Chinese-Egyptian PPH Pilot Programme to Commence 1 July 2017
The State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) and Egyptian Patent Office (EGYPO) have signed a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot agreement. The PPH pilot programme commences on 1 July 2017, and is scheduled to run for an initial period of two years until 30 June 2019.
Under the programme, if an applicant has filed a patent application with one of the patent offices of the pilot agreement (i.e., SIPO or EGYPO) and at least one claim of the application has been allowed by that office, the applicant may request fast-track examination of corresponding claim(s) in a corresponding patent application that is pending in the other patent office (EGYPO or SIPO), thus benefiting from a more efficient and cost-effective examination process than the standard process.
