Missed the first deadline for an Office Action response? Since the Revision to Japanese Patent Law effective from April 2016, the JPO has modified rules for extending the deadline for responding to Pre-Appeal Office Actions*, both minor and major. Of…
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The Japan Patent Office (JPO) continues to expand its Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) network with pilot programs initiated with the National Institutes of Industrial Property (INPI) of Brazil and Argentina, respectively, from April 1, 2017. The JPO plans to start…
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Presiding Judge Misao Shimizu of Japan’s Intellectual Property High Court became its sixth presiding Chief Judge in January 2017. The Hon. Shimizu’s Inaugural Remarks are available on the IP High Court’s website.[1] Japan instituted the IP High Court, connected to…
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Heads of the Japan Patent Office have recently completed an IP symposium with corresponding leaders in the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) in Kanagawa Prefecture. They have…
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As of August 1, 2016, petitioners have filed over 1,000 post-grant opposition cases since April 1, 2015 under the 2014 amendment of Japan’s Patent Act. Whereas in the first half-year since April 2015 a third of the oppositions were against…
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Rumours have grown in Japan surrounding the delay of Pokemon GO’s release date in Japan, and recently many of those have focused on JPO’s recent rejection against the trademark of Pokemon GO in Japan. It turns out that the trademark…
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Trends in Japan Between April 1, 2015 and March 8, 2016, 608 petitions for the re-introduced Post Grant Review (PGR / igi moushitate) system, which may be filed up to six months from date of issue of the patent, have…
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The examinations that start on or after April 1, 2016 regarding food use patent applications and patent term extensions will follow the JPO’s updated Examination Guidelines and Handbook ,for patent and utility model examinations. Furthermore, the JPO will examine applications…
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The Japanese Examination Guidelines for trademarks has been updated again (rev. 12th ed.). This new edition’s standards will go into effect from April 1, 2016. The revisions clarify various types of allowable trademarks, as well as updated information based on…
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JPO Commissioner Hitoshi Ito has given a New Years message for 2016, commenting on the JPO’s recent progress in seeking to develop “the World’s Fastest and Highest Quality Examination System.” See the English translation of the message here. Last year,…
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