Five large IP offices have agreed to launch a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme that will enable IP owners to obtain patents faster and more efficiently next January.

The European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Chin’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), collectively known as the IP5, reached the agreement in Geneva.

SIPO Deputy Commissioner He Hua said that the PPH program has a significant meaning towards timely and high-quality patent examination, which is very important to the sustainability of the IP5 cooperation. As the result of the cooperation among the five offices, the programme provided more choice and convenience, he said.

This PPH program will utilize both Patent Cooperation Treaty and national work products as well as improving the accelerated treatment of patent applications.

Under the programme, applicants whose patent claims have been found to be patentable by one office may ask for accelerated processing of their corresponding applications pending before the other IP5 offices, said an EPO representative. Moreover, in carrying out the task, the offices concerned will also exploit already existing work results to the extent practicable. Requests to use the PPH can be filed with any of the IP5 offices both on the basis of PCT as well as national work products established by the IP5.

“I am pleased that the first ever all-inclusive PPH pilot programme is launched under the PCT framework. It is a very promising step on the way of facilitating the life of users in five big economic regions which represent 85% of the patents granted in the world,” noted EPO President Benoît Battistelli. “While the programme allows the offices to gain additional experience in utilizing each other’s available work, it will support the aim of promoting the PCT as the primary global framework for work-sharing.”