Joint announcement of the continuation of the PPH pilot program between the KIPO and the IPO

30 September 2010

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom (UKIPO) hereby jointly announce that the KIPO-UKIPO Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program will be extended in its current state.

The KIPO-UKIPO PPH was launched on 1 October 2009 and benefits applicants to both offices. If an application is deemed to be patentable at one office, the results of that office's examination are used to expedite the examination of the corresponding application filed at the other office.

In order to adequately assess the feasibility of the PPH program, the KIPO and the UKIPO have agreed to extend the PPH pilot program in its current state in order to collect more information before any formal decision on the program is made.

Currently, no end date has been fixed for the KIPO-UKIPO PPH pilot program. The KIPO and the UKIPO will continue to evaluate the PPH program and the needs of applicants.

Notification of any changes to the PPH program will be posted on the KIPO's and the UKIPO's websites.

More information and guidelines on the PPH pilot program are available on the KIPO's and the UKIPO's websites.