Between the time a patent examination request is made and the actual examination, there is usually a pendency period of several months. During this period, an applicant may no longer need to obtain a patent, or conclude that their patent is no longer patentable as a result of a prior art search. Hitherto, an applicant who wished to cancel an examination request was nonetheless responsible for the fee regardless of whether the application was withdrawn or not. But starting August 9,  2006, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced a special one-year measure in which applicants may receive a full refund for patent examination requests if they fulfill the following two conditions: 

1. Withdraw or abandon the application before August 8, 2007.

2. Withdraw or abandon the application before JPO examination procedures begin.

After the one-year period expires (August 9, 2007), applicants with abandoned or withdrawn applications will only receive a 50% refund for patent examination request fees .
JPO raised their examination fees back in April of 2004, hiking the price up considerably from the previous fee chart. With the new fee, an application with 20 claims was charged approximately US$2200 for an examination. The above-described special measure will allow applicants to make an examination request without risking the payment of a hefty examination fee if they choose to withdraw the application later on. For more information, go to JPO's website by clicking here.