A relatively new convention provides an excellent method of accelerating US patents.
The most important jurisdiction for patent filers is the United States of America. It is the largest market for many products, and a US patent, being a federal patent which covers all US states, is very cheap compared to the huge market it covers.
However, until a US patent reaches examination, you can wait a few years.
We believe that the most cost-effective and successful way to change this is by using a relatively unknown convention called the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). According to the PPH, one can request to advance in line a patent filed in the US, if such a patent is based on a UK granted patent’s priority date, and vice versa.
Since reaching examination in the UK can be very fast (usually within 4 months since the moment of filing the search request), this can be a very effective way to accelerate the US patent.
This option is not practical for US applicants, as a US applicant must file in the US first to obtain a foreign filing license, but for non-US applicants (such as UK applicants), filing in the UK and then in the US can be an excellent opportunity to enjoy a “skip the line” mechanism.
Same applies for the UK and Japan, as a PPH convention also exists between these two countries.
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