korean Industrial Property Office" to "Korean Intellectual Property Office". It is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City...
  
   (KIPO)
• Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO)
• UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO)
• United States Patent and Trademark Office
  United States Patent and Trademark Office
  The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
  
   (USPTO)
• IP Australia
  IP Australia
  The Australian Patent Office is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building,...
  
   (IPAU)
• Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO)
• Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO)
• National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (PRH)

The cooperations are:

• CIPO - USPTO: A one-year pilot program commenced on January 28, 2008. The trial period has been extended for a period of two years ending on January 28, 2011, "[in] order to adequately assess the feasibility of the PPH pilot program".

• DKPTO - JPO: Implemented since 1 July 2008.

• DKPTO - USPTO: A trial period started on 3 November 2008 and is set to expire 3 November 2009.

• EPO - USPTO: A one-year trial cooperation program ("PPH Pilot Programme") commenced on 29 September 2008, for a period of one year ending on 29 September 2009. It was then extended for an additional period of 12 months, effective as of 30 September 2009.

• EPO - JPO: Launch of a bilateral PPH pilot with effect on 29 January 2010.

• IPAU - USPTO: A one-year pilot program commenced on April 14, 2008.

• JPO - USPTO: The pilot program started in July 2006. The trial period was originally scheduled to last for one year, but was extended until January 3, 2008. The program has been implemented on a full-time basis since January 4, 2008.

• JPO - KIPO: The pilot program started in April 2007.

• JPO - UK-IPO: A one-year pilot program commenced on July 1, 2007. Following the pilot program is was announced that the PPH program will be made permanent.

• JPO - GPTO: A pilot program will be implemented in March 2008.

• JPO - PRH: The pilot will begin on 20 April 2009 and will initially run for two years (until the end of March 2011). A decision on extending the pilot will be made at the end of the second year.

• KIPO - USPTO: A one-year pilot program commenced on January 28, 2008 and ended on January 28, 2009. The Patent Prosecution Highway is implemented on a full-time basis since January 29, 2009.

• TIPO - USPTO: A pilot program is scheduled for September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012.
• UK-IPO - USPTO: A one-year pilot program commenced on September 4, 2007. The USPTO has decided to extend the PPH pilot program until further notice.

• ILPO-USPTO: A one-year pilot program commenced on July 1, 2011.

• JPO-HIPO: The pilot agreement entered into force on 3 August 2009.

• APO-HIPO: PPH co-operation started on 4 January 2010.

• NBPR-HIPO: PPH co-operation started on 4 January 2010.

• USPTO-HIPO: The starting date of the PPH pilot project is 1 July 2010.

• INPI (Portugal)
  National Industrial Property Institute (Portugal)
  The National Industrial Property Institute or the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property, in Portuguese Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial, known also by its acronym INPI, is the Portuguese office which deals with the protection of trademarks, patents, utility models and industrial...
  
  -SPTO
  Spanish Patent and Trademark Office
  The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office is a body of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office is in charge of patents in Spain...
  
  . PPH co-operation started on June 1, 2011

Trilateral PCT-Patent Prosecution Highway (PCT-PPH)

A Patent Cooperation Treaty

Patent Cooperation Treaty

The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states...

/Patent Prosecution Highway (PCT/PPH) pilot program was also started on 29 January 2010 for a planned period of two years. This pilot program enables to "[fast-track] patent examination procedures for PCT applications that have received a positive written opinion of either the International Searching Authority or the International Preliminary Examining Authority, or an international preliminary examination report from the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) or the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)."

See also

• Patent application
  Patent application
  A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
  
  
• Patent office
  Patent office
  A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
  
  
• Patent prosecution
  Patent prosecution
  Patent prosecution describes the interaction between applicants and their representatives, and a patent office with regard to a patent, or an application for a patent...
  
  
• Public participation in patent examination
  Public participation in patent examination
  The involvement of the public in patent examination has been proposed and is currently used in some forms to help identifying relevant prior art and, more generally, to help assessing whether patent applications and inventions meet the requirements of patent law, such as novelty, inventive step or...
  
  
• Trilateral Patent Offices
• Backlog of unexamined patent applications
  Backlog of unexamined patent applications
  Although not clearly defined, the backlog of unexamined patent applications consists, at one point in time, in all the patent applications that have been filed and still remain to be examined. The backlog was said to be 4.2 million worldwide in 2007, and, as of 2009, it reportedly continues to grow...
  
  

External links

• Patent Prosecution Highway at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  The Canadian Intellectual Property Office is the patent, trademark, and copyright administration body of Canada. Structurally the CIPO functions as a Special Operating Agency which is associated with Industry Canada....
  
   (CIPO)
• Patent Prosecution Highway at the Danish Patent and Trademark Office
• Patent Prosecution Highway at IP Australia
  IP Australia
  The Australian Patent Office is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building,...
  
   (IPAU)
• Patent Prosecution Highway at the Japan Patent Office
  Japan Patent Office
  The Japan Patent Office is a Japanese governmental agency in charge of industrial property right affairs, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry...
  
   (JPO)
• Patent Prosecution Highway at the Korean Intellectual Property Office
  Korean Intellectual Property Office
  The Korean Intellectual Property Office is the patent office and intellectual property office of South Korea. In 2000, the name of the office was changed from "Korean Industrial Property Office" to "Korean Intellectual Property Office". It is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City...
  
   (KIPO)
• Patent Prosecution Highway at the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO)
• Patent Prosecution Highway at the United States Patent and Trademark Office
  United States Patent and Trademark Office
  The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
  
   (USPTO)
• Patent Prosecution Highway by the Trilateral Patent Offices
• The Trilateral Offices commence PCT-Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot at the World Intellectual Property Organization
  World Intellectual Property Organization
  The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
  
  (WIPO)