Patents
Patent Prosecution Highway
January 22, 2021
In many instances the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) reduces the time taken to obtain a granted patent and may also reduce the overall costs involved in obtaining patent protection.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has PPH agreements with a number of Patent Offices, including: Australia, Canada, Israel, Russia, Singapore, China, Japan, Korea and the US.
The PPH allows one patent office to accelerate examination, at the applicant's request, if a corresponding application has been found patentable by a counterpart patent office.
In many instances the PPH reduces the time taken to obtain a granted patent and may also reduce the overall costs involved in obtaining patent protection. This is particularly the case where patent protection is being sought with a broad geographical scope involving numerous patent offices.
Confirming the value of the PPH program, with effect from 6th January 2021 the PPH program between the EPO and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the EPO and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore have been extended for an indefinite period.