On April 1st, 2020, came into effect the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project – BPTO at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) – according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two Offices.

The PPH at South Korea will expire on March 31, 2025, being valid for all technological fields and within the limit of 400 requests added to the BPTO partner institutes, according to Resolution PR nº 252/2019.

The new PPH modality that came into effect on December 1st, 2019 has so far totalized agreements with 20 countries, in addition to the European Patent Office (EPO).

With the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), after a partner patent institute considers the subject of a patentable patent application, it becomes possible to prioritize the patent application for the same invention and Applicant at the BPTO. PPH, through the use of all information related to the research or examination of the First Examination Offices (OEE), helps Applicants in their efforts to obtain patent rights with greater legal certainty and more efficiently in several countries. In addition, the project seeks to optimize the examination of the main Patent Offices in the world.