Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between patent offices.
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.
The PPH speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating countries by allowing examiners to reuse search and examination results.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty - Patent Prosecution Highway (PCT-PPH) is a pilot program to extend the PPH initiatives to cover PCT work products. This pilot program enables fast-track patent examination procedures for PCT applications that have received a positive Written Opinion (WO) by either the International Searching Authority or the International Preliminary Examining Authority, or an international preliminary examination report.
Nordic Patent Institute has started two PCT-PPH pilot programs, with United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and with the Japan Patent Office (JPO).
For more information on the PPH:
Last update:
30 September 2011
