The PPH began in July 2006 as a pilot programme to allow patent applicants who have received an examination report by either the JPO or the USPTO to request accelerated examination of a corresponding patent application filed in the other country.
In November, MIP Week reported from the 25th annual trilateral cooperation conference in Washington DC, where the USPTO and the JPO first announced their decision to implement the PPH on a full-time basis.
The PPH between the USPTO and JPO marks the first such scheme to become permanent. The UKIPO and USPTO also launched a pilot PPH programme in September, while the JPO and UKIPO began one in July.
USPTO director Jon Dudas said: “The pilot project shows that the Patent Prosecution Highway offers significant potential for our offices to make inroads in reducing our backlogs, eliminating redundant work, and examining more efficiently.... Implementation of the Patent Prosecution Highway is an important first step in building up the office-to-office network of cooperation that will be necessary to make the full vision of work sharing on a global scale a reality.”
