Patents pending in Finland fast-tracked in Spain

The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) and the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) have agreed to commence a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program starting on March 1st, 2011. Under the PPH pilot program, an applicant receiving a decision from the NBPR that at least one claim in an application filed in Finland is allowable/patentable may request that a corresponding application filed in the SPTO be granted special status and be advanced out of turn for examination.

The PPH pilot program is not only limited to the utilization of search and examination results of national applications between cross filings under the Paris Convention but also allows applicants who have received a PCT product (a written opinion, for example) to file a request to participate in the PCT-PPH pilot program in a corresponding NBPR application.

The NBPR is the first patent office in Europe with which the SPTO signs a PPH agreement.

Go to PPH pages

Further details:
NBPR, Patents and Innovations Line
Email: firstname.lastname(at)prh.fi

Pekka Launis
Vice President
Tel. +358 0(9) 6939 5443

Juha Rekola
Development Director
Tel. +358 0(9) 6939 5504

Matti Pasanen
Principal Patent Examiner
Tel: +358 9 6939 5843