July [General] Newsletter

Promulgation and Enforcement of Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Enforcement Regulations of the Patent Act

A ministerial ordinance amending part of the Patent Act Enforcement Regulations was promulgated on May 30, 2025 and came into effect on the same day.

The amendment by the Ministerial Ordinance is a revision to the format of the request form for arbitration to be submitted when requesting an arbitration based on the provisions of the Patent Act, Utility Model Act, and Design Act. Specifically, the following two points (1) and (2) will be added to the notes in the column for recording the progress of the negotiations leading up to the request for arbitration as specific items to be recorded regarding the progress of the negotiations.

(1) As alternative dispute resolution procedures (hereinafter referred to as "ADR") are gaining attention as a means of resolving disputes regarding intellectual property rights, it is expected that the other party seeking the grant of a non-exclusive license will first attempt to resolve the dispute through ADR, even if negotiations have failed, without immediately filing a request for arbitration. In this case, in order to clarify the specific issues and materials for judgment and to streamline arbitration deliberations, the progress and results of the ADR will also be newly requested to be included in the request for arbitration.

(2) The first sentence of Article 31(b) of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereinafter referred to as the "TRIPS Agreement") in Annex C of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization provides that "other uses may be permitted only if, prior to any other use, the prospective user has made efforts to obtain authorization from the patent holder under reasonable commercial terms and conditions and has been unsuccessful within a reasonable period of time." Therefore, in order to clarify that the request for arbitration meets the requirements of the first sentence of Article 31(b) of the TRIPS Agreement in order to facilitate smooth proceedings regarding the arbitration, we newly request that the conditions presented to the patent holder be included in the request for arbitration as part of the process of consultations.

The above amendment provides for the clarification of the content of discussions leading up to the request for arbitration, such as ADR, when such a request is made, which is expected to promote the efficiency of deliberations in arbitration.

The specific details of the above amendments are listed on the Japan Patent Office website under "Outline of the Ministerial Ordinance Amendments" (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/syoreikaisei/tokkyo/document/tokkyohou_20250530/01_gaiyo.pdf) and "Ministry Ordinance" (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/syoreikaisei/tokkyo/document/tokkyohou_20250530/02_shorei.pdf)Please refer to.

Visit of the Japan Patent Office's Deputy Commissioner to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Lao PDR and the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand

Mr. Yasuda, Chief Patent Engineer of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), visited the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Lao PDR on June 11, 2025, and then visited the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand on June 13, 2025.

At the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Lao PDR, in the presence of Deputy Minister Vongxay, a new joint statement was agreed upon between the JPO and the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Lao PDR, toward the launch of substantive patent examination in the Lao PDR.

Currently, substantive patent examinations are not conducted in Laos. Instead, examinations are conducted based on the examination results of countries other than Laos, such as adopting the examination results of corresponding Japanese patents based on the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Patent Grant Facilitation (CPG) between Laos and Japan.

Meanwhile, in the future, efforts based on the above-mentioned joint statement are expected to progress, and substantive examination of patents will be carried out in Laos.

Additionally, at the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, an exchange of views was held regarding the future of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and cooperation in human resource development for patent examiners.

The current PPH trial program between Japan and Thailand is scheduled to end on December 31, 2025, but as a result of the above-mentioned exchange of views, it is considered that the PPH trial program may be extended.

Holding of the Five Office Directors' Meeting and the Five Office Directors' and Users' Meeting

The 18th Office Five Heads of State Meeting was held on May 28, 2025 among the five offices: the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). The Office Five Heads of State and Users Meeting was also held on the same day.

At the Ministerial Meeting, the role of intellectual property in economic development was discussed, and specifically, the following exchanges of views and discussions were held as shown in (a) and (b).

(a) Exchange of views on the policies of each office, mainly in the areas of patent licensing and intellectual property financing, on the theme of promoting the utilization and commercialization of intellectual property to support innovative development of the economy.

(b) Discussion of future IP5 cooperation and confirmation of continuing IP5 cooperation on new technologies and AI based on the work roadmap established in 2021.

At the meeting, the IP5 Heads of Office and User Groups exchanged views on strengthening collaboration between the IP5 Heads of Office and IP5 User Groups on the utilization and commercialization of IP. The IP5 Heads of Office and User Groups also reported the completion of a report on "The Role of IP in Promoting the Growth of SMEs", which is an output of the 2024 IP5 Heads of Office and User Groups Meeting, and the report was published on the IP5 website after the meeting.

Publication of the results of a survey on the status of applications for AI-related inventions in various countries, including Japan

In June 2025, the Japan Patent Office published a report on the results of a survey on recent application status for AI-related inventions in Japan, the United States, China, and South Korea.

The survey report covered the status of applications for inventions related to (1) AI core, (2) image/video processing AI, (3) natural language processing AI, (4) neural networks, (5) CNN, (6) RNN/LSTM, (7) deep reinforcement learning, and (8) Transformer.

