We are pleased to inform all of our clients and associates that effective from 1 October 2014, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has started a pilot Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and Patent Cooperation Treaty-PPH (PPH/PCT-PPH) program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO). The pilot program will be for a period of three years.
The PPH/PCT-PPH program enables sharing of search and examination results between the MyIPO and JPO with the aim to accelerate examination of a corresponding patent application allowing the application to grant in a faster and efficient manner.
Via the PPH/PCT-PPH program, patent applicants may request for accelerated examination of an application in a Patent Office by submitting the search reports or certificates of grant of the corresponding patent applications filed in the other Patent Office. By doing so, the other Patent Office may allow the corresponding patent applications to proceed to allowance as the first Patent Office has considered the patentability of the claims.
We therefore encourage our clients and associates to use this initiative to expedite their Malaysian patent applications if their corresponding Japanese applications have been given positive search and examination reports or granted by the JPO.
At this moment, MyIPO has only started the PPH/PCT-PPH program with the JPO and we are confident that MyIPO will extend the PPH/PCT-PPH program with other reputed Patent Offices in the near future.