Patent Application Encyclopedia

• Grant fee: The applicant should submit a request and pay the corresponding fee within 2 months after receiving the granted notice.
• The annual fee shall be paid year by year starting from the fifth year from the date of application, and the grace period for late payment is 6 months.

6 years

not applicable. Designs disclosed to the public prior to filing are not eligible for application.

IMPI conducts formal and substantive examinations of utility model patent applications. However, the requirements for substantive examination are relatively loose, only novelty and industrial applicability are required, but innovation is not required.

20 years

Reinstatement of priority on grounds of "due care" and "unintentional/due care" is accepted.

• Licensing Fee: None.
• Annual Fee: None.

Yes (reason: due care), a request for restoration of rights can be filed within 2 months from the date of removal of the obstacle

The novelty grace period is 12 months before the filing date/priority date.

yes.

• Within the period of 9 years and 6 months from the date of application for the invention patent, or within 3 months from the date of receipt of the notification of rejection, the patent type of the invention patent may be changed from invention to utility model/design upon request
• A request to change the patent type from invention to utility model/design can be filed within three months from the date of the JPO’s first decision to reject the application

A conversion fee shall be paid for patent type conversion. Once the original patent application is converted, it will be deemed withdrawn.

Yes (reason: due care), a request for restoration of rights can be filed within 2 months from the date of removal of the obstacle

20 years

no

The novelty grace period is 6 months before the filing date/priority date.

Reinstatement of Priority Accepted on Unintentional Grounds.

10 years

The design does not lose its novelty if it is disclosed by the designer in Japan within 12 months from the filing date/priority date.

• via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
• via Nationalization of PCT : 30 months from the earliest priority date.