This is our latest update from April 21, 2023 (Japan time). We regularly check for substantial changes to JPO policy regarding COVID-19 and let you know here if there are such. The most recent major policy changes as far as…
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* Please refer to: our updated summary of the Japan Patent Office’s COVID-19 policies The Japan Patent Office announced, in accordance with the Japanese government’s new stance toward wearing of masks outside and in public places, that it will make…
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Around the world, innovators are trying to find applications of present technologies to combat the trenchant spread of novel coronavirus COVID-19. Researchers in Fukushima Prefecture at Fukushima Medical University found hope in use of antibodies to help capture Covid viruses…
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Due to the “fourth wave” of novel coronavirus cases in Japan, Tokyo as well as some western prefectures of Japan were declared under yet another State of Emergency from April 25 to May 11. The relatively rigorous following of warnings…
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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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As countries struggle over intellectual property in this world rocked by novel coronavirus COVID-19, Intellectual property institutions need to forge ahead. The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has been conducting committee meetings aiming to improve its intellectual property environment, and issued…
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On January 7, 2021, parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area were declared under a state of emergency by the Japanese government. The following day, the Japan Patent Office announced it would close its main entrance from January 12 and generally…
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This past winter and spring, people in Japan took the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) threat in stride with the stock of surgical masks they would have worn anyway. Then supplies ran extremely low and queues formed outside of drug stores. In…
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The Japan Patent Office (JPO) reopened its doors to the public with limitations and precautions on June 1, 2020. It further announced on its website (update June 10) that it is allowing oral examination proceedings, with a long list of…
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The Japanese Prime Minister’s Cabinet Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters issued its annual Intellectual Property Strategic Program 2020 in early June. This year, the 160-document acts as a manifesto for the Japanese government to boost Japan’s financial and economic future through…
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