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Patent Prosecution
Highway between the UK
and US to Open Soon
UK
and Japan Patent Prosecution Highway
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot procedure between
the UK and Japan
was launched on 2 July 2007
for an initial period of one year. The
procedure allows an applicant for a UK
patent to request accelerated examination of a corresponding Japanese patent
application, providing an examination report has issued on the UK
application indicating that some of the claims are allowable. The applicant of a Japanese patent
application can similarly request accelerated examination in the UK.
The intention of the PPH is to enable national Patent
Offices to avoid repeating work carried out by another Patent Office and to
reduce the time applications are pending before grant. According to the UK Intellectual Property
Office (UK-IPO), “Making use of [work from other patent offices] should greatly
improve our efficiency and also improve the quality of the patents that we
issue. The procedure provides you with a
granted patent for your invention much sooner than would normally be possible.”
In order to validly request accelerated examination under
the PPH in the UK
or Japan, an
examination report must have issued for the equivalent application in the other
country, and must give an indication that one or more claims are
patentable. All the claims of the
equivalent patent application must then correspond sufficiently to those
indicated as allowable in the other jurisdiction.
The initial (either Japanese or UK)
examination report is not considered as binding on the other jurisdiction, but
should be considered persuasive.
Differences in patent law between the jurisdictions for example may mean
that claims deemed allowable in one country are not deemed allowable in the
other.
There are currently delays in examining patent applications
at the Japanese Patent Office due to a back log of cases. Examination is generally relatively quick at
the UK-IPO. PPH is therefore likely to
be of most use where there is an initial UK
patent application and prompt examination is required on a corresponding
application in Japan.
Further information can be found on the UK-Japan PPH on the
UK-IPO website by clicking here.
UK
and US Patent Prosecution Highway
According to Alastair Kelly, the PPH Administrator for the
UK-IPO, the PPH pilot scheme between the UK-IPO and the US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) is due to launch around 4 September 2007, although the
exact launch date has yet to be decided.
Other Patent Prosecution Highways
Pilot PPH programs already exist between the Korean
Intellectual Property Office and the Japanese Patent Office, and between the
USPTO and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO).
The USPTO – JPO pilot program has been continued for a further six
months after the expiry of the initial one year trial on 3 July 2007.
Reddie & Grose
July 2007
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