Patent applicants are in for a smoother, faster ride. With a pilot feasibility study showing work-sharing gains and efficiency improvements, USPTO and JPO now puts PPH to work on a full-time basis.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) recently implemented the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) on a full-time basis. A pilot feasibility study of the PPH, which began July 3, 2006, ended on January 3, 2008.

According to Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, “The pilot project shows that the Patent Prosecution Highway offers significant potential for our offices to make inroads in reducing our backlogs, eliminating redundant work, and examining more efficiently.”

He continued, “By leveraging work done by other offices, the USPTO can make better use of its resources to speed up processing and improve quality. Implementation of the Patent Prosecution Highway is an important first step in building up the office-to-office network of cooperation that will be necessary to make the full vision of work sharing on a global scale a reality.”

Masahiro Koezuka, Commissioner of the JPO, concurred with Dudas’ assessment, "The results of the pilot project between Japan and the United States show that the PPH is an effective scheme for streamlining patent prosecution and supports Japanese and U.S. industries to acquire patents expeditiously and obtain high quality patents."

"This implementation on a full-time basis between the two countries is expected to further contribute to the realization of a global patent prosecution highway network," he added.

Under the PPH, an applicant receiving a ruling from either the JPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. By basing the prosecution in the second office on patentable results from the first office, applicants can expect to obtain patents in both offices faster.

The implementation of the PPH is a cornerstone of the January 2007 cooperation initiative between the United States Department of Commerce and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on enhanced intellectual property rights protection. The initiative calls for the USPTO and the JPO to demonstrate leadership by taking a proactive approach to streamlining practices and procedures under the international patent system to promote expeditious, inexpensive and high-quality patent protection throughout the world.

And they're off: the UK/USA Patent Highway enters its pilot stage.

A recently launched 12-month pilot scheme promises to speed up processing patent applications in the UK and the United States. The Patent Prosecution Highway will allow patent applicants who have received an examination report by either the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) or the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to request accelerated examination of a corresponding patent application filed in the other country.

Aiming to test applicant demand for this additional option that speeds up examination of patent applications and to quantify the quality and efficiency gains to be expected, the pilot scheme with the USPTO follows an earlier PPH agreement with the Japan Patent Office. The US/Japan PPH is now being implemented full time.

According to Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property and Quality: "The Patent Prosecution Highway agreement between the UK-IPO and the USPTO will enhance the operational efficiency of both agencies and improve patent quality. The agreement will help to efficiently and effectively safeguard inventors' intellectual property and help to stimulate innovation on a national and international scale. The PPH will further enhance the UK-IPO's reputation for delivering a high quality, cost effective service and is a valuable addition to the services offered at the UK-IPO."

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Jon Dudas said, "Patent users worldwide want offices to cooperate more effectively. Our collective goal is to reduce duplication of work, speed up processing, and improve quality…This pilot project with the UK builds on work with the JPO, and contributes to a more rational international patent system."

Note: Updated requirements for participation in the USPTO-JPO PPH at the USPTO will soon be made available at: www.uspto.gov/web/patents/pph/pph_jpo.html. Requirements for participation at the JPO can be found at: http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/linke.cgi?url=/torikumi_e/t_torikumi_e/patent_highway_e.htm