USPTO announcement of 10 December 2008.
Further to the new opportunity to speed up patenting in the U.S. announced on our Web site on 15 October 2008 (see below), the USPTO announced on 10 December 2008 that U.S. patent applications based on PCT applications claiming no priority or priority based on a European patent application or another PCT application will also be included in the USPTO – EPO Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program in addition to U.S. patent applications in which the claim to priority is based directly on a European patent application. This change will become effective on 22 December 2008.
As of 22 December 2008, patent applicants pursuing patent protection in the U.S. based on a PCT application satisfying the above conditions can also take advantage of the PPH to accelerate examination of the U.S. counterpart in the same way as patent applicants seeking patent protection in the U.S. based directly on a European patent application (see our news item of 15 October).
For further information on how to take advantage of this opportunity, please contact Vereenigde.