Japan Announces PPH Pilots with Singapore, Austria
12 November 2012
The Japan Patent Office (JPO) will launch patent prosecution highway pilot programmes with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Austrian Patent Office on July 1. The JPO has PPH programs with eight other Patent Offices in the world. These offices, including the JPO receive, in total, around 64% of worldwide patent filings, says the JPO.
Singapore is Japan’s first PPH partner in Southeast Asia.
According to a JPO statement, the PPH pilot programme with the IPOS is expected to enable users of the Singapore patent system to obtain patent rights expeditiously in Singapore for inventions granted patents in Japan, while allowing applicants to request accelerated examination in Japan, with a simplified procedure, for inventions determined to be patentable in Singapore.
JPO officials also expect that, through Singapore’s undertaking of an initiative to share patent examination results with ASEAN countries, that the PPH arrangement will contribute to the sharing with the other ASEAN countries of the examination results regarding inventions granted patents in Japan and will lead to the expeditious acquisition of stable rights in the region.
