Updates to the Patent Prosecution Highway at CIPO

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has established Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programs with certain patent offices which serve to fast-track patent applications in one country when a patent has been granted in another. CIPO’s PPH pilot programs with the Japan Patent Office, the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, and the Korean Intellectual Property Office will end on September 30, 2011. CIPO’s PPH pilot programs with the German Patent and Trademark Office, the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland and the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office will end on September 30, 2012. As of January 29, 2011, the PPH pilot project between CIPO and the US Patent and Trademark Office was replaced by a PPH agreement for an indeterminate period. The PPH agreement retains the requirements and procedures of the PPH pilot project which was first implemented on January 28, 2008 and later extended to January 28, 2011 (see E-TIPS®, Vol 6, No 13, December 19, 2007 and E-TIPS®, Vol 7, No 15, January 28, 2009). Until January 31, 2013, the PPH Pilot Program is expanded to include PCT work products established by CIPO as the International Searching Authority (ISA) and/or the International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA). An applicant can make a PCT-PPH request to CIPO for accelerated examination of a corresponding national phase application (the CIPO application must have entered national phase on or after January 31, 2011). CIPO's goal is to provide a first action (allowance or first substantive report) for qualifying requests within 90 days. For further information on the Patent Prosecution Highway at CIPO, visit: http://tinyurl.com/63u6you For further information on CIPO-USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway Agreement, see: http://tinyurl.com/2drtq9b For further information on PCT-PPH (CIPO ISA/IPEA) Pilot Project, see: http://tinyurl.com/64sg4nj Summary by: Lauren Lodenquai