“Patent Prosecution Highway”
Staring next January, 13 nations including the US, Japan, and Australia will provide faster patenting processes.
On November 6, the Korean Intellectual Property Office announced it agreed to the global Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program along with patent offices of the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, Russia, England, Spain, Denmark, Finland, and Northern Europe.
PPH is a policy for patent applicants who submit patent applications to two or more countries, allowing them to submit the documents from a nation that approved the application for the patent to the patent offices of other countries in order to expedite the patent prosecution process in those countries.
The PPH program in 13 nations will begin on January 6 next year. Thus, if a patent applicant receives a patent from Korea or receive a positive result from the international step of the PCT, then the applicant may apply for a patent in the other 13 participating nations in the PPH program for prioritized application review eligibility.
Also, Korea will expand the PPH and PCT-PPH to 20 other nations starting in January next year.