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, the JPO hired additional examiners and started allowing non-traditional trademarks, while Japan joined the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs. The JPO plans to hire more examiners and to prepare swiftly to meet the requirements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), such as enabling extension of patent rights in certain cases, in 2016.
Keisen Associates would be honored to help you keep abreast of the JPO’s work and to develop and protect your intellectual property rights in Japan. We wish you the best in 2016.
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