Post on 27-Mar-2015
Patent Prosecution Highway Status Report and PPH metrics PCT MIA
Canberra, February 2012
Milena LonatiPrincipal Director Quality ManagementEuropean Patent Office
Eugen StohrDirector International Legal Affairs, PCTEuropean Patent Office
2/11
• Bilateral PPH pilot between the USPTO and the EPO– launch date 29 September 2008– http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20120118.html
• Bilateral PPH pilot between the JPO and the EPO– launch date 29 January 2010– http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20120118a.html
• Trilateral PCT PPH pilot – launch date 29 January 2010– http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20120119.html
• Extension and revision of EPO PPH pilot programmes – effective 29 January 2012 – all pilot programmes operational until 28 January 2014 – expansion of eligibility scope: implementation of MOTTAINAI – promotion of efficiency: implementation of self-certification of claims
PPH: the EPO pilots - current status
3/11
• JPO proposal "MOTTAINAI" : relaxation of priority requirements – so far PPH schemes based on OFF - OSF workflow– shift to OEE - OLE workflow, de-linking priority– eligibility of PPH request would depend on availability of work from a
participating office on a patent family member, regardless of • order of filing • of whether the office which provides work results is the OFF
– TIMING of EXAMINATION is crucial
• USPTO proposal "PPH 2.0": next-generation PPH framework aiming at streamlining/liberalising PPH requirements– Builds on MOTTAINAI and simplifies requirements
• relaxation of the applicable PPH documentation requirements involving inter alia the increased use of DAS and machine translation,
• harmonisation of claim correspondence concept, self-certification of claims
• establishment of a common framework to replace bilateral PPH arrangements
PPH: latest developments and future plans
4/11
• Trend: harmonisation/simplification of participation/eligibility requirements → development of a uniform, all-inclusive PPH scheme
• Issue of Quality and the potential development of a Quality Management System for PPH offices now explicitly being addressed in international discussions
• Increased use of the PCT PPH– in particular as regards work products issued by the EPO: JPO received
286 requests where EPO = ISA//IPEA; USPTO received 621 requests where EPO = ISA/IPEA (status: January 2012)
– makes PCT international phase work products (i.e. WO/ISA, IPER) a key element of global work sharing
– underlines the philosophy behind the PCT– EPO is exploring conclusion of PCT PPH arrangements with further
ISAs, in particular KIPO/SIPO
PPH: latest developments and future plans
5/11
Envisaged implementation
PPH filing at the EPO has been at a moderate level
PPH: the EPO pilots - participation figures
PPH pilot programme Requests filed at the EPO Eligible requests
Trilateral PCT - PPH (launch 29.01.2010)
209 199
Bilateral JPO – EPO (launch 29.01.2010)
394 373
Bilateral USPTO - EPO (launch 29.09.2008, revised
from 29.01.2010)
254 182
TOTAL 857 754
6/11
PPH Scheme EPO JPO USPTO Other
PCT-PPH 5.2% 27.8% 66.6% 0.4%
Bilateral PPH 4.4% 14.0% 48.6% 33.0% (of which Canada=15.6%, KIPO=11.7%)
PPH Scheme EPO JPO USPTO Other
PCT-PPH 30.4% 36.8% 3.2% 29.6% (of which KIPO=25.6%)
Bilateral PPH 1.6% 51.5% 33.1% 13.8% (of which KIPO=8.2%, UKIPO=1.8%)
(a) OSF percentage share of worldwide PPH filings
(b) OFF percentage share of worldwide PPH filings
PPH filings in the global context (at end June 2011) [1]
[1] Data from the PPH portal statistics site, 4 November 2011.http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/cgi-bin/ppph-portal/statistics/statistics.cgi
7/11
Envisaged implementation PPH: the EPO pilots - participation figures
16%
82%
8/11
Envisaged implementation PPH: the EPO pilots - number of PPH requests per month
16%
82%
9/11
Envisaged implementation PPH: the EPO pilots - technology area distribution
16%
82%
10/11
PPH pilot programme
Eligible requests Number of processed files at EPO to date
% positive EPO written opinions
Trilateral PCT-PPH
125 57 9%
Bilateral JPO-EPO
296 190 7%
Bilateral USPTO-EPO
104 55 4%
Overall 525 302 7%
PPH: the EPO pilots - outcome of first action
11/11
Population(Date of entry to regional phase >= 29.01.2010)
% with only A citations in ISR
% of the EPO searches citing no additional X, Y or E documents
PCT-PPH files with first action in European phase
75% 35%
Non-PPH accelerated search reference population weighted by ISA to match the above PCT-PPH population
33% 26%
PPH: File selection effect when filing for PPH
12/11
PPH: Pendency to first action
Population (Date of entry to regional phase >= 29.01.2010).The start date of the pendency calculation is in brackets.
Number of applications
Average pendency to first action in days
All PPH files with a first action (PPH request date) 302 143
Euro-PCT bis files with ISA JPO or USPTO from all PPH programmes with a first action (PPH request date)
199 156
Non-PPH Euro-PCT bis files with ISA JPO or USPTO and accelerated search requested and European supplementary search completed (date of request for accelerated search)
499 188
13/11
• Eligible PCT-PPH requests
– All claims at the OFF: 14.2
– Patentable claims at the OFF: 12.8
– Claims in the PPH filing at the EPO: 11.8
• Eligible JPO-EPO bilateral PPH programme requests
– All claims at the JPO: 8.9
– Patentable claims at the JPO: 8.8
– Claims in the PPH filing at the EPO: 8.7
• Eligible USPTO-EPO bilateral PPH programme requests
– All claims at the USPTO: 16.4
– Patentable claims at the USPTO: 16.4
– Claims in the PPH filing at the EPO: 11.8
Average Number of Claims by PPH Programme
14/11
PPH Evaluation: preliminary examiners' feedback
• 44% of responding examiners have cited at least some of the art or a family member listed by OFF
• 23% state that the work provided by the OFF was useful or very useful (38% PCT-PPH and 19% bilateral PPH files)
• In 13% of all responses, examiners state that having OFF work results made processing of the application efficient or very efficient: (24% PCT-PPH and 10% bilateral PPH files).
• 56% of users of the JP-EN machine translation found it to be at least 'usable'.
15/11
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