Cruising The Patent Prosecution Highway In Canada

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a program through which examination of a Canadian patent application may be accelerated by aligning the Canadian patent claims with those issued or allowed in a foreign counterpart application.

As of January 2014, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is part of the Global PPH (GPPH) pilot program. The patent offices from the following countries are also involved in the GPPH: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nordic Patent Office, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweeden, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Canada also has PPH agreements with China, Germany, and Mexico. The program can also be accessed based on claims deemed to be allowable in an international search report (ISR) issued in Canada or the United States.