Accelerated examination procedure in Polish patent applications – PPH/GPPH/PPH MOTTAINAI

In the patent application procedure in Poland, it is possible to apply for the PPH related accelerated procedure to speed up the examination process of the patent application in Poland.

PPH accelerates the examination process

• Under the PPH, once the OFF (Office of First Examination) grants or has an intention to grant specific claims in a patent application, the applicant can apply to the OSF (Office of Second Examination) for accelerated examination of similar applications containing similar claims that have been assessed as allowable. The PPH makes it possible for applicants to obtain patent protection in another country faster and at a lower cost.

PPH – MOTTAINAI Program

• The OFF does not always examine applications before the OSF, which prevents applicants from using the examination conducted at the OSF when applying for similar inventions at subsequent offices. This is considered a loss for both applicants and patent offices (called "MOTTAINAI" in Japanese), hence the name of the PPH Global Procedure, which was signed in 2011 by the patent offices of eight countries: Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Russia and Spain, and in subsequent years by Europe, Germany, Portugal and Denmark. PPH MOTTAINAI simplifies the application rules for the accelerated PPH procedure. The concepts of OEE (Office of Early Examination) and OLE (Office of Later Examination) were introduced instead of OFF and OSF. The modified PPH procedure allows the use of early examination conducted by any office (a party to a bilateral agreement between offices), not just when the OFF is an OEE.
• At present, 25 national offices have signed PPH-MOTTAINAI, including IP Australia, APO, CIPO, DKPTO, EPA, PRH, DPMA, HIPO, IPO, IPONZ, ILPO, JPO, KIPO, NPI, NIPO, PPO, INPI (Portuguese), ROSPATENT, IPOS, SPTO, SIC, PRV, UKIPO, USPTO, VPI (Visegrad Patent Institute)

GPPH Program

• The basis for the application of GPPH includes both the intention to grant or authorization taken by the Office of Prior Examination (OEE) under the national procedure, and the action taken by the Office as an international competent authority under the PCT procedure. Regardless of which of the 23 offices of GPPH the application is filed, the Office of Later Examination - OLE can, at the request of the applicant and subject to certain requirements, use the results of earlier examinations conducted by the Office of Early Examination, known as the OEE. The scope of the GPPH agreement also includes the PCT-PPH, which requires the acceptance of the results of preliminary evaluations and search reports conducted by the Contracting Party as the competent office of the PCT.
• The accelerated patent examination procedure between the PPO and China and Taiwan should follow the PPH bilateral agreement.
• The accelerated patent examination procedures between the PPO and the United States, Japan and South Korea are no longer subject to the PPH bilateral agreement, but should follow the GPPH procedure.