/ PPH: new agreement between the United States and Chile will speed up patent prosecution.
October 25, 2018Decrease the processing time of patents in the United States and facilitate the process to users, are the objectives of the PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) agreement signed between Inapi and USPTO. The Program is an addition to those currently available with the patent offices of PROSUR, Pacific Alliance, Canada, Japan and China. The program will become effective on November 1, 2018.
The Chilean Patent Office (Inapi) signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to implement a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program between these patent offices.
The program is aimed to serve as a tool to speed up the patent examination process between both offices and will become effective on November 1, 2018.
Over the last two years, Inapi has been signing a series of PPH Pilot Programs with its foreign counterparts in the Latin American region, including the patent offices of Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Inapi has also signed PPH Pilot Program agreements with the patent offices of Canada, Japan and China, thereby extending the benefits of these programs beyond the Latin American region.
To apply for any of these pilot programs in Chile, a PPH form has to be submitted with the basic information about the patent application and the examination results of the previous examination office, so that Inapi, as subsequent examination office; can check that the following minimum requirements are fulfilled:
– The patent applications claim the same priority and have at least one allowable claim;
– Inapi has not yet issued the first examination report; and
– The claims accepted to registration by the previous examination patent office are substantially identical to those that will undergo substantive examination in Chile.
Learn more about these programs and the first Chilean application submitted to Inapi.
Senior Patent Attorney
Alessandri