On July 6, 2015 the Estonian Patent Office (EPA) joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) pilot program. The GPPH pilot allows patent applicants to request accelerated examination at any of the offices involved in the pilot if their claims have been found to be acceptable by any of the other offices involved in the pilot. This program enables the applicants to receive patents faster and in a more rational way and for Office of the Later Examination (OLE) to make use of the work already carried out by the Office of the Earlier Examination (OEE) reducing the workload and optimizing use of resources.
All additional information relating GPPH pilot status and procedures are available on the GPPH Portal Site.
In order to request for accelerated examination with the EPA, the following requirements must be fulfilled:
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The application to EPA as OLE must be a national application, corresponding to an application which the OEE has examined, e.g. based on priority in accordance with the Paris Agreement from a prior application or a PCT application referring to a corresponding application filed with the OEE. Both the OEE and the OLE application shall have the same earliest date (filing date or priority date).
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The OEE has determined one or more claims of the prior application to be patentable.
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All claims on file, as originally filed or amended, for examination under the GPPH must sufficiently correspond to one or more of those claims indicated as patentable/ allowable by the OEE.
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Final decision on the later application has not been issued by the EPA acting as OLE.
A request for GPPH in Estonia must contain the following documents:
- A completed GPPH request form.
- Copies of letters concerning the examination of the OEE (if documents are not available in the Dossier Access System or PATENTSCOPE). The letters must be in a language accepted by the EPA as the OLE.
- A copy of the claims which the OEE has considered to be patentable, in a language accepted by the EPA as the OLE (if documents are not available in the Dossier Access System or PATENTSCOPE).
- Copies of the references cited by the OEE.
- A completed claims correspondence table (included in a GPPH request form).
- PPH is free of charge at the EPA
To apply for an accelerated examination please complete the relevant form:
IP Australia (IP Australia)
Austrian Patent Office (APO)
Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI-BR)
Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO)
Estonian Patent Office (EPA)
Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH)
German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)
Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO)
Icelandic Patent Office (IPO)
Israel Patent Office (ILPO)
Japan Patent Office (JPO)
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)
Nordic Patent Institute (NPI)
Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO)
Polish Patent Office (PPO)
Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI)
Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT)
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)
New Zealand Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ)
Colombian Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC)
Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO)
Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV)
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Visegrád Patent Institute (VPI)
The National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Peru (INDECOPI)
National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile (INAPI)
Last updated: 08.07.2024