Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Patent Prosecution Highway between the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

Memorandum of Understanding on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) cooperation was concluded between the intellectual property offices of Korea and Hungary at the Hungarian Mission in Geneva on 2 October 2012. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by Commissioner Dr. Kim Ho-Won and President Dr. Miklós Bendzsel is an important milestone in the history of the cooperation of the two offices.

The substance of the PPH 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 application by a national office, the applicant may request that the other national office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. Therefore, PPH is a practical tool for saving efforts and time both for applicants and offices. It enhances global work sharing and helps to avoid the duplication of work.

We are particularly proud of the fact that the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, with the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, has already become party to 5 bilateral PPH agreements. Our first PPH agreement was concluded with the Japan Patent Office and was followed by further ones with the Austrian Patent Office, the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland and the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Our inter-office Korean-Hungarian Patent Prosecution Highway cooperation is perfectly in line with the efforts to offer our users customer-friendly, new solutions in our patent granting procedures. In addition, it is our common responsibility, as PPH offices, to continue to examine and assess the applicants' demands with a view to further improving the PPH procedure