For the purpose of expediting the Indian patent prosecution timelines, Rule 24 C of the Patents Amendment Rules, 2003, which provided for expedited examination of patent applications, was amended by the Patents Amendment Rules, 2019 which were notified by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on September 17, 2019 (‘Patents Amendment Rules’). Under the Patents Amendment Rules, the facility for availing expedited examination was extended to all those applicants who are eligible under an arrangement for processing a patent application pursuant to an agreement between the Indian Patent Office (‘IPO’) and a foreign patent office.

However, it was only on November 20, 2019, that the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for adoption of Patent Prosecution Highway programme (‘PPHP’) between the IPO and various other foreign patent offices. Pursuant thereto, the PPHP between IPO and the Japan Patent Office (‘JPO’) executed on November 21, 2019 is the first such pilot programme which will be valid for an initial period of 3 years.

The PPHP intends to reduce prosecution timelines, enable faster disposal of patent applications, improve the quality of search and examination of the patent applications at the IPO and also provide an opportunity for Indian inventors to get accelerated examination of their patent applications in Japan.