MUNICH - Applicants with a positive outcome on their applications from the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) may enjoy faster processing at the European Patent Office (EPO) thanks to a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot from December 1, 2024. From the same date the existing successful PPH pilot with the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI Brazil) will be extended for five years, a press release stated by EPO. 

The PPH is a popular initiative that helps speed up the examination of patent applications and reduces repetition in the global patent system, where the same invention might be protected in multiple countries with broadly similar patentability requirements. The acceleration of the procedure is possible thanks to the re-use of the work done at other patent offices. Applicants can request accelerated processing of their patent application at an office if the claims have previously been deemed patentable by an ‘office of first examination’ participating in a PPH agreement with the ‘office of later examination’.

The PPH pilot program with IPONZ was agreed through a Memorandum of Cooperation on July 11, 2024, and will run for three years until November 30, 2027, with the possibility to adapt or extend the pilot by mutual consent. Applicants with a positive outcome on their patent application to the IPONZ may be able to use that to accelerate their related application before the EPO.

The existing PPH program with INPI Brazil was scheduled to run until 30 November 2024. Thanks to its success, and by mutual agreement, it will be extended for a further five years, from 1 December 2024 until 30 November 2029. The scope of the program will also be widened. Applicable participation conditions for accelerated processing of patent applications before the EPO are extended to the latest international search report (ISR), international preliminary examination (IPER) or international written opinion (WO) issued by INPI acting as an International Searching Authority (ISA).

The EPO's PPH portfolio

The EPO has established PPH programs with seventeen institutions, including:

• the IP5 offices, namely the world's five largest IP offices, comprising the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNIPA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); as well as with
• the national IP offices of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.