The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) says it has joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) pilot programme.

The GPPH is an arrangement between intellectual property offices that allows patent applicants to request accelerated examination, where one or more claims of a corresponding application have been found to be allowable by another GPPH IP office.

IPONZ says there is no additional fee for requesting expedited examination under the GPPH. However, the patent application must meet certain requirements before the request can be made.