EPO and Colombia Make their Patent Prosecution Highway Agreement Permanent

The Patent Prosecution Highway facilitates a rapid conciliation of the European Patent Office's (EPO) work results during the patent examination stage in a number of countries. Through a number of bilateral agreements with the IP offices of China, Korea, Japan and USA, among others, patent applicants benefit from a rapid examination stage when extending the geographical scope of the patent under scrutiny in the regions of interest. The signatories of this programme obtain EPO’s documentation as the Office of Earlier Examination (OEE), consisting of search reports, written opinions and international preliminary reports on patentability.

On 1 October 2022, the EPO and the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Colombia agreed to permanently extend their agreement on the PPH fast-track programme, proving the successful completion of the pilot programme started in October 2019.