The 10 months trial period of the PCT Patent Prosecution Highway between KIPO and USPTO commenced on July 01, 2011. As one of the PPH programs, PCT-PPH gives an applicant a chance to request an accelerated examination for a national phase PCT application if the applicant submits any positive result of an examination generated during the international phase.
To utilize this KIPO-USPTO PCT-PPH pilot program, KIPO or USPTO must be designated as the ISA International Search Authority) or the IPEA (International Preliminary Examination Authority) of the PCT application. The latest work product in the international phase of a PCT application corresponding to the application, namely the Written Opinion of the ISA, the Written Opinion of the IPEA or the International Preliminary Examination Report, must indicate at least one claim as patentable/allowable. All claims for examination under the PCT-PPH must sufficiently correspond to one or more of those claims indicated to be patentable/allowable in the international phase.
This PCT-PPH is distinguishable from other kinds of PPH programs in that it does not matter if the PCT application has claimed a priority from the third party country based on the Paris Convention.
For example, an applicant who has filed a patent application with JPO, SIPO, EPO or the like is able to create a strategy for filing a PCT application claiming priority based on the Paris Convention with KIPO or USPTO and then, using any kind of positive examination results worked by KIPO or USPTO as the ISA or as the IPEA, requesting an accelerated examination for the national phase application at KIPO or USPTO based on this PCT-PPH.
