According to the MOU on bilateral cooperation and on the pilot program under the Patent Prosecution Highway(PPH) system between the State Intellectual Property Office of the PRC(SIPO) and Canadian Intellectual Property Office(CIPO), SIPO and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore(IPOS), the two PPH pilot programs will start on September 1, 2013 and end on August 31, 2015 for a duration of two years.
Under the PPH program, 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.
This PPH pilot program applies not only to conventional applications, but also PCT applications. The operation of PPH pilot will benefit applicants from both countries in acquiring patents more speedily and help innovative enterprises protect their patent rights overseas more effectively.
Up to now, the PPH pilot programs between SIPO and twelve IP offices in other countries have been launched, including JPO, USPTO, DPMA, and ROSPATENT.
