The Patent Prosecution Highway in Conjunction with the National Institute of Industrial Property of France (INPI)
Under this pilot program of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), an applicant who receives a positive ruling on a patent claim(s) from either the National Institute of Industrial Property of France (INPI) or the USPTO may request accelerated prosecution of corresponding claim(s) in the other office. The PPH allows the applicant to obtain a patentability decision in the office of later examination (OLE) more quickly. Furthermore, the PPH promotes patent application processing efficiency by allowing the examiner in the OLE to reuse the search and examination results from the office of earlier examination, thereby reducing workload and duplication of effort.
As of May 25, 2010, the USPTO has eliminated the fee for the petition to make special under the PPH programs.
The trial period for the current PPH pilot program between the USPTO and the INPI commenced on December 1, 2021, and is scheduled to terminate on November 30, 2024. PPH requests based on INPI work product made on or before November 30, 2024, will be treated as timely unless a notice of termination is published earlier.
Memorandum of Understanding
Patent Prosecution Highway Requests to USPTO
Fillable Form SB/20FR (Patent Prosecution Highway Request Form) [PDF]
Patent Prosecution Highway Requests to INPI
Information on making a request at the INPI
Inquiries
For any inquiries regarding filing a PPH request to the USPTO, please contact the Office of Petitions at PPHfeedback@uspto.gov.
For any inquiries regarding filing a PPH request to the INPI, please contact John Koeppen at john.koeppen@uspto.gov.