New UK-US 'Patent Prosecution Highway'

We recently reported on a new 'Patent Prosecution Highway' (PPH) between the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) and the Japanese Patent Office, a form of accelerated examination in one of these offices when the other office, being the office of first filing, has found the claimed invention to be patentable. We can now report that a corresponding 12-month pilot PPH scheme has been launched between the UK-IPO and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

As with the other PPH schemes, this does not provide a 'rubber stamp' route to grant; the claims will still be reviewed for compliance with the country's own patent laws. As such, there is no guarantee that a business method invention, for instance, that has been allowed by the USPTO will be granted without problems by the UK-IPO under this scheme. However, the examiner will look at the comments made in relation to substantive matters (particularly novelty and inventive step) in the search and examination reports of the other office, and use these as an aid to come to their own opinion more quickly. By using this mechanism in appropriate cases, there is the potential to achieve significantly accelerated prosecution and reduced costs for patent applicants.

Please contact us if you would like further details of the scheme or if you would like to discuss the options for a particular case.

31 Oct 2007

Return to news list