By Donald Zuhn --
On September 4, 2007, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it has initiated a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO). The two offices are now accepting applications for participation in the pilot PPH, which permits an applicant having an application whose claims have been allowed by one office to fast track the examination of an application in the other office, such that the latter application would be examined out of turn. In particular, an applicant receiving a ruling from either the UK IPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in the corresponding application.
According to the USPTO announcement, the pilot PPH will "leverage fast-track patent examination in both offices to allow applicants in both countries to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently," and "permit each office to benefit from work previously done by the other office, in turn reducing examination workload and improving patent quality." UK Intellectual Property Office Ian Fletcher labeled the program "a further step towards a global patent prosecution highway network."
The USPTO-UK IPO initiative parallels a similar pilot PPH involving the Japan Patent Office and the USPTO, which was begun in July 2006.
The pilot program is scheduled to run until September 4, 2008. Additional information regarding the USPTO-UK IPO pilot PPH program, including the conditions for eligibility, can be found at the USPTO website and at the UK IPO website.
For additional information regarding this topic, please see:
- "USPTO News: Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program to Be Extended," June 28, 2007
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