Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a work-sharing program that accelerates the examination of a patent application in a country’s patent office (the Office of Later Examination, or OLE) by relying on the search and examination results from another country’s patent office (the Office of Earlier Examination, or OEE).

On 18th January 2025, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) started testing the PPH program with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). The pilot program of the two offices will run for a period of two years. IPOS and MyIPO will assess the outcomes of this pilot program to decide on its full implementation, suspension or termination if necessary.

To meet the requirements of the IPOS-MyIPO PPH program, a corresponding or related patent application(s) for the same invention must be filed in IPOS and MyIPO. Also, the corresponding or related patent application(s) must have claim(s) that are determined to be allowable or patentable by the IPOS or MyIPO.

IPOS as an OLE

A PPH request must be filed before patent examination begins, when filing with IPOS, together with the relevant PPH documents, including a copy of all office actions of the MyIPO application being relied upon, a copy of the claims held allowable or patentable by the MyIPO, and a claim correspondence table.

In the event that a request for search and/or examination has already been filed, a PPH request can still be filed, provided that examination of the patent application has not commenced. IPOS should be informed of the intention via email, and the applicant will be advised whether the application is eligible for PPH. If so, IPOS will issue a letter requiring submission of the PPH documents if no claim amendments are needed, or an invitation to amend if claim amendments need to be filed along with the PPH documents such that all the latest claims on record of IPOS sufficiently correspond to one or more claims found allowable or patentable by the MyIPO.

IPOS as an OEE

There are certain highlighted benefits if search and examination results of IPOS, as an OEE, are utilized. For example, in 2023, the average grant rate of IPOS across IP offices, or within its jurisdiction, was generally over 90%. Moreover, IPOS aims to issue the first office action approximately 10 months after the PPH request is made. Also, approximately 70% of patents are granted after the first office action issued by IPOS. Further, IPOS is flexible in terms of timing, allowing applicants to submit the PPH request even if the request for search and/or examination has already been filed, provided examination has not commenced.

Overall, both the patent offices and the applicants are expected to benefit mutually from this pilot program, decreasing the turnaround time of patent examination and the number of office actions while improving the search and examination results, thereby increasing the grant rate and expediting the issuance of patent certificates .