Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Project between China and Germany Further Extended

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) have recently reached the agreement to further extend the CNIPA-DPMA Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project for three years until 22 January 2027. The relevant requirements and procedures for filing PPH requests with the two offices remain unchanged.

This PPH programme commenced in 2012 and has been extended in 2014, 2016, and 2018, and 2021 respectively. It is a bilateral work-sharing initiative between the CNIPA and the DPMA for the purpose of accelerating patent examination. An applicant who has filed a patent application with one office (first office) under the programme may file a request for the expedited examination of the application with the partner office (second office) on condition that the application has at least one claim allowed by the first office.

The first PPH pilot project was launched by the CNIPA in November 2011, and since then the CNIPA has entered into PPH agreement with the patent offices of 32 countries or regions.