The USPTO implemented the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) back in May of 2010. It’s been around for a while but sometimes a forgotten tool in some technology fields. The PPH is a work-sharing arrangement between national and regional patent offices enabling an applicant who receives a positive ruling on patent claims from one participating office to request accelerated prosecution of corresponding claims in another participating office. The objective is to save time and money. For example, for FY22 (Oct 2021 – Sept 2022), in participating patent offices with at least 100 petitions filed,[1] the average pendency in days from petition to a First Action was 144 (roughly 4.8 months).[2] By comparison, the USPTO First Office Action Pendency averages about 16 months.[3] Currently, there are 55 national and regional patent offices countries participating in the Global PPH. See https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/network.html.
