Source: EPO

With effect from 6 January 2018, the EPO will be extending its PPH pilot programmes with four partners around the globe, namely Canada, Israel, Mexico and Singapore, thus enabling innovators from Europe and these countries to continue obtaining patents more quickly and efficiently.

All four PPH pilot programmes are being extended for three years until 5 January 2021, and the current conditions and requirements for participation will continue to apply.

The trials with Canada, Mexico and Singapore stem from bilateral agreements which EPO President Benoît Battistelli signed with the respective heads of patent offices at the side lines of the 2014 World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly in Geneva. The PPH with Israel resulted from an agreement signed with the Israel Patent Office in December 2015.

The EPO's PPH portfolio

In addition to these four extended programmes, the EPO has operational PPH pilot programmes with the IP5 offices (the grouping of the world's five largest IP offices, made up of the EPO and the patent offices of China, Japan, Korea, and the US), as well as with the national patent offices of Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia and the Eurasian Patent Office.