Accelerated Examination Channel for Patent Applications in Saudi Arabia

When applying for invention patents in Saudi Arabia, there are the following ways to speed up the examination, such as:

• Early Examination: An applicant can file a request for early examination with a committee consisting of three legal experts and two technical experts as provided for in Articles 35 to 39 of the Patent Law, on the grounds that the protected content is being infringed or is about to be infringed. The committee will request the Patent Office to conduct an expedited examination.
• FTE accelerated review: Mainly targeted areas: environmentally friendly technologies, products that help diagnose and treat chronic diseases, technologies that help combat epidemics and the spread of infectious diseases, and products that are economically valuable and competitive in Saudi Arabia.
• Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), SAIP promises that the substantive examination under the PPH agreement will be completed within 2-12 months without any official fees. Currently, SAIP has signed PPH bilateral agreements with 6 countries:
  • The Saudi Arabian Office of Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) officially began to implement the PPH agreement in January 2018, with the starting date being July 1, 2019, for a period of 3 years.
  • The Saudi Arabian Office of Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the Japan Intellectual Property Office (JPO) will officially implement the PPH agreement from January 1, 2020 for a period of 3 years.
  • The Saudi Arabian Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will officially implement the PPH agreement from January 1, 2020 for a period of 3 years.
  • The Saudi Arabian Office of Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) officially implemented the PPH agreement, which will be implemented from November 1, 2020 for a period of 3 years.
  • The Saudi Arabian Office of Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC) will officially implement the PPH agreement from April 23, 2024.
  • The Saudi Arabian Office of Intellectual Property (SAIP) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) will officially implement it from September 12, 2023 for a period of 2 years.
    

PPH must meet the following conditions:

• Applications in OSF (including PCT national applications) effectively claim priority over applications in OFF
• At least one claim in OFF is considered patentable/allowed application
• All claims in the application filed in OSF must sufficiently correspond or be amended to sufficiently correspond to one or more patentable/allowable claims in the application filed in OFF
  

Documents required for PPH:

• Copies and translations of the claims deemed patentable in the OFF
• Copies and translations of all examination opinions
• Copies of references and comparative documents cited by the OFF examiner
• Claim correspondence table