We published an article in August 2021 and a followup newsflash in December regarding the Japanese government’s move toward a legal framework for a new secret patent system. The task force considering aspects of economic security for Japan presented their…
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December 2021 Newsflash After deliberation in the background, Japan’s government is making more moves to enshrine secrecy measures for some intellectual property filed with the JPO and deemed dangerous from a military or other security perspective. Since the last announcement,…
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As reported back in May, the Japan Diet passed revisions to the Japan Patent Act that made remote video participation in some patent proceedings legal. Some of the changes started to go into effect from this October 2021, and on…
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The Japan Patent Office announced in July 2021 that it had been operating in the red since 2014 and was planning to raise the annuities (maintenance fees) for patents, registration and renewal fees for trademarks, and filing and other fees…
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Following the May 13 passage of revisions for the Patent Act, May 25, 2021, a bill for smoothing out copyright issues for digital distributions passed the Upper House (House of Councillors) unanimously. The Copyright Act is being updated to: 1)…
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On May 13, 2021, a bill for further expanding information technologies in Japanese intellectual property, passed the Upper House (House of Councillors) unanimously. This is one of a wave of bills being passed for reforms to digitize Japanese life, symbolized…
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The Japan Patent Office published its annual Status Report in March. (You can see our review of previous reports for 2017, 2018, and 2020.) Here are a few of the things we noted. Patent Prosecution in Japan -Steady decline in…
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As noted before, the JPO has been making some progress in modernizing its remote connections with teleconferencing capabilities in the COVID-19 era. Yet users were complaining that they could not reach examiners and other personnel in charge of intellectual property…
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The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan reported on March 2 that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Suga had approved various proposals to amend intellectual property laws in Japan. The main aims of the revisions would be to…
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Further provisions to Japan’s revised Copyright Act went into effect January 1, 2021, tightening restrictions on the users of copyright-infringing materials online. In addition to modifications to procedures for registering and examining copyrighted materials, the noteworthy revision is making it…
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