Winter holidays in Japan

In Japan, we have holidays at the beginning and the end of year for about one week.

Governmental offices will be closed from December 29 to January 3, including JPO, Japan Patent Office.

SE/30

Do you know what this is ?

My favorite one.

Of course, it now works well :-)

Shanghai

I lived in Shanghai from April 2005 to May 2006.

14 million people live in Shanghai.

Prices of foods are 20 - 50 percent of those in Japan.

A lot of counterfeits were being sold...

Orb International Patent Law Firm

I opened my own firm in Tokyo, Japan.

The name is "Orb International Patent Law Firm."

Please contact me if you want some information of Japanese patents and trademarks, especially if you want to file an patent application of computer-related inventions, electronics etc.


===Orb International Patent Law Firm===

Japanese Patent System

1. Procedures for getting Patent in Japan
* (a) Filing a patent application
* (b) Filing a request for examination
* (c) Filing Remarks and/or Amendment if receiving a "Notification of Reasons for Refusal"(i.e. Office Action)
* (d1) Pay Patent registration fee if receiving a "Decision to grant a patent"(i.e. Allowance)
* (d2) Filing Appeal if receiving a "Decision of Refusal", or abandon

2. Patent Application
* Language of applications is Japanese. However, English applications are acceptable if Japanese translations are filed within 2 months as of the filing date.
* Provisional applications are not acceptable in Japan.

3. Request For Examination
* Request For Examination can only be filed within 3 years as of the filing date. No extension.

4. Requirements of Patentablity
* (a) Novelty -- Patent Law SS29
* (b) Inventive Step -- Patent Law SS29
* (c) Industrial Applicability -- Patent Law SS29 and SS2
* (d) Without disclosure of the same invention in an other's prior application -- Patent Law SS29bis
* (e) First filing -- Patent Law SS39
* (f) Description requirements of Specification -- Patent Law SS36

5. Priorities
* Three types of priorities can be claimed:
* (1) Paris Convention/International priority,
* (2) WTO-TRIPs/International priority, and
* (3) Domestic.
* The term of every priority is one year.
* In case of claiming domestic priority, original application is automatically abandoned.

6. Entry into national stage of PCT application
* Due date of the entry is the date in 30 months as of the priority date. There is no extension. However, Japanese translation may be filed within 2 months as of the entry date, not the due date.

7. Fee schedule of Japan Patent Office (after April 1st, 2005)
***Estimated Exchange Rate: 1US$ = 100-120JPY, 1EURO=130-140JPY
7.1. Application
* Patent application: JPY16,000
* Foreign Document Application: JPY26,000
* Entry into the national phase in Japan (for intl applications filed on or after April 1st, 2004): JPY16,000
7.2. Request for Examination (for patent applications filed on or after April 1st, 2004)
* Request for examination: JPY168,600 + JPY4,000 per claim
* -for PCT National Stage with intl search report by JPO: JPY101,200 + JPY2,400 per claim
* -for PCT National Stage with intl search report by an ISA other than JPO: JPY151,700 + JPY3,600 per claim
7.3. Annual fee / Registration fee
--For patent applications requested for examination on or after April 1st, 2004
* 1-3rd year: annually, JPY2,600 + JPY200 per claim
* 4-6th year: annually, JPY8,100 + JPY600 per claim
* 7-9th year: annually, JPY24,300 + JPY1,900 per claim
* 10-25th year: annually, JPY81,200 + JPY6,400 per claim

Japanese IP System

Japanese IP System is supported by several laws.

* Patent law - for invention,
* Utility model law - for utility model,
* Design law - for design,
* Trademark law - for trademark and service mark,
* Copyright law - for work
* etc.

Japanese patent law system is a first-filing system, in which a person who firstly files an application of a same invention is granted patent. An application usually includes at least one claim, an embodiment, an abstract and drawings in Japanese. An application in English can be filed, but a Japanese translation must be filed by 2 months of the filing date. At the time of filing, there is no need to submit a power of attorney, a declaration and an assignment to Japan Patent Office (JPO).

reboot!

Hi, my name is Osamu Aoki.
I am a patent attorney of Japan and live in Tokyo, Japan.

This is the first post in English :-D

See you.

To contact me, send an e-mail to osamu.aoki@indigobullet.com.