IPOPHL COMMENCES PATENT PROSECUTION HIGHWAY (PPH) PILOT PROGRAMME WITH THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (EPO)

30 June 2017

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the European Patent Office (EPO) will launch the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Programme on 1 July 20 17. The PPH Pilot Programme is part of the agreement made between IPOPHL Director General Atty. Josephine R. Santiago and EPO President Benoit Battistelli on 5 October 2016 at the s idelines of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly. The PPH pilot programme will run for an initial period of three (3)years.

PPH is a global work-sharing framework that enables patent applicants whose applications have been considered allowable by a patent office to request the preferential examination of the corresponding applications in another patent office based on the examination results issued by a PPH office. Patent applicants follow a simple procedure when making the request. One other aspect of PPH that facilitates the prosecution of patent applications is that work products from one IP Office can be used as reference by another IP Office in conducting substantive examination in the corresponding applications.

Under the IPOPHL-EPO PPH pilot, applicants whose claims have been found patentable by the EPO or the IPOPHL may ask for preferential examination of their corresponding patent applications at the other IP Office following a simple procedure and with minimal documentary requirements. This PPH Programme is available for national and PCT applications.

Th e PPH Programme has 45 participating countries worldwide. The IPOPHL became a member of the PPH network on February 2012 when it signed its first PPH agreement with the Japan Patent Office (JPO).

The IPOPHL now has bilateral PPH agreements with the JPO, USPTO, KIPO and EPO. Complete details of these Programmes, including the Request Form and Guidelines, are available here.