Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

Recent Topics

The Expansion of Eligible Applications for the Patent Prosecution Highway between the Japan Patent Office and the Israel Patent Office (Press Release on the METI Web Site)

Commencement of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the JPO and the Eurasian Patent Office (Press Release on the METI Web Site)

Commencement of the Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program between the JPO and the Polish Patent Office (Press Release on the METI Web Site)

Extension of the Patent Prosecution Highway pilot program between the JPO and the SIPO, and simplification of the application procedure

Purpose and Outline of the Patent Prosecution Highway

The PPH enables an application whose claims have been determined to be patentable in the Office of First Filing (OFF) to undergo an accelerated examination in the Office of Second Filing (OSF) with a simple procedure upon a request from an applicant on the basis of bilateral office agreements.

The purpose of the PPH is to facilitate an applicant's acquisition of a patent at an early stage worldwide and to enhance the utilization of search and examination results between the IP Offices so as to reduce the burden of examination and to enhance the quality of examination worldwide.

・ The statistical data of the PPH is here.

 

Requirements and procedures of PPH (Typical example)

Required Documents except a PPH request form	1. Claims Correspondence Table 2. A copy of all claims and its translations 3. A copy of the OFF office actions and its translation 4. Copies of all cited documents *In many cases, documents 2-4 can be omitted. (Please check guidelines of each officefs PPH program)
Fundamental Requirements	1. The OSF application is in particular relationship with the OFF application*. (e.g. The OSF application is an application which validly claims priority under Paris Convention to the OFF application.) 2. OFF application has at least one claim that was determined by the OFF to be allowable. 3. All the claims in OSF application sufficiently correspond to the allowable/patentable claims in OFF applications. 4. The examination has not begun in the OSF. (This requirement doesnft exist in some offices.)
PPH petition fee	Free in most offices.

* If the PPH adopts the PPH MOTTAINAI, PPH request is eligible, whether or not the office which provides the examination results is the Office of First Filing (OFF).The details of the PPH MOTTAINAI is here.

The JPO has commenced the PPH programs using the PCT international work products (PCT-PPH) on pilot basis. Under these programs, an accelerated examination can be requested using a written opinion established by certain International Searching Authorities (WO/ISA), a written opinion established by certain International Preliminary Examining Authorities (WO/IPEA) or an international preliminary examination report (IPER) established by certain International Preliminary Examining Authorities. The details of PCT-PPH are here.

See guidelines and request forms listed under each bilateral PPH. “(M)” means that the PPH adopts the PPH MOTTAINAI.

 

The Five Largest Patent Offices(except the JPO)

JPO-USPTO PPH(M),PCT-PPH	JPO-EPO PPH(M),PCT-PPH
JPO-SIPO PPH,PCT-PPH	JPO-KIPO PPH,PCT-PPH

Asia

JPO-IPOS PPH	JPO-IPOPHIL PPH,PCT-PPH
JPO-ILPO PPH,PCT-PPH	JPO-TIPO PPH

Europe

JPO-UKIPO PPH(M)	JPO-DPMA PPH(M)
JPO-DKPTO PPH, PCT-PPH	JPO-NBPR PPH(M),PCT-PPH
JPO-ROSPATENT PPH(M)	JPO-APO PPH
JPO-HPO PPH	JPO-SPTO PPH(M),PCT-PPH
JPO-PRV PCT-PPH	JPO-NPI PCT-PPH
JPO-NIPO PPH,PCT-PPH	JPO-IPO PPH,PCT-PPH
JPO-INPI PPH(M),PCT-PPH	JPO-PPO PPH,PCT-PPH
JPO-EAPO PPH,PCT-PPH

North America, Central America

JPO-CIPO PPH(M)

JPO-IMPI PPH,PCT-PPH

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ is here.

Plurilateral PPH Meeting (Press Releases)

• The results of the 5th Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Working-Level Meeting [November 15, 2012] <PDF 48KB>
• The results of the 4th Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Working-Level Meeting [October 10, 2011] <PDF 47KB>
• The results of the 3rd Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Meeting [March 9, 2011] <PDF 48KB>
• The results of the 3rd Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Working-Level Meeting [January 27, 2011]
• The result of the 2nd Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Meeting [September 25, 2009]
• The results of the Plurilateral Patent Prosecution Highway Working-Level Meeting [May 20, 2009]

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Portal Web Site

The PPH Portal Web Site is here.

• Update information
• Japanese page

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[Last updated 12 March 2013]