What is a prerequisite for an application to be eligible for Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)?

For an application to be eligible for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), it is essential that the corresponding application has at least one allowed claim. The PPH is designed to expedite the examination process in participating countries by utilizing a favorable examination result from one jurisdiction (where the application is already allowed) to facilitate the examination of the application in another jurisdiction. This means that if a claim has been found to be allowable in a corresponding foreign application, it strongly indicates that the claims in the U.S. application may also be patentable, thereby expediting the process.

The emphasis is on having at least one claim that has been allowed, as this demonstrates to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that there is a likelihood of patentability based on the previous examination. This allows the USPTO to leverage the work already done by another patent office, streamlining the overall examination process and reducing redundancy.

The other options do not fulfill the crucial requirement for PPH eligibility. For instance, previous examination (the first option) is not necessary, as the application does not need to have gone through any examination prior to invoking the PPH. Newly created claims (the third option) are irrelevant, as the PPH application can include claims that