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The Philippines Extending PPH Agreement with the US
17 March 2014
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) announced recently that it has extended the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Agreement with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) indefinitely.
IPOPHL had a pilot program with the US named PPH 2.0 Program, which was in force for a year since January 29, 2013.
According to the office, there have been eight applicants taken advantage of the accelerated examination by filing a request in the IPOPHL. “Patent applications filed in the IPOPHL with allowable corresponding applications in USPTO may benefit from an advanced-out-of-turn examination wherein said application will be prioritized among the others.”
According to IPOPHL’s explanation, the PPH is a work-sharing initiative between patent offices to expedite the patent application process. Participating patent office will utilize the substantive search and examination products done by another office to expedite and improve the quality of examination on corresponding applications.
