Continuation of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office
On July 1, 2010, the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) commenced the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program, which was originally set to last for a period of one year.
As the first signs of applicants' interest are beginning to appear, the two offices have agreed to extend the pilot to ensure the best service for the applicants and the collection of information on the operation of the program. The press releases about the continuation of the PPH are available at http://sztnh.gov.hu/hirek/kapcsolodo/press_release2.pdf and at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/pph_hpo-ext.pdf
The substance of the PPH agreement is that applicants may obtain patents faster and more effectively as it enables either office to utilize the work done earlier by the other office, thus avoiding duplication of work. By virtue of the PPH agreements, if at least one claim has been determined patentable in an applicant's application by a national office, the applicant may request that the other national office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications.
As a consequence of harmonising the grant procedures between two offices, applicants may expect to obtain patents faster, while the initiative contributes to the decrease of the office workload and the improvement of patent quality.
More information is available on the homepage of HIPO at http://www.sztnh.gov.hu/English/szabadalom/pph as well as on the homepage of USPTO at http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/pph_hpo.jsp .
The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office and the USPTO continuously examine and assess the applicants' demands and monitor the PPH pilot program. In order to modify the requirements and improve the PPH procedure the two offices continually harmonise their activities.