Applicants who have filed a patent application in Israel and obtained favorable examination results for a corresponding application abroad may, in appropriate cases, request accelerated examination before the Israel Patent Office through the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). The Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) is a related multilateral framework. Both mechanisms use examination work already performed by another participating patent office to support an application to advance the Israeli case in the examination queue.
The legal basis for advancing examination in Israel includes Section 19A of the Israeli Patents Law, 5727-1967. The essential point for foreign patent counsel is that PPH provides a route to earlier Israeli examination, not automatic allowance. The Israeli examiner applies Israeli patent law independently and may raise objections even if corresponding claims were found patentable abroad.
This guide concerns PPH or GPPH requests filed in Israel based on foreign or PCT examination work. Applicants seeking expedited examination for different reasons, such as unauthorized exploitation of the invention, the applicant’s medical condition, unreasonable delay or the public interest, should consider the separate on-the-spot examination procedure under Section 19A. For the broader system, see Expedited Patent Examination in Israel.
What Is the Patent Prosecution Highway and Why Is It Useful in Israel?
Suppose a company has filed corresponding patent applications in Israel and the United States. During US examination, the USPTO determines that at least some claims are allowable. Rather than necessarily waiting for the ordinary position of the Israeli application in the examination queue, the applicant may examine whether those results qualify the Israeli application for PPH treatment.
The principal benefit is timing. A participating foreign office has already considered the invention, the relevant claims and prior-art documents. This information can assist the Israel Patent Office in examining a corresponding claim set sooner.
Nevertheless, a favorable result abroad does not bind the Israeli examiner. Israeli novelty, inventive step, sufficiency of disclosure and other requirements continue to apply. It is also important to distinguish a finding that at least one claim is allowable from the mere fact that a corresponding application has been filed or searched. Filing abroad, or receiving an office action containing only objections, is not in itself sufficient for the ordinary PPH route.
PPH Versus Global PPH: Which Arrangement Applies to Israel?
PPH developed through cooperation agreements between individual patent offices. The Global Patent Prosecution Highway, or GPPH, is a multilateral arrangement allowing examination work to be used between participating offices, subject to agreed conditions and the requirements of the office where acceleration is sought.
Israel participates in the GPPH. The Japan Patent Office’s official GPPH portal, maintained by the secretariat, provides the participating-office list. Because membership and operational arrangements can change, foreign counsel should check the current list rather than rely on an older article identifying a fixed number of offices.
Not every relevant patent office participates in the GPPH. The European Patent Office, for example, has had a separate PPH arrangement with Israel. The applicable bilateral, multilateral or PCT-based route must therefore be identified by reference to the office responsible for the earlier examination work.
For the Israeli procedures and downloadable forms, see the Israel Patent Office’s PPH guidance and forms.
Requirements for an Israeli PPH or GPPH Request
To request PPH treatment in Israel, the applicant ordinarily needs a corresponding application examined by a qualifying office and evidence that at least one relevant claim was found allowable or patentable under the applicable arrangement.
An essential part of the application is claim correspondence. The Israeli claims must sufficiently correspond to the claims found allowable abroad. The requirement does not always mean identical wording, but the relationship between claim scope and the specific applicable PPH rules needs to be demonstrated.
In practice, the request normally includes a claims-correspondence table and relevant examination material, such as the foreign office actions, the claims found allowable and the prior-art references identified in the foreign examination. When documents can be retrieved by the Israeli office from official systems, applicable procedures may dispense with certain copies. Translations may be necessary for documents in languages not accepted under the relevant rules.
Because the forms and conditions differ among participating offices and arrangements, a correspondence table prepared for a foreign PPH request should not automatically be reused for Israel. The Israeli application should be checked against the current Israel Patent Office instructions before filing.
Can Favorable PCT Search and Examination Results Support Acceleration in Israel?
Yes, provided the applicable requirements are satisfied. In addition to national-office results, some PPH arrangements permit reliance on positive work products from an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority under the PCT, through a PCT-PPH route.
