CIPO begins PPH agreement with the French National Institute of Industrial Property

On , the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) began a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) bilateral pilot agreement with the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).

The PPH enables applicants filing a patent at either CIPO or INPI to have their application processed faster at the other office. This helps increase the efficiency and quality of the patent-granting process by enabling the offices to benefit from each other's work.

PPH requests made to CIPO will be based on the earlier national search and examination work done by INPI, and PPH requests made before INPI will be based on the earlier national and international (Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT) search and examination work done by CIPO.

CIPO's performance target for all PPH requests is to provide a first office action (allowance, first report or examiner-initiated interview) within 90 days of a compliant request for an application to be considered for the PPH.

For PPH applications, CIPO has found that approximately 28% of those based on national work products and 17% of those based on international (PCT) work products are allowed without an examination report. Compared to a rate of around only 5% for non-PPH national applications, the PPH represents a savings of time, cost and effort for both CIPO and its clients.

For more information, visit CIPO's PPH web page or contact its PPH coordinator.

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