Patent Prosecution Highway

The Danish Patent and Trademark Office partners with patent offices worldwide to establish fast-tracking of patent applications through Patent Prosecution Highway programmes (PPH).
PPH programmes leverage a faster and more cost-efficient processing of patent applications at a patent office, thereby providing applicants with quicker access to foreign markets at lower costs.

What is PPH?

A PPH programme is an agreed administrative procedure between patent offices whereby a patent application filed at a foreign patent office can enjoy a faster patent prosecution, if a former patent office has processed the application with a positive outcome.

The process is illustrated below:

What are the benefits of PPH?

Faster processing of your patent application

More cost effective processing of your patent application

Higher probability of approval at foreign patent offices

Main requirements for using PPH

If you would like to use PPH, there are a number of requirements that you have to fulfill

The patent application at the former and foreign patent office must correspond.
The patent application at the former and foreign patent office must have same earliest priority date.
The former patent office must have carried out search and examination of your patent application leading to a positive result or in some cases, granted the patent.

Our PPH programmes and how to use them

The Danish Patent and Trademark Office has both global and bilateral PPH programmes.
Please review the guidelines for each PPH programme and use the PPH request form either annexed to the guidelines or available on the website of the relevant patent offices.

Global PPH programme

Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Chile, Peru, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, Norway Nordic Patent Institute, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Colombia, Spain, UK, USA and Visigrad Patent Institute.

Access programme

Request PPH at the DKPTO