KIPO and IMPI to Execute a Patent Prosecution Highway The KIPO-IMPI PPH was agreed upon by KIPO Commissioner Soo-won Lee and IMPI Director General Rodrigo Roque on March 23 at the signing of a comprehensive memorandum of understanding on IPR cooperation between both countries at the IMPI office in Mexico City, Mexico. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. To date, Korea has filed the 11th largest amount of patent applications in Mexico. With the execution of the PPH, close cooperation on IP rights between Korea and Mexico is expected to increase following the expansion of economic and cultural exchanges. The PPH scheme uses the examination results of one office to expedite the application process in another country. The whole process will be shortened from 20 months to just a few months, and in doing so, will raise the registration rate of applications using the PPH. The execution of the PPH with Mexico is expected to shorten the application pendency period in Mexico by over three years (average 3.5 years¡æ 1 month). Furthermore, Korea¡¯s execution of a PPH with North America linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico is expected to greatly expand Korea¡¯s global business through IP strategies. Korea has executed a PPH with the United States since 2008 and with Canada since 2009. The heads of both IP offices also decided to raise awareness of IP rights among the public and small and midsized enterprises (SMEs) by holding joint seminars and exchanging information on IP rights systems and trends. Both heads discussed measures to provide development aid using IP rights and have agreed to cooperate on the ¡°One Village One Brand¡± APEC project supporting the acquisition of IP rights and development of brands for outstanding products of developing countries and ¡°IP-Xpedite¡±, the e-learning contents on IP rights developed by KIPO. The two heads also agreed to pursue a joint prior art search program in order to enhance understanding of the patent examination systems and practices of both offices. They further agreed to initiate working-level discussions to discover and pursue cooperation projects in the area of informatization for the administrative development of IP rights. <Obtained from the website of KIPO (http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/eng); posted on March 26, 2012>