Turning ideas into assets

Patent Prosecution Highways - PPH

Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) participates in the Patent Prosecutrion Highway (PPH) programme. We currently have PPH agreements with the patent offices in Japan, Korea and the US and we expect to establish additional PPH agreements with other patent offices.

At DKPTO we see it as part of our responsibility to provide applicants with an international patent system which is fit for the purpose, meaning that it must deliver high quality examination through efficient and speedy processes.

DKPTO views the PCT-system as the backbone of the international patent system. However, the ever-increasing workload and the PCT system's current difficulties in handling its various challenges have convinced us that all possible avenues for decreasing workload and increasing quality should be pursued. This is the reason why DKPTO takes part in the PPH cooperation. More specifically, we seek to examine:

  • if the PPH can increase work sharing and thus contribute to the reduction of workload and backlogs

  • if applicants can get a faster, more predictable and less costly access to patent rights through a PPH fast-track procedure at the office of second filing

What is the PPH programme?

A PPH is a bilateral agreement between two countries’ patent offices. A PPH agreement means that an applicant can request an accelerated processing of his/her patent application at one Patent Office when the other Patent Office has already found the corresponding patent claims to be patentable.

PPH establishes a process where the patent office of second filing makes use of the work already carried out by the patent office of first filing in relation to the same invention. This means that the patent office of second filing can process the patent application quicker than it would otherwise be able to, because its examination process begins at a more informed level compared to the normal examination procedure. This also means that the quality of its search and examination will be improved. It is noted that the patent office of second filing is not compelled to accept the opinion of the patent office of first filing and that the patent office of second filing is always solely responsible for its grant of patents rights.

Further Information

You can find more information about our current PPH agreements and PPH in general here.