Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) and the Austrian Patent Office (APO) jointly decided to extend the SIPO-APO Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program for another three years from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2021, with the relevant requirements and processes of the submission of PPH application of both offices unchanged.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) and the Austrian Patent Office (APO) on the Patent Prosecution Highway, the China-Austria Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program was launched on March 1, 2013 for one year. This PPH pilot program had been extended twice on March 1, 2014 and March 1, 2016 and scheduled to end on February 28, 2018.