According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program between the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) of Bahrain, the China-Bahrain PPH pilot program officially starts on May 1, 2024, and will run for five years, until April 30, 2029.
After the launch of the China-Bahrain PPH pilot program, applicants can file PPH requests to the CNIPA according to the "Procedures to File a Request to the CNIPA for PPH Program between the CNIPA and the MOIC". Similarly, applicants can file PPH requests to the MOIC following the "Procedure under PPH pilot programme for filing request to Patent Office at Foreign Trade & Industrial Property Directorate – MOIC – Kingdom of Bahrain".
PPH is a fast track linking patent examination duties of different countries or regions, allowing patent examination authorities to speed up patent examination by work sharing. Since the initiation of the first PPH program in November 2011, the CNIPA has built PPH ties with patent authorities of 32 countries or regions. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)
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