For example, an applicant may receive an international written opinion identifying a patentable claim and then assess whether the Israeli application can benefit from that favorable work product. It is necessary to confirm that the authority issuing the work product is covered by the relevant arrangement and that the claimed subject matter satisfies its requirements.
A PCT international application does not itself grant patent protection in Israel or elsewhere. Protection requires further proceedings in the relevant jurisdiction. See PCT National Phase Entry in Israel.
When Should a PPH Request Be Filed in the Israeli Examination Process?
The PPH route is not available at every procedural stage. The request must be filed when the Israeli application meets the applicable conditions concerning the commencement and progress of examination.
Under the Israel Patent Office’s procedural instructions, counsel should not assume the PPH route remains open once relevant substantive examination has already taken place and an examination deficiency notice has been issued.
The prudent approach is to evaluate eligibility as soon as appropriate positive results are obtained abroad, while the Israeli case is still at a stage that permits entry into the track. Counsel should also confirm that the current Israeli claims satisfy the correspondence requirement and that proposed amendments do not interfere with it.
The deadline for entering the Israeli national phase of a PCT application and the point at which an Israeli PPH request may be filed are separate matters. There is no universal rule that a PPH request must be submitted at the 30- or 31-month PCT national-phase deadline.
How Quickly Will an Israeli Patent Application Be Examined After PPH Approval?
The purpose of PPH is to bring examination forward, not to guarantee grant within a prescribed period. Israeli Patent Office publications have described a target of beginning examination within three months of approval of the PPH request or receipt of the reply to the Section 18 notice, whichever is later.
Israel also participates in PPH eXtra, an initiative under which participating offices publish target and actual examination pendencies. As reported by the Japan Patent Office in 2026, Israel’s target average pendency was within three months for a first office action following a PPH request and within three months for a subsequent office action after the applicant’s reply.
These are targets for examination actions, not individual guarantees, and they should not be presented to clients as promised grant dates. The Israeli examiner may still cite prior art, request amendments or refuse the application if the Patents Law’s requirements are not met.
Is There an Additional Official Fee for a PPH Request in Israel?
According to the Israel Patent Office’s official published PPH guidance, no separate official expedited-examination fee is charged merely for filing a PPH request. The Office states that this has applied since 12 January 2013 following the entry into force of Section 19A.
That does not make the patent application free of government or professional fees. Filing, prosecution, responses to office actions and other stages remain subject to the applicable requirements and charges. Other forms of on-the-spot examination may be subject to different fee rules.
The official Israel Patent Office service page for expedited patent examination describes the PPH, on-the-spot and green application tracks.
When Is a Different Acceleration Route Preferable?
When no qualifying positive foreign examination result is available, an ordinary PPH request may not be possible. Section 19A provides alternative grounds for an applicant to seek earlier examination, including advanced age or medical condition, unauthorized exploitation of the claimed invention, unreasonable delay, public interest and particular circumstances that justify acceleration.
Green patent applications may be prioritized under a separate procedure where the invention contributes to environmental improvement, subject to the Israel Patent Office’s requirements.
These tracks involve different eligibility criteria. The mere fact that an invention is commercially urgent does not replace the requirement for positive foreign work product under the PPH route; equally, an applicant satisfying the PPH conditions does not need to present a separate personal or commercial hardship ground.
Should the Applicant Narrow Israeli Claims to Obtain PPH Acceleration?
Before filing an Israeli PPH request, counsel should assess whether the claims found allowable abroad offer the desired commercial protection in Israel.
Sometimes a foreign patent office has allowed only narrowly limited claims. Seeking expedited examination in Israel by adopting a correspondingly narrow claim set may improve scheduling but can reduce the protection the applicant could otherwise seek through ordinary Israeli prosecution.
That decision is therefore not merely administrative. The applicant should consider the time saved, the effect of claim correspondence on the Israeli claim strategy and how Israeli protection fits into the wider patent family.
The governing source for Israeli eligibility and forms is the Israel Patent Office’s accelerated examination service. Further analysis is available in Yonatan Drori, Patent Law (Hebrew, 2023), pp. 602–618. For related filing procedures, see Patent Prosecution in Israel, and for priority issues see Multiple Priorities in Patent Applications.
