According to a joint decision made by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) of the Republic of Korea, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program will be extended for another three years, from January 6, 2026 to January 5, 2029. The requirements and procedures for applicants to file PPH requests under the pilot program will remain unchanged.

PPH is a fast track linking patent examination duties of different countries or regions, allowing patent examination authorities to speed up patent examination by work sharing. Since the initiation of the first PPH pilot program in November 2011, the CNIPA has built PPH ties with 35 patent examination authorities covering 86 countries worldwide.

Source: CNIPA