New "Highway" Opens Between Canada And Europe

Canadian - European Patent Office Patent Prosecution Highway is Now Live

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) have started their Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program. The PPH can expedite examination of certain Canadian patent applications after claims have been found allowable in a corresponding European application. The CIPO PPH request can also be based on a Patent Cooperation Treaty patent application filed in Europe (PCT-EPO). CIPO does not charge an additional fee for a PPH request. In Canada, CIPO often issues its first examination report within three months after the PPH request is approved. This is much faster than the usual pace of examination, where the first examination report is not usually received with a year after requesting examination. CIPO is currently accepting PPH requests based on a corresponding EPO application only for Canadian applications filed in January 2015 or later.