USPTO Terminates Global Patent Prosecution Highway with RospatentMarch 14, 2022

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today, effective March 11, 2022, that it will no longer grant requests to participate in the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) at the USPTO when such requests are based on work performed by Rospatent (Russian Patent Office) as an Office of Earlier Examination under the GPPH. In addition, in pending cases in which, prior to March 11, 2022, the USPTO granted special status under the GPPH to applications based on work performed by Rospatent, the USPTO will remove that status and return those applications to the regular processing and examination queue, meaning that they will no longer be treated as GPPH applications at the USPTO.

The GPPH is a tool that speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating intellectual property offices. Under the GPPH, participating patent offices have agreed that when an applicant receives a final ruling from a first patent office that at least one claim is allowed, the applicant may request fast track examination of corresponding claim(s) in a corresponding patent application that is pending in a second patent office. GPPH leverages fast-track examination procedures already in place among participating patent offices to allow applicants to reach final disposition of a patent application more quickly and efficiently than standard examination processing. There is no fee under the GPPH programs. If the GPPH request is granted, the examiner will generally examine the application within 2 to 3 months from the grant of the GPPH request provided the application has completed all its pre-exam processing and is ready for examination.

Luke T. Mohrhauser is a Patent Attorney and Chair of the Mechanical and Electrical Practice Groups at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. For additional information please visit www.ipmvs.com or contact Luke directly via email at luke.mohrhauser@ipmvs.com.