According to the Statement of Intention on the Pilot Program of Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the P. R. China (SIPO), the PPH pilot program will start on December 1, 2011 and end November 30, 2012 for a duration of one year.
Under the PPH programs, an accelerated examination can be requested by the applicant where the following circumstances are met: at least one claim is decided to be patentable by office of first filing (hereinafter OFF). The claims in the first filing match those in the second filing, the work result of OFF are available to the office of second filing (OSF). The accelerated examination in the OSF should base on the work results of OFF.
In recent years, the growth of patent filings from China to U.S. has maintained a steady growth and U.S. has become the most important country for foreign filings by Chinese applicants. The PPH will benefit applicants from both countries in acquiring patents more speedily and help innovative enterprises protect their patent rights overseas more effectively.
Both SIPO and USPTO believe that the PPH pilot program is efficient and important for patent examination. Both offices agreed to start the program. At this stage, any applicant can, according to the relevant requirement, file a request for PPH.
