Canada-US Patent Prosecution Highway

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently agreed to establish a new cooperative initiative called the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) on a one-year trial basis beginning in early 2008. The PPH will serve to fast-track patent applications in one country when a patent has been granted in another. It was agreed to at a bilateral meeting held between CIPO CEO Mary Carman and Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, during the 2007 WIPO Assemblies. The goal is that by electing to proceed under the PPH initiative, patent applicants in both countries will benefit from expedited examination to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently. The initiative should benefit both CIPO and the USPTO by building on the work performed by the other office, with the hope that it will improve patent quality and reduce the examination workload. The trial will gauge the interest of applicants and assess the anticipated benefits to each office. During the trial period only, CIPO will process requests for advance prosecution under the PPH program free of charge. This pilot project will be similar to the USPTO/JPO Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Project, (see http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/pph/pph_index.html) that currently exists between the USPTO and the Japan Patent Office, initiated in May 2006, and the USPTO/UK IPO Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Project (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/pph/pph_ukipo.html) between the US and the UK, which began this fall and will end in September 2008. For the relevant report in CIPO's "What's New" online service, visit: http://www.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/new/new-e.html Summary by: The Editor