The USPTO and the JPO announced on December 21, 2007 that they will implement the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program on a full-time basis, beginning January 4, 2008.

Under the PPH, an applicant receiving a ruling from either the JPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. By basing the prosecution in the second office on patentable results from the first office, applicants can expect to obtain patents in both offices faster.

A pilot feasibility study of the PPH, which began July 3, 2006 to December 2007, reported that the period of latency for the examination was shortened from 26 months to 5 months. The examinations for applications that were requested for PPH have been undertaken from two to three months after the filing of a Request for PPH.

For more information, please see the following URL of the JPO website:

“The full implementation of PPH program between the JPO and the USPTO”
http://www.jpo.go.jp/torikumi_e/t_torikumi_e/highway_real_operation_e.htm

“Procedures to file a request to the JPO for Patent Prosecution Highway Program between the JPO and the USPTO”
http://www.jpo.go.jp/torikumi/t_torikumi/pdf/patent_highway/jpo_english.pdf

“Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)”
http://www.jpo.go.jp/torikumi_e/t_torikumi_e/patent_highway_e.htm

If you would like to accelerate the examination based on the PPH, please provide us with the following documents/information so that we can file a petition for accelerated examination.

1.  A table to explain how the claims indicated as allowable in the USPTO sufficiently correspond to the claims in the JPO application;
2.  Claims which have been allowed as patentable;
3. A copy of office actions issued by the USPTO for corresponding US patents; and
4.  A copy of the cited references in the office actions.