Patent Prosecution Highway

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) has been available to applicants in Iceland since 2011. The main goal of the PPH co-operation is to accelerate examination of patent applications. By filing a simple request, applicants obtain accelerated processing of a co-pending application at an office acting as Office of Later Examination (OLE), provided that one or more of the claims in an earlier application are indicated to be patentable in the latest office action by the Office of Earlier Examination (OEE). The OLE is, however, not obliged to base grant of a patent on the former examination. The procedure includes that the OLE will make, as possible, use of the examination already performed.

Accelerated examination based on PPH is always at the applicant's choice – the procedure in Iceland is free of charge.

On 6 January 2014, the co-operation on Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) for both national and PCT-PPH routes was established. Information on participating offices may be found on the PPH Portal, hosted by the Japanese Patent Office.

On 1 July 2014 the IPO and SIPO, now CNIPA launched a pilot PPH project between the two offices which runs until 30 June 2029. The pilot programme includes a two-way national PPH route and a one-way PCT-PPH route, namely, for Chinese applicants filing in Iceland.

Information on the requirements for filing a PPH request in China is available here.

Guidelines and forms for all procedures in Iceland are available here. Note that different guidelines and forms apply for Chinese applicants then applicants from GPPH participating offices.