Multilateral PPH Pilot Programs Launched (Feb-2012)

Further to the launching of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with Japan Patent Office (JPO) on November 1, 2011, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China started to run PPH pilot programs with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on December 1, 2011 and with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) on January 23, 2012.

Now an applicant may file a PPH request to either SIPO or any one of the partner Office (e.g., JPO, USPTO or DPMA) according to respective procedures under the PPH pilot programs.

The China-Japan, China-US and China-Germany pilot programs will be ended on October 31, 2012, November 30, 2012, and January 22, 2014, respectively. While the ending times may be postponed in order to properly evaluate the feasibility of the PPH, any PPH program may also be ceased by the partner Offices if the request number exceeds a level that is manageable by either partner Office, or for other reasons.

The PPH programs cover only regular patent applications and PCT in SIPO-JPO and SIPO-USPTO programs, with the exclusion of PCT applications in SIPO-DPMA PPH program.

Under the PPH, applicants in Japan, USA and Germany may receive an accelerated examination in their Chinese patent applications. For example, if there is a positive opinion from JPO, USPTO or DPMA as the office of first filing (OFF) and claims in the second filing correspond to at least one allowable claim in the first filing, the applicant can request an accelerated examination with SIPO as the office of second filing (OSF) under PPH. The positive opinion means there is at least one claim is determined by the OFF to be allowable. In China-JPO and China-USPTO programs, the positive opinion includes positive opinion in the preliminary examination report at international stage (IPER).