CNIPA-ARIPO PPH Pilot Program

Collaborative initiative between CNIPA and ARIPO

Following the discussions between the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the CNIPA-ARIPO PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) Pilot Program, a collaborative initiative between both entities has been implemented.

The program is designed to accelerate the examination of patent applications in both regions, leveraging the work that has already been done by one patent office to streamline the process in the other. In accordance with ARIPO, “the program enables an applicant who has received a positive outcome on patent claims from one participating office to request expedited examination of corresponding claims in another participating office. This allows the applicant to obtain a patentability decision in the second office more quickly.”

The purpose of the pilot program is to accelerate patent processing by using work-sharing mechanisms between the two offices, to increase efficiency in examining patent applications, helping applicants to obtain patents faster in ARIPO member states and China and to enhance cooperation in intellectual property protection between Africa and China.

Program Overview

The pilot program begins with the filing of the application in either CNIPA or ARIPO. If an applicant has received a favorable examination from one of the offices, they may request accelerated examination in the other office under the PPH. For instance, if a patent is granted in CNIPA, the applicant can request expedited examination in ARIPO using the results from CNIPA’s examination process, and vice versa. To qualify for the PPH, the claims in the application filed in the second office must sufficiently correspond to those that were granted in the first office. The claims can be slightly modified, however, the core invention should be the same.

Requirements

a) The application (including PCT national phase application) is an application which validly claims priority under the Paris Convention or is a PCT national phase application without

priority claim or is an application which validly claims priority under the Paris Convention to the PCT application.

b) At least one corresponding application exists in one of the offices which has one or more claims that are determined to be patentable/allowable by the other office.

c) All claims in the application (for which an accelerated examination under the PPH pilot program is requested), as originally filed or as amended, must sufficiently correspond to one or more of those claims determined to be patentable/allowable in the other office.

d) The application must have been published in the receiving office.

e) The application must have entered substantive examination stage in the receiving office.

f) The application must be an electronic patent application.

Documents to be submitted

a) Copies of all the office actions (which are relevant to substantial examination for patentability) which were issued for the corresponding application and the translation thereof¹.

b) Copies of all claims determined to be patentable/allowable by the office and translations thereof.

c) Copies of references cited by either the ARIPO or CNIPA examiner.

Cases meeting requirements

In accordance with the Procedures to File a Request to the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) for Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the CNIPA and the ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organization) it is possible to determine the situations in which a case shall meet the requirements²:

Benefits of the Program

The benefits of the program are clear and may be summarized in the following points:

• Faster patent examination: there will be a reduction of time in getting a patent decision, as one of the offices will benefit from the decision of the other office.
• Cost savings: by using the examination work done in one office, the other office shall streamline the review, saving costs for both the applicant and the patent office.
• Improved patent quality: earlier search and examination results will improve the patent quality and consistency can be enhanced.

Duration of the program

The pilot period of this PPH pilot program will commence on June 8, 2024, and shall be valid for the duration of five years and ending on June 7, 2029. The pilot period may be extended, if necessary, until the CNIPA and ARIPO receive enough PPH requests to adequately assess the feasibility of PPH program.

Conclusion

This cooperation between the offices is no surprise, considering that Chinese applicants continue to be on the top of the applicants to file applications in ARIPO, even though ARIPO has faced a decrease in the number of applications filed in 2023 compared to the year of 2022.

In accordance with ARIPO’s annual report (2023) “a total of 806 patent applications were filed in 2023 compared to 873 filed in 2022, representing an -8% decrease. The monthly average was 67 applications per month. The minimal drop in patent application filings may be attributed to economic headwinds in the global West. The economic downturns and uncertainties in these regions may have led businesses and inventors to reduce their patent filings abroad. The Secretariat has put in place measures to attract more filings from the Asian market, especially China and India, to remedy the situation.”

We can assume that this cooperation is one of the measures to attract more filing from the Asian market and the results of this cooperation will certainly be very promising.

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¹ Either Chinese or English is acceptable as translation language.
² https://www.newaripo.online/storage/media/1719658407_Attachment%203%20Procedures%20to%20File%20a%20Request%20to%20CNIPA%20for%20Patent%20Prosecution%20Highway%20Pilot%20Program%20between%20CNIPA%20and%20ARIPO.pdf