Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was terminating engagement with officials from the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) and Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), per guidance issued by the U.S. Department of State (see "USPTO Terminates Engagement with Rospatent and EAPO").
In an email alert distributed to stakeholders earlier today, the USPTO announced that it will no longer grant requests to participate in the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) at the USPTO when such requests are based on work performed by Rospatent as an Office of Earlier Examination under the GPPH. The change is set to take effect on Friday, March 11, 2022. Moreover, the USPTO noted that in pending cases in which it has already granted special status under the GPPH to applications based on work performed by Rospatent, the USPTO will remove that status and return those applications to the regular processing and examination queue. Thus, those applications will no longer be treated as GPPH applications at the USPTO. In its alert, the USPTO indicated that it had advised the Japan Patent Office (JPO), which serves as the Secretariat for the GPPH, of its decision.
The USPTO also issued a news brief today in which the Office announced that it has now terminated engagement with officials from the national intellectual property office of Belarus (i.e., the National Center of Intellectual Property (NCIP)). The news brief also addressed the termination of the GPPH with Rospatent.
