4.3 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) 

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) enables an applicant whose claims have been determined to be allowable to have a corresponding application which has been filed with a PPH partner office processed in an accelerated manner while at the same time allowing the offices involved to exploit available work results. A request before the EPO must be filed before substantive examination has begun.

A PPH request can be based on:

(i)the latest PCT work product (WO‑ISA or IPRP/IPER) established by one of the PPH partner offices as ISA or IPEA (PPH based on PCT work products); or 

(ii)any national work product (office action indicating allowable claims) established during the processing of a national application or of a PCT application that has entered the national phase before one of the PPH partner offices (PPH based on national work products).