NOIP and KIPO join forces for a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program

With aim of dealing with heavy local backlog of Patent examination and increasing demand of Korean applicants, the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) of Vietnam in conjunction with the Korean Intellectual Property Office officially launched a new PPH Pilot Program.

Under this Pilot Program, applicants can request accelerated examination from six (06) to nine (09) months instead of the prescribed eighteen (18) months period (which is likely to be extended to further six (06) to twelve (12) months or more) based on the corresponding Korean applications that meet the following basic requirements:

(1) At least one corresponding application exists in KIPO and has one or more claims that are determined to be patentable/allowable by KIPO;

(2) All claims on file, as originally filed or as amended, for examination under the PPH must sufficiently correspond to one or more of those claims indicated as allowable in KIPO;

(3) NOIP has not begun examination of the application at the time of request for the PPH.

The PPH pilot program will be in effect for two (2) years commencing on June 1, 2019 and will end on May 31, 2021.  The number of requests per year will not exceed one hundred (100) from each Office. Thus, this is a very competitive program that requires high attention from applicants.

For applicants who want to utilize this PPH Pilot Program should contact us at info@apta.vn as soon as possible for timely and in-depth consultations.

We look forward to assisting you in this regard.

Note: The PPH Pilot Program is not applicable on the basis of KIPO “utility model” applications