Using the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) for obtaining accelerated examination is set to become considerably simpler as 13 Intellectual Property Offices around the world announce the intent to launch a Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) arrangement to be taking effect as of 6 January 2014.
The 13 offices include the Danish Patent- and Trademark Office (DKPTO) and the Nordic Patent Institute (NPI), the GPPH thus being of particular interest to Danish patent applicants and others using these offices as the office for first filing of patent applications. The remaining 11 offices are the IP offices of Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, USA, Russia, Spain, UK, Finland, Norway and Portugal.
The GPPH arrangement will be based on one common set of requirements, which are to be based upon the requirements of the already exisiting PPH MOTTAINAI principle. The PPH MOTTAINAI has been described previously by the Awapatent IP Blog in more detail – see here.
Most notably, this means that applicants may request accelerated examination at any of the offices participating in the GPPH based on a set of claims accepted for grant at any of the other offices participating in the GPPH. Thus, more possibilities for requesting accelerated prosecution will arise. For example, the DKPTO and the NPI has not previously had any PPH agreements with IP Australia.
The GPPH arrangement will apply to the use of both PCT and national work products. Also, the GPPH will take precedence over any already existing PPH arrangements.
The Awapatent IP Blog will monitor the developments of the GPPH with interest to keep our readers updated.
Troels Peter Rørdam, European Patent Attorney & Certified Danish Patent Agent
Link to the release of the GPPH arrangement at the PPH-website maintained by the JPO