SIPO's Bilateral PPH Agreements with UK, Icelandic & Swedish Patent Offices Extended
The State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) has recently reached bilateral agreements on the extension of Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programmes with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the Icelandic Patent Office (IPO), and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) respectively.
All of the three PPH programmes originally run for a period of two years and are due to expire on 30 June 2016. With the said extension agreements taking effect on 1 July 2016, the programmes with UKIPO and with PRV will both be extended for an indefinite period, while the programme with IPO will run for an additional three years until 30 June 2019.
The present requirements and procedures of the three programmes remain unchanged and continue to apply.
