Japan: Amendments in IP laws to enter into force this April

[EPO / Asia Info]

Dear users,

You might have heared, that the long term planned amendments in Japanese IP laws have recently passed the parliament and will enter into force on 1 April 2015, as the Japanese ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry published on 23 January 2015.

The most important change is the re-introduction of an opposition system with the aim of giving the patent holder certainty at an early stage. This law change was initiated by industry third parties. Until 2004, when opposition was abolished, there were around 5000 requests for opposition proceedings each year, half of them ending in a limitation of the scope of the claims or even the revocation of the entire patent. Contrary to expectations, the invalidation procedure in force after 2004 patent was not so often used: There were not even 500 requests per year.

Some reasons might be the higher costs associated with an invalidation procedure, mainly as this is an inter partes procedure, and also the longer and more complicated procedure. After the law revision, only interested parties will be able to initiate invalidation proceedings.

Another change includes deferred payment, which can be requested by claiming force majeure. For third parties this will result in a higher uncertainty of legal status of patent applications concerned, as legal status events like for example the request for examination will be retroactively effective.

As for trademarks, colours and scents can now also be protected.

For further details, please see the METI website at: http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2014/01/201 ... 23002.html (Japanese only).

In case of questions or comments, you can post them directly here or contact us at asiainfo@epo.org

Regards,

Your Asian Patent Information Services