China and Canada signed PPH

On August 27, 2015, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) announced a three year extension of the CIPO-SIPO PPH pilot project to August 31, 2018. No changes to the requirements or processes of the CIPO-SIPO PPH pilot project were made. 

The CIPO-SIPO PPH pilot project appears to be an under-utilized program. As of June 2015, CIPO has received a total of 41 patent applications that have requested PPH examination based on the prosecution results of a counterpart Chinese patent application. As of June 2015, SIPO has received a total of 8 patent applications that have requested PPH examination based on the prosecution results of a counterpart Canadian patent application. The extension of the CIPO-SIPO PPH pilot project until August 31, 2018 gives inventors in both China and Canada an extended opportunity to protect their innovations in both countries at lower patent prosecution costs.