Trademark Status Report |
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| May, 1998 |
With the accelerated economic globalization in recent years, the Japanese
Patent Office (JPO) has improved the Trademark Law in 1996. The revised
law has been implemented since April 1997. Here, I would like to briefly
explain the present trademark circumstances in the JPO.
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1. Administration under the revised Trademark Law
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We have received about 188,000 and 133,000 trademark applications in 1996
and 1997 respectively. In 1997, the number of application filings dramatically
decreased. This is because the system requiring right holders to file an
application for a renewal of his/her registration was abolished, and the
multi-class application system was introduced. The trends in trademark
applications during April ? December 1997 are as follows: the total number
of applications for standard-character trademarks is approximately 29,600
(about 32.6 percent); three-dimensional trademarks approx. 1,500 (about
1.6 percent); and collective trademarks approx. 60 (about 0.1 percent).
Moreover, the multi-class applications approx. 12,900 (about 14.2 percent),
and the average designation number of classes for a multi-class application
is about four.
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With the revision of the Trademark Law and in order to satisfy emerging
needs, the JPO has made various efforts to improve its organization and
systems administration. Specifically, our efforts include the following.
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a) Improvement of our examination system and administration in order to
deal with multi-class applications; |
| b) Establishment of examination standards for three-dimensional trademarks; |
| c) Improvement of appeals/trials system taking into consideration the post-grant
opposition system; |
| d) Establishment of the accelerated-examination system regarding the applications
for which copying or infringement have occurred; |
| e) Earlier publication of the list of filed trademarks (CD-ROMs) with the
aim of promoting information provision by any third parties with regard
to trademark registration applications; and |
f) Allowance of change of the category of goods in a registered trademark
established under the former classification of goods into a category under
the current classification.
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2. Accelerated examination and appeals/trials.
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| It is an important task of the JPO, as one of the world's top IP offices
in the number of received applications, to secure a prompt and accurate
administration of examination and trials/appeals. As regards trademark
application, for example, we have been exploring ways to shorten the first-action
(FA) period (from the date of filing to the sending date of first notification
of reasons for refusal or decision of registration) from the average of
22 months in 1996 to the average of 12 months by the year 2000. Our current
efforts include: |
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a) Increasing the number of examiners; |
| b) Various measures, including active outsource of services, targeted at
having examiners concentrate on the work of making decisions; and |
c) Revision of the examination system and procedures.
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3. Promotion of the Trademark Paperless Plan
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As regards the Trademark Paperless Plan, we have been developing a system,
which is to start operation by January 2000, with the aim of starting examination
procedures earlier, shortening the period of time for administration/examination
disposition, and making the work of sending documents more effective. Moreover,
we plan to achieve these aims by establishing an electronic filing system
that will allow an application filing from a personal computer, pursuing
formality examination and substantial examination procedures at the same
time, and computerizing formality examination procedures.
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In addition, we are now at the business of streamlining the work of and
realizing a real-time trademark search as well as the development of a
system that will help establish an examination system actively utilizing
electronic information.
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4. Dissemination measures of trademark information
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As regards dissemination of trademark information, we have been positively
promoting such measures as publication of trademark-information databases,
and provision of the list of trademarks included in applications filed.
Recently, moreover, we have been making efforts to provide more appropriate
conditions for an easier and quicker access to trademark information with
less money, against the background of recent dramatic development of information-processing
or telecommunications technologies.
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Specifically, our efforts in 1998 include the preparations for the provision
using the Internet of the data concerning trademark applications and registered
trademarks, and the list of well-known and famous trademarks. In addition,
we plan to issue trademark gazettes through an electronic medium by the
year 2000.
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5. Protection of trademark rights on an international scale
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The JPO has been positively participated in the discussions in such organizations
as the TRIPS Council, WIPO, and the APEC, because we strongly believe that
the establishment of an industrial-property protection system on an international
scale is an indispensable element for the promotion of trade and investment
activities and smoother technology transfers and thus international harmonization
efforts of industrial property system/administration should be actively
promoted. The JPO's major actions include the following.
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a) Participation in the Trademark Law Treaty |
| b) Protection efforts of well-known trademarks |
| c) Address to the issues concerning domain names and trademarks |
| d) Discussion on participation in the Madrid Protocol |
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Furthermore, the JPO has been positively promoting exchange of human resources
against the backdrop of the recent increasing needs to raise the protection
level of industrial property rights in Asian countries/economies.
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Our major efforts in this regard include: the so-called 1,000 Trainee Project
in which we are to receive the total of 1,000 trainees from the Asia-Pacific
nations by the year 2000 with the aim of fostering the human resources
involved in the work of systems administration; and dispatch of experts
of the JPO based on such systems as the WIPO Japan Fund. As regards the
1,000 Trainee Project started in 1996, we have received more than 500 persons
by March 1998.
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We will continue our efforts to make these training programs more substantial.
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