Patent Prosecution Highway
The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) in its PI Plan- Plan for the Promotion of Industrial Property in Spain 2010-2012, presented on March 9 by the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade and subsequently approved by the Cabinet of Ministers- provides for implementing a series of agreements with patent offices of other countries with the aim of offering mutual protection of inventions to system users and improving efficiency.
Thus, the "Patent Prosecution Highway" (PPH) is an initiative that facilitates the acceleration of patent granting procedures by sharing information among various patent offices. This way, each of the offices will be able to benefit from work done by others, minimizing the duplication of work done by the Examiners, eliminating Exam delays and improving quality. At the same time, any company or individual wishing to do so, and expressly requests, it would obtain patent protection more quickly and efficiently.
Currently, 14 Patent Offices worldwide form part of this initiative, including Germany, Canada, Korea, USA, Japan, Russia and the European Patent Office.
Avoid duplication of work
By means of this new instrument, the first Office to evaluate the patentability of an invention will be able to send Search Reports and Preliminary Examinations conducted by Examiners to the second receiving Office. Thus, when the same applicant seeks protection for his or her invention in these two areas, the duplication of work- which until now occurred- will be avoided.
In this context, on October 1 the SPTO announced the launch of the "Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program” (PPH) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), which will allow offices to share results, thereby streamlining procedures for granting patents.
Consequently, Spanish companies will be able to obtain a faster procedure for protecting their technology in the United States, Japan and Canada, which is expected to have a favorable impact on our industry abroad and facilitate the trade of our products. At the same time, equal treatment would be given to applicants from these countries who want to protect their innovations in Spain.
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www.oepm.es
