Recently, IP Australia officially announced its accession to the "PPH eXtra Initiative." As one of the participating offices in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), Australia's participation in this initiative aims to provide patent applicants and their representatives with clearer and more predictable information regarding examination timeframes for PPH requests.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a global fast-track mechanism. If an applicant has obtained at least one allowable claim in one participating office, they may request accelerated examination in another participating office based on that result. The PPH effectively shortens patent examination waiting times and is particularly suitable for enterprises with cross-border portfolio needs.
The PPH eXtra Initiative, which Australia has now joined, represents a transparency upgrade built upon the existing PPH framework. Under this initiative, participating offices commit to publishing target processing timeframes for PPH applications and disclosing the average actual time taken to issue first examination reports and subsequent examination actions. This information will be published annually, enabling applicants to compare actual examination speeds of PPH pathways across different countries more intuitively and to make more informed decisions when formulating international patent strategies.
As of June 1, 2026, the patent offices participating in the PPH eXtra Initiative include a total of eight countries: Australia, Austria, China, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Finland, and the United States. According to the preliminary data released under this initiative, the target average examination periods for PPH requests across participating offices are as follows: the target period for both first and subsequent office actions is within three months (with the exception of the United States, where the target for first office actions is within six months). The actual average periods disclosed by participating offices are as follows:
Office | Pendency Type | Target Average Pendency | Actual Average Pendency |
APO
(Austria) | First Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
CNIPA
(China) | First Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
ILPO
(Israel) | First Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months |
|
IP Australia
(Australia) | First Office Action | Within 3 months | 0.6 months (2025) |
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months | 0.5 months (2025) |
JPO
(Japan) | First Office Action | Within 3 months | 2.4 months (2025) |
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months | 1.5 months (2025) |
MOIP
(Korea) | First Office Action | Within 3 months | 2.01 months (Aug.2024-Jul.2025) |
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months | 2.97 months (Aug.2024-Jul.2025) |
PRH
(Finland) | First Office Action | Within 3 months | 2.3 months (2024) |
Subsequent Office Action | Within 3 months | 0.7 months (2024) |
USPTO
(USA) | First Office Action | Within 6 months | 2.7 months (2024) |
Subsequent Office Action*1 | Within 3 months | 0.9 months (2024) |
*1 : Second office action only.
Although Austria, China, and Israel have joined the initiative, they have not yet published actual average periods due to its recent launch. Based on the available data, actual examination efficiency across offices generally exceeds the target periods, with Australia demonstrating particularly fast processing speeds of less than one month for both first and subsequent office actions.
Sources:
1. https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/news-and-community/news/pph-extra-initiative#q=PPH%20eXtra&e=0
2. https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/toppage/pph-portal/pph-extra.html#:~:text=PPH%20eXtra%20is%20a%20self-initiated%20initiative%20aimed%20at,predictability%20of%20the%20examination%20timing%20for%20PPH%20applications.
鄂公网安备 42010402001546号