Japan: "JPO Status Report 2017" Notes Changes And Goals In Japan's IP World

The JPO recently issued the JPO Status Report 2017 (in Japanese and English) to give the public a better idea of how the JPO is working to improve its services. Commissioner Yoshinori Komiya expressed the prospects of the JPO in his greeting contained here, focusing on improving speed and quality.

Commissioner Komiya recognizes the decline in number of patent applications filed in Japan but also the rising percentage of applications filed that are actually registered in the end, optimistic that this indicates that applicants are moving "from quantity to quality" in their approach.¹ There were 318,381 patent applications to the JPO in 2016.²

Meanwhile, Commissioner Komiya remarks, the JPO is striving to lower the wait on patent examinations to an average of 14 months or less from the Request for Examination, by FY2023. In this way, Japan is aiming to offer "the 'world's fastest and utmost quality examination in IP system.'" It continues to open opportunities to applicants in many countries to Patent Prosecution Highway options, as well.³

The full Report (in Japanese and English) is available here.

Footnotes

1 Yoshinori Komiya, "Message from the Commissioner," in JPO Status Report 2017, 2, accessed May 23, 2017.

2 Japan Patent Office, "JPO Status Report 2017," accessed May 23, 2017.

3 Komiya, "Message," 2. See also how the JPO is expanding its PPH network here and, by way of example, here.

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