USPTO Announces PPH Pilot Program With the National Institute of Industrial Property of France

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) commenced a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the National Institute of Industrial Property of France (INPI) on December 1, 2021. Under the pilot, a PPH request may be submitted to the USPTO based on a patent application that was filed in the INPI on or after May 22, 2020.

The PPH program enables an applicant who receives a positive ruling on patent claims from one participating office to request accelerated prosecution of corresponding claims in another participating office, allowing the applicant to obtain a patentability decision in the second office more quickly. More information on the PPH program is available on the USPTO’s PPH webpage.

The pilot program with the INPI will run for three years, ending on November 30, 2024. The full text of the notice is available on the USPTO’s Patent Related Notices webpage.