Patent Prosecution Highway

What is the aim of the prosecution highway

The prosecution highway is an international agreement which enables patent offices to exchange information and speed up the processing of patent applications. It permits each office to make use of the work previously done by the other office and reduce duplication. Thus, the initiative reduces the examination workload and improve patent quality.
General information about PPH is available at the PPH Portal.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

The PPH is a bilateral agreement between two intellectual property offices. It provides applicants with fast-track patent examination procedures to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently. Through these agreements, a patent applicant can request accelerated processing at the Office of Later Examination (OLE), if at least one of the claims in a corresponding application filed with that office has already been allowed by the Office of Earlier Examination (OEE).

The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) has previously concluded a number of bilateral PPH agreements, but with the establishment of the global patent prosecution highway, these bilateral agreements have been replaced by the new, multilateral PPH cooperation. Currently, a bilateral agreement is in force with the Chinese office (SIPO).

Request for accelerated examination at the HIPO under the Patent Prosecution Highway Program between SIPO and HIPO

Accelerated examination at the HIPO under PPH between HIPO and SIPO may be requested.

Documents to fill in if the request for accelerated examination is submitted on paper are Annex 1 and Annex 2. The request can be filed electronically using the form 'Szabadalmi bejelentéssel kapcsolatos kérelem (v1.2 2019-05-09' (only in Hungarian).

 Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) 

The global patent prosecution highway (GPPH) began to work from 6 January 2014. The aim of the project is to enable patent offices to exchange information and speed up the processing of patent applications. Patent applicants can request accelerated processing of their applications at any of the offices involved in the project, if at least one of their claims has been found to be acceptable by any of the other offices involved in the cooperation.

The following offices are involved in the GPPH pilot project:

IP Australia (IP Australia), the Austrian Patent Office (APO), the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI-BR), the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), the Estonian Patent Office (EPA), the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR), the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO), the National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile (INAPI), the Israel Patent Office (ILPO), the Icelandic Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the Nordic Patent Institute (NPI), the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO), National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru (INDECOPI), the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (PPO), the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT), Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV), the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ), the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC), and Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI).

 Accelerated GPPH processing at the HIPO 

Request for accelerated GPPH processing at the HIPO can be made on the basis of an examination carried out by any of the cooperating offices.

 Documents to fill in if the request for accelerated examination is submitted on paper are: 

The request can be filed electronically using the form ‘Szabadalmi bejelentéssel kapcsolatos kérelem (v1.2 2019-05-09’ (only in Hungarian). 

Request for accelerated GPPH processing (based on a Hungarian application)

Hungarian applicants can request for accelerated examination at the offices involved in the project using the documentation collected by country at the PPH Portal.

Important notes:

Both Global PPH and PPH are voluntary options for patent applicants. The intellectual property offices are not obliged to accept the opinion of any other intellectual property office involved in the cooperation, and the intellectual property offices are always solely responsible for their decisions. At the HIPO the substantive examination conducted is based on the Hungarian patent law and examination guidelines.

Contact and further information regarding PPH or Global PPH in our office

(Ms) Amalia Szanka, PhD
patent examiner
Phone: (+361) 474 5710
E-mail: amalia.szanka@hipo.gov.hu