4 October 2022
On 1 October 2022, the Patent
Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme between the EPO and the Superintendence of
Industry and Commerce of Colombia (SIC) becomes permanent. The current
conditions and requirements for participation will continue to apply.
The offices have agreed to permanently extend the agreement,
following the successful completion of a pilot programme, which was initially
launched in February 2016 and extended in October 2019.
The EPO’s
PPH portfolio
In addition to this programme, the
EPO has operational PPH programmes with the IP5 offices. The IP5 consists of
the world’s five largest IP offices, which are the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan
Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the
National Intellectual Property Administration of the People’s Republic of China
(CNIPA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The PPH programmes also include the
national patent offices of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico,
Peru, the Philippines, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
