The IPO will again start accepting Form 5-1 under Chapter 5 of the PPH Guidelines from March 9 2020
In November 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for adoption of Patent Prosecution Highway programme by the Indian Patent Office under the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, India (CGPDTM) in collaboration with Patent offices of various other countries and regions. India’s first Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program commenced between the Japan patent Office (hereinafter referred to as ‘JPO’) and the IPO for an initial period of three years.
As per a recent update posted on the official website of Indian Patent Office (IPO), the filing of Form 5-1 (Information for PPH Patent Prosecution Highway ) request to the IPO (IPO as OLE, JPO as OEE)) under Chapter 5 of the PPH Guidelines commenced on December 5 2019. After scrutiny of 100 requests received, 56 requests were accepted by IPO and the applicants were allowed to file request for expedited examination on Form 18A.
However, there were 44 request that were found not eligible as per the PPH Guidelines. In furtherance of the same the IPO will again start accepting Form 5-1 under Chapter 5 of the PPH Guidelines from March 9 2020. It is pertinent to mention here that the number of requests will be limited to 44.
Therefore, it is pertinent that PPH request is filed as soon as the Indian Patent Office starts accepting the requests again i.e. March 9, 2020. Additionally, you can also access the Procedure Guidelines to file a PPH request under the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the Indian Patent Office (IPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) by clicking here.
Read more about Patent Prosecution Highway on our website by clicking on the links below:
India: Patent Prosecution Highway gets Cabinet’s Approval
An overview of Procedure Guidelines for Patent Prosecution Highway