http://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2017/20171004a.html
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4 October 2017
Inventors and businesses applying for patent protection at the EPO and
the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) are now able to benefit from fast-track
patent examination at both offices, following the entry into force of the joint
Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme. The PPH also permits each
participating patent office to share and re-use existing work results.
This follows
the signing of an agreement by EPO President Benoît Battistelli and EAPO
President Saule Tlevlessova in April 2017.
“Our partnership
with the EAPO enhances our regional cooperation, delivering a better service to
users,” said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. “Applicants seeking protection
in both regions will be able to obtain patents more quickly and efficiently,
boosting business and innovation.”
The pilot
will run for an initial term of three years and applicants whose claims have
been found to be patentable by the EPO or EAPO may ask for accelerated
processing of their corresponding application at the partner office, while the EPO
and EAPO will share existing work results, speeding up the granting process and
reducing costs for users. The EPO
and EAPO will evaluate the results of the pilot programme to determine whether
and how the programme should be fully implemented after the trial period.
EPO adds to portfolio of PPH
pilot programmes
The EPO
already has operational PPH pilot programmes with the IP5 offices (a grouping
of the world’s five largest IP offices, made up of the EPO and the patent
offices of China, Japan, Korea, and the US), as well as with the national
patent offices of Australia, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the
Philippines, Russia and Singapore.
About the EAPO
The EAPO is
the executive body of the Eurasian Patent Organisation which was created in
1995 to provide a uniform application procedure
for protect inventions on the basis of a single Eurasian patent valid in the
territory of nine states party to the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC).
Further information