Chinese Patent Office and NBPR sign a co-operation agreement

Chinese Patent Office (SIPO) and the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) have signed a letter of intent on bilateral co-operation. Plans are also afoot to sign a PPH agreement (Patent Prosecution Highway) next autumn. The PPH is a bilateral agreement between two patent offices. It provides applicants with fast-track patent examination procedures to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently.

Over the next few years, more inventions will be patented in China than anywhere else in the world. In 2011, half a million patent applications were filed in China, of which more than 1,000 were filed by Finnish businesses. The PPH agreement would improve the position of Finnish patent applicants.