PPH Brazil And Japan To Improve Patent Examination

In October 2016, the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services entered an agreement with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to start a working group to analyze ways for both countries to cooperate and speed up the examination of patent application pending examination.

One possible way to cooperate is implementing a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) between the countries involved, which is a system that both Japan and Brazil have been using with other countries including the United States, as we reported last previously http://www.moellerip.com/patent-prosecution-highway-between-brazil-and-usa/.

Under a PPH, subject to certain conditions the member countries benefit from the results of the substantive examinations carried out by other member countries, which saves public and private resources and has been the most popular strategy chosen so far to cooperate in this field.

According to the press released by the Brazilian PTO, the working group is expected to find the best way to increase the quality and speed of substantive examinations while avoiding the duplication of work with other foreign PTOs. It will also reduce workload problems particularly for...