Patent Prosecution Highway Program (PPH) extended between Korean Intellectual Property Office and Vietnam Intellectual Property Office
After carefully reviewing the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program for the 1st period of 2019-2021, the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office (IP Vietnam) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) have agreed to renew the pilot VN-KR-PPH program for the next 2 years, starting from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2023. A maximum of 100 requests in Vietnam will be made available to be filed each year and the Vietnamese patent applications eligible for the PPH program must meet the prescribed requirements. The conditions to be acceptable and the procedures for the extension of the PPH program are the same as those of the 1st period.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a program that aims to speed the examination period of applications, provided those applications meet the demanded qualifications.
The basic concept of PPH is: where the office of first filing (OFF) has assessed the patentability of a patent application, the office of second filing (OSF) offers the applicant an accelerated examination for the corresponding application, provided that certain conditions are met. Those conditions include sufficient correspondence in the claims of the two applications and the search and examination results of the OFF being made available to the OSF.
Within the PPH program, if the conditions are met, the results of the OFF examination are applied to facilitate the application process in the OSF. As a result, reducing the workload and improving patent quality. In other words, If deemed patentable by the OFF, the corresponding application is filed in advance for accelerated examination in the OSF.
Outline of requirements
- An application (including a PCT national application) in the OSF which validly claims priority to an application in the OFF.
- An application in the OFF with at least one claim deemed to be patentable/allowable.
- All claims in the OSF application must sufficiently correspond to or be amended to sufficiently correspond to one or more patentable/allowable claims from the OFF
Outline of documents to be submitted
- Copies and translations of claims which are deemed patentable in the OFF
- Copies and translations of all office actions in the OFF
- Copies of references cited by the OFF’s examiner
- A claims correspondence table
Procedures and timeline under the PPH program
From Vietnam’s side, IP Vietnam will evaluate and determine if the application is qualified for the PPH. The applicant is allowed to provide lacking documents when informed by IP Vietnam. Furthermore, even if IP Vietnam announces that an application does not meet the requirements of the PPH program, the applicant can still reapply if the maximum number of requests is not reached in the designated period.
Currently, IP Vietnam issues the first Office Action in 9 months from the starting date of the substantive examination period (half the time of the statutory 18 month period).
*** Other Articles***
– You could visit here to see the Trademark Registration in Vietnam.
– You can also check the Vietnam Trademark Law: Detailed Guide And Legal Notes.
– You could visit here to see the Procedure of Trademark in South Korea.
– You can also check the Required documents of filing trademark in South Korea.
Contact AAA IPRIGHT: Email: [email protected]
Or sending your inquiry by filling the form: