Offices clash over route to harmonisation
09 January 2012
Emma Barraclough, London
Last week the director of the USPTO pledged to expand its network of patent prosecution highways as it seeks to cut pendency and backlogs. But not all big offices share his approach
In a blog post published on Friday, David Kappos said the USPTO will continue to collaborate on key projects like the cooperative patent classification initiative with the EPO and bilateral PPHs with a “growing host” of countries. Patent prosecution highways allow patent applicants who have received an examination report from either the JPO or the USPTO to request accelerated examination of a corresponding patent application filed in the other country
The USPTO has already signed PPH deals and pilot schemes with patent offices in countries including China, Australia, Singapore, Mexico and Japan, and has PCT-PPHs with more offices, including the EPO.
But Kappos’s PPH plans put the USPTO at odds with a patent office across the Atlantic. At Premier Cercle’s IP Week in...
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