Upon a joint decision by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the CNIPA-EAPO PPH pilot program will be extended for an indefinite time period, starting on April 1, 2023.

For the CNIPA-EAPO PPH pilot after the extension, the PCT-PPH cooperation mode will be added on the basis of the original conventional PPH cooperation. The applicants on both sides can take advantage of the work products in the PCT international phase to file PPH requests with the CNIPA or the EAPO. For the requirements for and procedures of participating in the present pilot program, reference can be made to the updated version of CNIPA-EAPO PPH Guidelines.

PPH is an expedited patent examination passageway between different countries or regions, which accelerates the patent examination process by virtue of shared work between patent examination organs. Since the launch of the first PPH pilot in November 2011, CNIPA has successively established PPH cooperation with patent examination organs in 30 countries or regions.

The EAPO encompasses a plurality of countries in the Eurasian region. Upon the grant, the Eurasian patent enters into force in the signatory countries from the date of announcement. The extension of the CNIPA-EAPO PPH pilot program will further promote the intellectual property cooperation in countries and regions along the "Belt and Road” and serve the Chinese and Eurasian innovation subjects to accelerate the patent examination process.

Related Link: PPH Guidelines of China National Intellectual Property Administration and Eurasian Patent Organization

(Source: website of CNIPA)