PPH/GPPH/ordinary accelerated examination procedures for patent applications in Spain

When applying for a patent in Spain, you can use the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) procedure to speed up the examination process.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) speeds up the examination process of patent applications participating in the program by reusing patentability reports from other national patent offices participating in the PPH network. Under PPH, a patent application with at least one claim deemed patentable by a prior examining office will, at the request of the applicant, be subject to accelerated grant procedures at another subsequent examining office. Thus, allowing work products available in a prior examining office to be reused by a subsequent examining office benefits applicants in terms of speed and patent offices in terms of efficiency.

An applicant who has received a written opinion or international preliminary examination may request accelerated examination of the corresponding application entering the national phase under the PCT-PPH.

In addition, Spain has signed PPH agreements with the following countries (Note: the PPH agreement between the Chinese Patent Office and Spain has been terminated)

In addition, Spain has joined the GPPH network:

Ordinary accelerated examination in this country:

• Patent applications involving bioeconomy, circular economy, and pure technology solutions can apply for accelerated examination.