The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program between Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and Japanese Patent Office (JPO) currently underway will be modified to PPH Mottainai and extended for three years starting May 1, 2014. This modified pilot will allow for greater conveniences to applicants and further accelerate patent examination at both offices.
As of the end of March 2014, TIPO had received 817 requests for expedited examination since the launch of the TIPO-JPO PPH pilot in May, 2012. Considering the success of this program, which expires by the end of April, 2014, both offices have agreed to modify the current program into PPH Mottainai and continue its pilot run for three more years starting May 1, 2014. Specifically, this new PPH Mottainai is an enhanced version of the PPH programs signed with other IP offices. Under this new pilot, the examination result of the office of first filing (OFF) no longer has primacy over that of the office of second filing (OSF). In other words, if one of the signing parties (OFF or OSF) has already issued an examination result, the applicant may use such result to file a request for PPH with another party. For instance, the applicant having first filed a patent application with TIPO (OFF) and then with JPO (OSF) for the same creation may file a request for PPH with TIPO using the examination result first issued by JPO. This is where the new PPH Mottainai is different from other PPH programs. The new pilot not only will facilitate greater conveniences to applicants but also spur patent examination at both offices.
Request form and other related information are now available at TIPO.
(Source: TIPO News)
