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    Get on Board the Patent Prosecution Highway

    February 07, 2011, 06:09 PM

    On January 28, 2008, the USPTO-CIPO Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project was launched between the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). The pilot program with the CIPO was set to expire on January 28, 2011, but due to its success, the pilot status has been removed, with the requirements and procedures remaining the same. The PPH was designed to accelerate the examination of patent applications filed in participating countries by permitting examiners to reuse prior search and examination results. In addition to Canada, the USPTO has PPH agreements in place with Australia, the Austrian Patent Office, Denmark, the European Patent Office, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, and the United Kingdom. For more information on the PPH, visit http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/index.jsp. —Kristan B. Burch