Launch of PPH pilot with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) commenced a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the Germann Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) on July 1, 2010. The duration of the pilot program is two year. The basic concept of the PPH is that where the office of first filing (¡°OFF¡±) has assessed the patentability of a patent application, the office of second filing (¡°OSF¡±) ensures that the applicant enjoys the benefit of an accelerated examination for the corresponding application. The PPH permits each office to benefit from the work previously done by the other office thereby reducing the workload and improving the patent quality, and enables applicants to have the corresponding application filed in the OSF advanced out of turn for examination. KIPO is currently enforcing the PPH with Japan, the U.S., Denmark, the U.K., Canada, Russia, and Finland. With the enforcement of the PPH with Germany, the countries where PPH is running are expanded to a total of 8 countries. <Obtained from the website of KIPO (http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/eng); posted on July 7, 2010>