Pilot Patent Prosecution Highway between SIPO and Japan Patent Office to Start on 1 November
The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China announced recently that the pilot program for "Patent Prosecution Highway" (PPH) between SIPO and Japan Patent Office (JPO) will commence on 1 November 2011. The PPH scheme is an agreed initiative under the joint declaration to increase cooperation on patent applications signed between the two sides on 18 October 2011.
Under the scheme, an applicant is entitled to request accelerated examination of a patent application with SIPO/JPO, by a prescribed procedure, including submission of relevant documents of the corresponding application which is filed with JPO/SIPO. By sharing information and using the work done by the other office, both patent offices are able to avoid duplication of efforts, thus reducing examination workload and expediting examination process.
The pilot program will last for a duration of one year, subject to extension if it warrants extra time to assess the feasibility of the PPH scheme.
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