After the signing of a first PPH agreement with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in November 2020, the French Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) signed on November 8, 2021 a second PPH agreement with the USPTO. The objective is to accelerate the grant of patent applications extended under priority of a first national application.
This agreement entered into force on December 1, 2021 and allows French companies to request the expedited procedure for issuing a second patent application with the USPTO, both for a US national application under priority as well as a US national phase through PCT, provided that this second application contains claims quite similar to those of the first application examined and deemed patentable by INPI. This agreement applies reciprocally to US companies wishing to speed up the processing of their applications in France.
France is thus joining the largest global Offices such as the IP5s (United States, Japan, Korea, China and EPO), fervent users of the PPH system, and is strengthening its role within the international IP ecosystem.
Some key figures from the USPTO:
- The USPTO is the 2nd IP Office to which applicants have extended their French patent applications the most.
French applicants rank 7th among foreign patent applicants with the USPTO, of which 60% of applications were filed through the PCT route.
