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USPTO, EPO Announce Extension of Patent Prosecution Highway

By Peter Zura

The EPO and USPTO today announced that they intend to extend the trial period for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program until January 28, 2012, effective October 2010. This is the second extension of this pilot program between the two examining authorities.

Under PPH agreements, an applicant receiving a favorable ruling from one nation's patent office on at least one claim in an application may request that the corresponding application filed with the other nation advance out of turn for examination. By coordinating patentable results between both nations' offices, applicants can expect to obtain patents in both nations more quickly.

View the EPO notice on the latest extension here (link)

View the original USPTO notice here (link)

Updated USPTO requirements for participation in the U.S.-European PPH is available here (link)

Full post as published by Two-Seventy-One Patent Blog on September 13, 2010 (boomark / email).