Patents pending in Finland fast-tracked in Austria

The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) has launched a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) cooperation programme with the Austrian Patent Office on 1 July 2010. Under the PPH, Finnish patent applicants can refer to the examination results they have received on their national and PCT applications at the NBPR and request expedited processing of their applications at the Austrian Patent Office.

In addition to Austria, PPH projects have been previously launched with the patent offices of Japan, USA, South Korea and Hungary. The PPH co-operation between the NBPR and the Austrian Patent Office starts as a one-year extendable trial period. During the trial period the two offices gauge the interest of applicants and study the possible positive effect of the PPH on quality and efficiency.

Under the PPH, a Finnish applicant can apply for fast-tracking at the Austrian Patent Office if the claims in their corresponding national or PCT application have been deemed acceptable by the NBPR. Detailed instructions on how to request accelerated processing are available on the NBPR website.

Go to PPH pages at the NBPR website

Further details:
Pekka Launis
Vice President
Email: firstname.lastname(at)prh.fi
Tel. +358 0(9) 6939 5443

Juha Rekola
Development Director
Email: firstname.lastname(at)prh.fi
Tel. +358 0(9) 6939 5504

Matti Pasanen
Senior Examiner
Email: firstname.lastname(at)prh.fi
Tel.+3580(9) 6939 5843