On December 21, 2012, the USPTO announced its September 1, 2012 permanent launch of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). The permanent USPTO/TIPO PPH program, which began as a pilot in September 2011, continues to benefit each office from work previously done by the other office, greatly accelerating patent issuance time and improving patent quality.
Under the USPTO/TIPO PPH program, an applicant receiving a ruling from TIPO that at least one claim in an application filed with TIPO is patentable may request that the USPTO fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding USPTO applications. The reciprocal is also possible. The form for requesting accelerated participation in the USPTO/TIPO PPH program can be downloaded from http://www.uspto.gov/forms/sb0020tw.pdf.
Other intellectual property offices which have entered into PPH programs with the USPTO include: Australia (IPAU), Austria (APO), Canada (CIPO), China (SIPO), Columbia (SIC), Czech Republic (IPOCZ), Denmark (DKPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), Finland (NBPR), Germany (DPMA), Hungary (HPO), Iceland (IPO), Israel (ILPO), Japan (JPO), Korea (KIPO), Mexico (IMPI), Nordic Patent Institute (NPI), Norway (NIPO), Russia (ROSPATENT), Singapore (IPOS), Spain (SPTO), Sweden (PRV) and United Kingdom (UKIPO). The planned launch of two additional PPHs between the USPTO and the Philippines (IPOPHL) and Portugal (INPI) is expected in January 2013.
For more information, please see:
http://www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2012/12-73.jsp
http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/index.jsp
