Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program and Accelerated Examination
The Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program is part of the Accelerated Examination System. The Accelerated Examination System allows applicants to accelerate examination of their applications if the applicants file a “Statement for Accelerated Examination.” The Statement needs to include information about the prior art and an explanation on how the claimed inventions differ from the prior art.
The Highway Pilot Program allows the applicants to file a Statement for Accelerated Examination in a simpler form. When using the Highway Pilot Program, applicants do not need to explain the difference between the claimed inventions and the prior art. Instead, applicants provide copies of all the office actions issued in specific countries. Under certain conditions, applicants can even omit submission of these copies.
However, the Highway Pilot Program is available only for applications claiming Paris Convention priority based on application(s) filed and examined in the United States of America, Korea, or the United Kingdom.
Furthermore, to use the Highway Pilot Program, the currently pending claims need to correspond to the claims that have been determined to be allowable by the patent office in one of the above countries. If the Japanese claims do not correspond to such allowable claims, it is necessary to amend the Japanese claims so that they do correspond.