by Dennis Crouch
I’ve been looking at some of the fastest issued US patents. A majority of the fastest issued are part of the Global IP5 Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot that gives substantial weight to patent allowances from a partner country. A substantial number of Chinese applications are using this program to great effect — especially when coupled with the remarkable speed of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).
The PPH program allows applicants who receive a ruling from a first patent office that at least one claim is patentable to request accelerated prosecution of corresponding claims in a second patent office. The program aims to reduce examination workload and speed patent grants through work-sharing between patent offices.
The following are a couple of new patents that I picked out from the many available. Both patents moved from filing to issuance in less than four months (including receiving and responding to a non-final rejection).
One illustrative case is U.S. Patent No. 12,192,467 assigned to Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The timeline tells the story:
- Chinese priority filing: January 22, 2024
- Chinese patent issuance: July 29, 2024 (6 months filing to issuance in China)
- U.S. application filed: September 25, 2024
- First Office Action: October 25, 2024 (rejected for 112 issues — potentially translation issues)
- Applicant’s Response: October 25, 2024
- Notice of Allowance: November 20, 2024
- Patent Issued: January 7, 2025 (<4 months filing to issuance in USA)
The entire U.S. prosecution took less than four months from filing to issuance – including time to receive and respond to a non-final rejection focusing on Section 112 issues. A parallel case, U.S. Patent No. 12,188,794 issued to Changchun Institute of Optics, followed a similarly expedited timeline.
Both applications were handled by patent agents at Westbridge IP, who demonstrated skilled handling of the PPH process with a clean record before the USPTO. While both applicants qualified for small entity status, it’s worth noting that the PPH program itself carries no additional USPTO fees.
The combination of CNIPA’s rapid examination timeline, relatively low costs, and the PPH program’s benefits has created a particularly efficient path to U.S. patent protection for Chinese companies.