PATENTS
Patents/utility models
February Issue [Legal] Newsletter Japan Patent Office publishes "Explanation of Classification of Goods and Services [Compatible with International Classification 13-2026 Edition]" In January 2026, the Japan Patent Office published "Explanation of Classification of Goods and Services [Compatible with International Classification 13-2026 Edition]". This document aims to help users understand the classification of goods and services and their indication in trademark registration.
February Issue [General] Newsletter G7 Heads of IP Office Conversation Held On Friday, December 12, 2025, the heads of intellectual property offices of the G7 member countries (G7 IP offices) gathered together in an online conference format for the G7 Heads of IP Office Conversation. Italy
January Issue [Legal] Newsletter New Year's Greetings Happy New Year! Last year, while Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip in Palestine came to an end, we saw an intensification of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, intensifying international friction between China and Japan over the Taiwan issue, and President Trump's high tariffs and US First policy.
January Issue [General] Newsletter New Year's Greetings Happy New Year! Last year, while Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in Palestine came to an end, we saw an intensification of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, intensifying international friction between China and Japan over the Taiwan issue, and President Trump's high tariffs and US First policy.
December Issue [Legal] Newsletter Amendments to the Madrid Agreement Regulations (effective November 1, 2025) Amendments to the regulations under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks have been adopted and will come into effect on November 1, 2025. The summary of the amendments is as follows: 1. When making various applications after international registration, the email addresses of the holder and licensee will be required.
December Issue [General] Newsletter EPO Guidelines 2026 The Working Group on Guidelines (WP/G), part of the Advisory Committee of the Assistants to the President of the European Patent Office (SACEPO), met on 14 October 2025 to develop guidelines for the European Patent Convention (EPC), the EPO Procedure under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT-EPO) and the Unitary Patent (UP).
November Issue [Legal] Newsletter Revision of Trademark Accelerated Examination Guidelines (effective October 1, 2025) The "Trademark Accelerated Examination and Accelerated Trial Guidelines" were revised on October 1, 2025, and applications related to "trademarks including the names of others" will now be subject to accelerated examination.
November Issue [General] Newsletter Patent Prosecution Highway between Japan and the Kingdom of Bahrain On September 22nd, the Japan Patent Office signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Kingdom of Bahrain on the bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). As a result, the PPH between Japan and the Kingdom of Bahrain will commence on January 1st, 2026.
October Issue [Legal] Newsletter Trademark Registration Case Using the Consent System In the May 2025 issue of this newsletter, we introduced the first case of trademark registration in Japan using the consent system. Since then, more and more cases of registration using this system have been published one after another on J-Platform, so we would like to introduce them here.
October Issue [General] Newsletter WIPO Regional Dialogue - Intellectual Property and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific Region On August 25th, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted the "WIPO Regional Dialogue - Intellectual Property and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific Region" at the WIPO office.