On 16 October 2025, the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) released an announcement marking the completion of the first stage of the first year of Phase 4 of the PPH Pilot Program between the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the IPVN. The announcement provides valuable statistics reflecting the program’s overall progress and trends in its fourth phase.
The PPH program was first introduced in 2016 with an initial three-year term. As its effectiveness became evident, the program was subsequently extended to its second (2019–2022) and third (2022–2025) phases. It is currently in its fourth phase, which runs until 2028, with its first stage of its first year, 2025-2026, having just come to an end.
During the first stage of the fourth phase’s first year (from 1 April to 30 September 2025), the IPVN received a total of 43 PPH requests, leaving 157 requests available for the second stage (from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026).
While this number already accounts for nearly half of the stage’s cap, it represents a decrease of 4.26% compared to the same period last year. This decline also reflects a broader downward trend in PPH requests in Vietnam over recent years, as illustrated in the chart below.
Despite this modest decline, with nearly 160 requests still available for the second stage of the first year, 2025-2026, of the fourth phase, the PPH program between Vietnam and Japan continues to offer a valuable pathway – particularly for Japanese applicants – to accelerate the examination of their Vietnamese patent applications.
by Dang Cong Thanh
Patent Department
