Draft Revision of the Design Examination Standard for Examination Procedures

January, 2010

Design Examination Standards Office

Japan Patent Office

"Working Group for the Design Examination Standard"of the Design System Subcommittee under the Intellectual Property Policy Committee of the Industrial Structure Council made preparation for revising of the Design Examination Standard, in terms of the examination procedures, which resulted in issuing the following document:

"Examination Procedures (Draft version)"

For informing the public of the newly revised provisions of the Design Examination Standard, we created summaries of them as titled:

"Summary of the Revision of the Design Examination Standard for the examination procedures (Draft version)"

The outline of the summary is as follows.

"Summary of the Revision of the Design Examination Standard for the Examination Procedures (Draft version)"

In "IP Strategic Program 2009", it is stated that "In order to clarify the scope of design rights (the scope of similarity of registered designs and the scope of rights to partial designs) and to build an infrastructure for designers’creative activities, the GOJ will further clarify the design examination guidelines. Furthermore, the GOJ will discuss measures to promote the disclosure of the JPO’s database on publicly known designs and form a conclusion by the end of FY2009."

Clarification of the substantive examination procedures will also clarify the "scope of similarity of registered designs"and the "scope of rights for partial designs."

Therefore, the JPO’s "Examination Procedures,"which include the judgment process of the substantive examination, are stipulated in the JPO’s "Design Examination Standards."

We expect that the JPO’s "Design Examination Standards"will clarify the scope of design rights in Japan.

We invite interested parties to submit written comments concerning the revised Examination Standard (draft version) below.

- Summary of the Revision of the Design Examination Standard for the Examination Procedures <PDF 36KB>

*These documents in English contain only Summaries of the draft of the Revision of the Design Examination Standard in Japanese. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the incomplete English version.

1. DATES:

Written Comments in English must be received on or before February 28 (Sun.), 2010

*Written Comments in Japanese must be received on or before February 28 (Sun.), 2010

2. SUBMISSIONS:

Comments may be submitted by postal mail, E-mail or facsimile. Please also include your name and contact address.

Postal mail

Design Examination Standards Office, Japan Patent Office.

3-4-3 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, TOKYO 100-8915, JAPAN

Attn:COMMENT ON DRAFT EXAMINATION STANDARD (Examination Procedures)

E-mail

PA1D00@jpo.go.jp

Subject:COMMENT ON DRAFT EXAMINATION STANDARD (Examination Procedures)

Facsimile

+81-3-3595-2766

To:Design Examination Standards Office, Japan Patent Office.

Re:COMMENT ON DRAFT EXAMINATION STANDARD (Examination Procedures)

3. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

- Comments shall be written in English or Japanese.

- Comments shall be submitted by postal mail, E-mail, or facsimile.

- Received comments may be open to the public, with the exception of any personal information (your address, telephone number, etc.).

-These English documents are unofficial translations. Only the original Japanese texts of the Design Examination Standard have effect, and the translations are to be used solely as reference material to aid in the understanding of the revision of the Design Examination Standards.

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[Last updated 29 January, 2010]