The Eurasian Patent Prosecution Highway program (EA-PPH program) will enter into force on January 1, 2025, and will be effective for the Eurasian Patent Office and four national patent offices of the EAPO Member States, which signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Eurasian Patent Prosecution Highway Program on September 9, 2024, namely the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
The EA-PPH program has been drafted in order to establish a common information and examination space in accordance with the EAPO Development Program for 2023-2028 and to provide an effective tool for cooperation between examiners from the EAPO and national patent offices by mutual use of available patent examination results.
The EA-PPH program provides for an accelerated examination procedure in the EAPO on the basis of a positive report on the patentability of an invention granted by the national office on the corresponding national application. Similarly, such a request may be filed with the national office in respect of a national application provided that the EAPO has granted a positive report on the patentability of the corresponding Eurasian application.
The EA-PPH program is based on the principles and approaches widely used in the Patent Prosecution Highway programs.
The EA-PPH program stipulates that filing a request shall also be initiated by positive reports on the patentability of the invention in the relevant international applications prepared by the EAPO or Rospatent as International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) procedure.
The EA-PPH program is the first PPH program in the world to be implemented between the regional office and patent offices of states that are all members of this regional organization. In this regard, in addition to the traditional objectives achieved by the offices participating in PPH programs (such as reduction of duplication of patent search and examination, reduction of costs for offices and applicants), the EA-PPH program harmonizes approaches to substantive examination across the region and the exchange of best examination practices across Eurasia.
