4.2 4.3Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) enables an applicant whose claims have been found to be allowable to have a corresponding application filed with a PPH partner office processed in an accelerated manner while at the same time allowing the offices involved to use 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 (communication 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).