PATENTS
Patents/utility models
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.
September Issue [Legal] Newsletter Copyright Transfer by Competition Entries According to the Asahi Shimbun dated July 23rd, the application guidelines for various competitions often state that "the copyright of the submitted work belongs to the organizer." In this case, when you enter a competition, the copyright is transferred to the organizer, and even if you are not selected,
September Issue [General] Newsletter Decision on the Partial Enforcement Date of the Act Partially Amending the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc. A Cabinet Order was approved on August 8, 2025, to set the enforcement date of part of the "Act Partially Amending the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc." (hereinafter referred to as the "Amended Act"), which was promulgated on June 14, 2023, as April 1, 2026.
August [General] Newsletter USPTO Announces Increase in Number of Priority Examination (Track One) Requests Accepted Per Year On July 8th, the USPTO announced that it would increase the number of Priority Examination (Track One) requests accepted per year. Previously, the number of priority examination requests for patent applications was limited to 15,000 per year, but this will now be increased to 2
August Issue [Legal] Newsletter Trends in the Number of Applications and Registrations for "New Type Trademarks" In 2024, 10 years have passed since the registration system for new type trademarks (sound trademarks, motion trademarks, position trademarks, trademarks consisting only of color, and hologram trademarks) was launched in Japan.
July [General] Newsletter Promulgation and Enforcement of Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Enforcement Regulations of the Patent Act On May 30, 2025, a ministerial order partially amending the Enforcement Regulations of the Patent Act was promulgated and came into force on the same day. The amendments made by this ministerial order concern the format of the request form to be submitted when requesting an arbitration based on the provisions of the Patent Act, Utility Model Act and Design Act.
July Issue [Legal] Newsletter "Issues under review regarding the Design System" 19th Design System Subcommittee Meeting The 19th Design System Subcommittee Meeting was held at the Japan Patent Office on May 22, 2025. Our firm's newsletter has covered the issues under review at the Design System Subcommittee several times, but as these are important issues, we will continue to introduce them here.
June Issue [Legal] Newsletter About the current status of protection of trademarks related to virtual space in each country We will introduce the survey on the current status of protection of trademarks in virtual space in each country and the trends of trademark applications conducted by the Japan Patent Office in 2024.
June Issue [General] Newsletter Results of the 2024 Survey on Technology Trends in Patent Applications by Field The Japan Patent Office selects technology themes that are expected to develop in the future, focusing on fields where new markets are expected to be created and fields that should be promoted as national policies, and conducts surveys on technology trends in patent applications. Patent information provides the latest information on the results of research and development at companies, universities, etc.