The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will enter in its second phase, beginning from May 10, 2018, to April 30, 2020. The measure was published in the BPTO’s official Bulletin nº 2470, last Tuesday (May 8th).
The area of information technology was included in the project, besides technologies already contemplated (oil, gas, and petrochemical).
The current phase will also allow 50 patent applications to be included in the priority list of PPH from the preliminary opinion obtained by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
During the period of its validity, a total of 200 applications will be accepted in each country. The applicant may require one PPH application per month, except during the last 30 days of the program.
By PPH, Brazilians can use the result of the examination of the patent application in the BPTO to accelerate the analysis in the United States and vice versa. Upon entering the program, the BPTO has issued a final decision in 180 days, on average.
*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. The original publication (in Portuguese) can be found here