[author: Donald Zuhn]
PPH Pilot Program between USPTO and IMPI Extended
On March 7th, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the Office would be extending its Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). The pilot program, which commended on March 1, 2011 (see "USPTO News Briefs," February 28, 2011), permits an applicant having an application whose claims have been allowed in the IMPI to fast track the examination of an application in the USPTO, or vice versa, such that the latter application is examined out of turn. In particular, an applicant receiving a ruling from the USPTO (or the IMPI) that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the IMPI (or USPTO) fast track the examination of corresponding claims in the corresponding application in that office. The USPTO-IMPI PPH pilot program has been extended until August 31, 2012, at which time the USPTO and IMPI will determine whether the program should be fully implemented.
Since implementing its first Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on July 3, 2006, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has established a total of twenty PPH programs with other patent offices. Currently the USPTO has PPH programs (full or pilot) in place with the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO), the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), IP Australia (IP AU), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR), the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO), the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (ROSPATENT), the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), the Austrian Patent Office (APO), the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), and the Israel Patent Office (ILPO), the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO), the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), and the Icelandic Patent Office (IPO). The USPTO has also established eleven PCT-PPH programs with other patent offices: IP Australia, APO, SIPO, EPO, NBPR, JPO, KIPO, the Nordic Patent Institute (NPI), ROSPATENT, SPTO, and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV). Additional information regarding the various PPH and PCT-PPH programs can be found here.
USPTO and KIPO Provide Update on SHARE Program
On March 1st, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) reported on the progress of the offices' Strategic Handling of Applications for Rapid Examination (SHARE) pilot program. The pilot program, which ran from September 2009 to December 2010, was developed to ascertain the views of examiners in each office regarding the usefulness of the other office’s work products.
A study of the pilot program indicated that each office viewed the search and examination results generated by the Office of First Filing (OFF) to be useful to the Office of Second Filing (OSF). The two offices agreed that regardless of the procedure being used in the offices, the prior art identified by the offices seemed to be mutually agreeable and frequently to overlap. The information garnered from the study will now be used to develop the next phase of the program.
USPTO and AUTM Launch Examiner Training Initiative
Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it would be working with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) to implement a joint patent examiner training program. Under the program, AUTM members working in university technology transfer offices will identify key faculty members who will provide specialized training to patent examiners. The program is intended to enhance the Office's Patent Examiner Technical Training Program (PETTP) by offering examiners additional training opportunities. USPTO Director David Kappos said the initiative "represents an important step in partnering with the petri dish of creativity and research: the American university." AUTM President Robin Rasor stated that the program "will help to improve the strength and quality of patents," and better protect the discoveries and inventions of the group's members, which "will lead to further scientific research and ultimately advance technology transfer and commercialization efforts."