The summary of the results of the investigation is shown in Table A below. For details of the results of the investigation, please refer to the report on the Japan Patent Office website (https://www.jpo.go.jp/resources/report/gidou-houkoku/tokkyo/document/index/2025_report_ai.pdf)Please refer to.

Table A

Newsletter translated into English

Promulgation and Enforcement of Ordinance to Partially Amend Patent Act Enforcement Regulations

On May 30, 2025, an ordinance to partially amend the Patent Act Enforcement Regulations was promulgated and came into effect on the same day.

The amendments introduced by this ordinance pertain to revisions of the format of arbitration request forms submitted pursuant to provisions under the Patent Act, Utility Model Act, and Design Act. Specifically, in the notes section of the form, in which the process of negotiations leading up to the arbitration request is recorded, the following two items (1) and (2) are now required as specific details to be included regarding the negotiation process:

(1) Alternative Dispute Resolution (hereinafter referred to as “ADR”) is gaining attention as a means of resolving intellectual property disputes. In cases where parties seeking a non-exclusive license are unable to reach an agreement through negotiations, it is expected that they will first attempt resolution through ADR before immediately proceeding with arbitration requests. Including the progression and outcome of ADR in the arbitration request form will help clarify specific points of contention and evidence in such cases, thereby enhancing the efficiency of arbitration deliberations.

(2) The first sentence of Article 31(b) of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereinafter referred to as “TRIPS Agreement), which is Annex C to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, states the following: “such use may only be permitted if, prior to such use, the proposed user has made efforts to obtain authorization from the right holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and that such efforts have not been successful within a reasonable period of time”. To facilitate the smooth progression of arbitration deliberations, it is required that the conditions proposed to the patent holder be explicitly recorded in the arbitration request form to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of Article 31(b) of the TRIPS Agreement.

With these amendments, the content of negotiations leading up to arbitration requests, including ADR proceedings, will be further clarified in the arbitration request. As a result, the efficiency of deliberations in arbitration is expected to improve.

For detailed information regarding content of the amendments, please refer to the “Outline of the Revision of the Ministerial Ordinance” (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/syoreikaisei/tokkyo/document/tokkyohou_20250530/01_gaiyo.pdf) and “Ministerial Ordinance” (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/syoreikaisei/tokkyo/document/tokkyohou_20250530/02_shorei.pdf) on the JPO website.

UVisit by JPO Deputy Commissioner to Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos and Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand

On June 11, 2025, Deputy Commissioner Yasuda of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) visited the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos. This was followed by a visit to the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand on June 13, 2025.

At the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos, a new joint statement was agreed upon between the JPO and the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos, in the presence of Vice-Minister Vongsay. The statement marks a step toward initiating substantive patent examination in Laos.

Currently, Laos does not conduct substantive patent examinations. Instead, the country relies on examination results from other countries. For example, Laos adopts examination results from corresponding Japanese patents based on the memorandum regarding Cooperation for facilitating Patent Grant (CPG) between Laos and Japan.

Looking ahead, efforts based on the newly signed joint statement are expected to progress, paving the way for substantive patent examinations to be conducted within Laos in the future.

Meanwhile, at the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, discussions were held on topics including the future of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and cooperation in the training and development of patent examiners.

The current PPH pilot program between Japan and Thailand is scheduled to conclude on December 31, 2025. However, as a result of the discussions, there is a possibility that the PPH pilot program may be extended.

IP5 Heads of Office Meeting and Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office with IP5 Industry Held

The 18th IP5 Heads of Office Meeting was held on May 28, 2025, involving the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). This was followed by a meeting of the IP5 Heads of Office with IP5 Industry, which was convened on the same day.

The role of intellectual property (IP) in driving economic development was discussed during the Heads of Office Meeting. In particular, the following exchanges of opinions and discussions ((a) and (b)) were conducted.

(a) An exchange of views took place on initiatives taken by the IP5 Offices to promote utilization and commercialization of IP in order to support innovative development of the economy, with particular focus on areas such as patent licensing and intellectual property financing.

(b) The future collaborations between the Offices were discussed, and the Offices' commitment to continuing joint efforts on emerging technologies and AI based on the work roadmap formulated in 2021 was confirmed. 　

During the meeting of the IP5 Heads of Office with IP5 Industry, discussions were held to strengthen the collaboration between the IP5 Offices and IP5 user organizations in relation to the utilization and commercialization of IP.

Publication of Survey Results on Patent Applications for AI-Related Inventions across Various Countries Including Japan

In June 2025, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) published a report summarizing the findings of a survey on recent trends in application filings for AI-related inventions across Japan, the United States, China, and South Korea.

The report highlights application trends across various categories of AI-related inventions, including inventions related to (1) AI Cores, (2) Image and Video Processing AI, (3) Natural Language Processing AI, (4) Neural Networks, (5) CNN, (6) RNN/LSTM, (7) Deep Reinforcement Learning, and (8) Transformers.

A summary of the findings is presented in Table A below. For further detail on the survey results, please refer to the report available on the JPO website (https://www.jpo.go.jp/resources/report/gidou-houkoku/tokkyo/document/index/2025_report_ai.pdf).

Table A