01Multiple programs to improve review speed

In terms of accelerating the review process, Japan's legal system has established priority review procedures, early review procedures, and ultra early review procedures, with the review speed gradually increasing, but the requirements for initiation are also gradually increasing.

1Priority Review

After the patent application is published, if the examination time is too long, the following situations may occur: ① Other people implement the technology involved in the patent application, resulting in unforeseeable losses to the applicant; ② The patent applicant with defects that cannot be authorized issues a warning letter to others who implement the application. If the above situation occurs, the applicant or relevant parties may apply to initiate priority examination.

The conditions for priority examination are: ① A request for substantive examination has been filed for the patent application; ② The patent application is pending after publication and before authorization; ③ Others implement the patent application for business purposes after its publication but before its authorization; ④ There is a need for urgent review.

2Early review

The early review system allows applications to undergo substantive review or appeal procedures at a faster pace.

The patent applications that can be applied for early examination include: ① patent applications that are being implemented or will be implemented by the applicant or a third party authorized by the applicant; ② The applicant has already filed a patent application with another country's patent office or has filed an international application for the invention; ③ The applicants of this application include small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes, individuals, and public welfare organizations; ④ The application involves green and energy-saving technologies; ⑤ Support patent applications for earthquake disaster reconstruction; ⑥ Applications related to the Asian Business Location Law.

When submitting an application for early examination, it is necessary to submit a "Statement of Early Examination Situation" that includes a description of the situation and a comparison between the application and previously retrieved existing technologies; In addition, the early review process needs to be conducted in Japanese, and the applicant must have a fixed residence in Japan or apply through an agency. Third parties are not allowed to request accelerated review of others' applications. Early review can greatly accelerate the trial process, with an average time limit of 2-3 months for the first official notification.

3Ultra early review process

Ultra early examination is a faster examination system in the Japanese patent system than "early examination", with an average time limit of less than one month for the first official notification issued in 2020.

In addition to meeting the relevant conditions for early examination, the applicable objects of ultra early examination also need to meet the following conditions: ① the related patent application can be implemented and the related patent application has been filed abroad; ② All procedures for the application for ultra early review must be completed within 4 weeks before the submission date and submitted via the Internet.

The application procedure for ultra early examination is roughly the same as that for early examination, and it is necessary to indicate in the "Statement of Situation for Early Examination" that the application request for ultra early examination. In addition, if the following situations occur, the early review procedure shall be followed: ① Non online procedures were performed within 4 weeks before the application, such as submitting a written statement of opinions; ② Procedural defects occurred after conducting ultra early review; ③ Overseas applicants fail to respond to the examination opinion within 2 months from the date of issuance of the notice of reasons for rejection (domestic applicants within 30 days); ④ The applicant did not state in the application form or the "Explanation of Early Examination" that the divisional patent application meets the substantive requirements of the divisional patent application.

4PPH review project

PPH is a business cooperation between patent examination agencies to share examination results, aimed at helping applicants obtain patent rights for overseas applications as soon as possible. Specifically, when at least one or more claims included in the patent application submitted by the prior examination office are determined to be patentable, the applicant can use this as a basis to submit an accelerated examination request to the corresponding application in the subsequent examination office, thereby achieving accelerated approval, saving application costs, and improving the authorization rate. At present, the intellectual property offices of China, the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea all support this cooperation project. Specifically in Japan, the documents usually required to be submitted include a copy of the examination opinion of the prior examination office and its translation, a copy of the authorized claims determined by the prior examination office and its questions, a copy of the cited documents, and a claim comparison table.

02Patent type conversion system

The Japanese patent system allows applicants to switch between three types of patent applications: invention patents, utility model patents, and design patents, while retaining the original filing date. As long as the consistency of the application content is maintained, the application type can be converted. After the application type conversion, the original application will be considered withdrawn.

01Conversion of Invention Patent Application to Utility Model Patent Application

Invention patent applicants can convert their applications into utility model applications; Alternatively, within 30 days from the date of receiving the rejection decision, the application can be converted into a utility model application, but the application date must be filed within 9 years and 6 months from the date of filing the invention patent application. After being converted into a utility model application, the original invention patent application shall be deemed withdrawn.

02Conversion of utility model patent application or authorized utility model patent into invention patent application

Utility model applicants may convert utility model patent applications into invention patent applications, but must do so within 3 years from the date of the utility model patent application. After being converted into an invention patent application, the original utility model application shall be deemed withdrawn.

After the utility model is authorized, the authorized utility model patent shall be converted into an invention patent application, and the applicant shall submit it within 3 years from the date of application. At this point, the utility model patent right must be waived.

03Conversion of invention patent application or utility model patent into design patent application

Invention patent applications or utility model patents can be converted into design patent applications. However, if the notice of rejection of the invention patent has been served for more than 3 months, the invention patent application cannot be converted into a design patent application.

The converted design patent application must be consistent with the design patent described in the initial specification and drawings of the original application; After being converted into a design patent application, the original invention patent application or utility model patent application shall be deemed withdrawn.

03Revised Trial

After the patent is granted, if defects are found in the patent, the patentee may request correction, but the correction is limited to the following four situations:

① Narrowing down the scope of protection for claims;

② Correcting errors or typos;

③ Ambiguous expression;

④ Change the original reference to a certain claim to not reference it.

When revising the trial, the applicant should also pay attention to the following details: firstly, during the invalidation trial procedure of the patent, a revision trial cannot be conducted; Secondly, when modifying the specification, claims, and drawings, the scope of rights shall not be substantially expanded or changed.