On 6 June 2024, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced the launch of the China-Africa Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO).

The effect of this is that an Applicant may request accelerated substantive examination of an ARIPO patent application based on a corresponding Chinese patent application having one or more claims that have been determined to be patentable by CNIPA. The PPH commenced on 8 June 2024 and will extend for five years to 7 June 2029.

CNIPA has to date established PPH cooperation with 32 countries or regions.

ARIPO already provides for Expedited/Accelerated Examination. A request for expedited/accelerated examination may be filed at ARIPO, subject to:

  • the application relates to a single invention and/or the applicant agrees to the examining division only considering the first identified invention;
  • the applicant agrees to respond immediately to any clarifications sought by the examining division;
  • the application does not become abandoned and reinstated before the conclusion of the examination; and
  • a search report is provided based on claims corresponding to the claims of the ARIPO application and which is either of the same scope or narrower in scope than the claims in the ARIPO application.

Since our announcement, Spoor & Fisher has filed the first application under the ARIPO – CNIPA Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot programme.

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