专利审查高速公路（PPH）v.加快审查

There are two options for expediting examination, PPH and Accelerated Examination. In either option, there is no office fee and office actions (OAs) are typically issued two months from the expedition or a response to the last office action. The applicant must respond to the OAs within three months without extension for continuing the expedited examination.
　加快审查有两种选择：PPH和加快审查。每一种选择都无官费，且OA通常在加快或答复上一次OA后的两个月发出。申请必须在三个月内答复该OA且不能延长连续进行加快审查。

A. PPH
PPH can be requested until the first Office Action is issued in Japan, if an allowance has already been issued for a counterpart application in a contracting country.
　如果相关申请已经在签约国家授权，则可以在日本发出次OA之前请求PPH。

1. Documents Required所需文件
– Copies of all Office Actions (OAs) issued by a patent office that made the allowance;
　由做出授权的专利局发出的全部OA的复本；
– Japanese or English translation of the OAs; OA　的日文或英文翻译
– References including non-patent literature cited in the OAs;
　在OA中引用的包含非专利文献的参考文献；
– Allowed claims of the counterpart application;
　相关申请的授权后权利要求；
– Japanese or English translation of the allowed claims; and
　授权后权利要求的日文或英文翻译；以及
– An amendment to substantially conform the Japanese claims to the allowed claims
　日文权利要求的修改，以便与授权后权利要求相一致

2. Our Service Fees 我们的服务费
JPY 55,000～120,000, depending on the number of amended claims 根据修改权项数量

B. Accelerated Examination 加快审查
With this system, the examination can be accelerated, even if counterpart applications have not been allowed. 通过本机制可加快审查，即使相关申请尚未授权。

1. Documents Required所需文件
　- Some prior art references; and
　　些现有技术文献；以及
　- Concise explanation of the differences of the claimed invention over prior art
　　所请求发明与现有技术差异的简要说明；
The applicant has no duty to disclose all known prior art. Showing two prior art references is typically sufficient. The concise explanation can be as short as several sentences.
　申请人有义务公开所有已知的现有技术。通常记载两篇现有技术文献即可。简要说明可以非常短，几句话即可。

2. Our Service Fees 我们的服务费
JPY 50,000 (fixed) （是固定的）

C. Our Suggestions 我们的建议
The allowance rate does not increase by adopting PPH¹. The Japan Patent Office still examines patentability of the application and issues a Notice of Reasons of Rejection, if relevant prior art is found. Therefore, PPH merely serves to expedite examination. This is different from PPH practices in other countries, as seen from the below bar graph extracted from the JPO website.
　采取PPH后的授权率并未增加。日本专利局如果发现了相关现有技术，仍然审查申请的专利性并发出拒绝理由通知书。因此，PPH仅仅是加快了审查。这与PPH在其他国家的实践不同，参见从JPO网站上摘录的下图：

PPH results made between July and December of 2015
　在2015年7月至12月做出的PPH结果
*1 Figures:Including the number of PCT-PPH *1 数据:包括PCT-PPH的数
*2 Period:Jan.-Dec.2014 *2 期间: 2014年1月-12月
*3 Period:Apr.2013-Mar.2014 *3 期间: 2013年4月-2014年3月
*4 Period:Jan.-Dec.2015 *4 期间: 2015年1月-12月

The Accelerated Examination is less expensive and the applicant can amend claims differently, after considering new references in Japan. This may lead to broader protection. Therefore, we generally suggest “Acceleration of Examination.”
　加快审查更便宜且申请人可以在考虑了日本新参考文献后修改成不同的权利要求。这实现更宽的保护。因此，我们通常建议“加快审查”。

Because “Acceleration of Examination” is simple and effective, this system with the resulting allowance can be used for requesting PPH in other countries as well.
　由于“加快审查”简单且有效，通过该机制获得授权后也可以用于在其他国家请求PPH。

If you need any additional information, please feel free to contact us.
　如果您需要额外信息，请联系我们。

Best regards,
Aki Ryuka（龍華明裕）