A new pilot scheme, increasing the flexibility of the Patent
Prosecution Highway will provide more support for UK businesses
operating in the US and Japan.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is an existing scheme that
can speed up the process of getting patents granted in
participating countries. It gives applicants who have received a
favourable decision by a first examining office the opportunity to
request an accelerated examination at another office.
The new ‘Mottainai’ pilot will help ease the process by relaxing
requirements around priority and timing of application.
Previously, patent applications have only been eligible for the
PPH if they met strict requirements relating to the order in which
they were filed and the priority which they claimed. Offices
participating in the pilot programme will relax these requirements
so that applicants may benefit from the PPH regardless of the
order in which their applications were filed or the priority
claimed.
‘Mottainai’ is a Japanese term meaning ‘a sense of regret
concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource
is not properly utilised.’
Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox said:
“The Patent Prosecution Highway can significantly speed up the
often lengthy process of gaining a patent and help minimise the
associated costs to the applicant. It also helps to reduce patent
backlogs by minimising the duplication of work carried out by offices.
“Relaxing the priority requirements will provide greater
opportunity and flexibility for businesses to take advantage of
quicker and cheaper international patent protection. A greater use
of the PPH will also improve the efficiency of participating
offices and help contribute to granting high quality patents.”
The ‘Mottainai’ pilot programme will involve the Intellectual
Property Office’s PPH agreements with the Japanese Patent Office
(JPO) and the US Patents and Trade Marks Office (USPTO). The pilot
will run for an initial one year period until 14 July 2012.
Notes to editors
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is within the Department
for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) and is responsible for
the national framework of Intellectual Property rights, comprising
patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.Its role is to help
manage an IP system that encourages innovation and creativity,
balances the needs of consumers and users, promotes strong and
competitive markets and is the foundation of the knowledge-based
economy.It operates in a national and an international environment
and its work is governed by national and international law,
including various international treaties relating to Intellectual
Property (IP) to which the United Kingdom is a party.While PPH
agreements have traditionally included restrictions based on both
the order of filing and the countries from which applications
initially claim priority, the pilot program will trial the
‘MOTTAINAI’ model under which requests for acceleration can be
made under a PPH agreement regardless of the order in which the
various applications were filed or the original priority claimed
by the co-pending applications. For further information, please
contact Dan Palmer on 0207 215 5303 or e-mail
communications@ipo.gov.uk.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Dan Palmer
Phone: 020 7215 5303
dan.palmer@bis.gsi.gov.uk