Invitation for Public Comments on the Draft Revision of Examination Guidelines

February 6, 2019
Japan Patent Office
Administrative Affairs Division
Examination Standards Office

The draft revision of Examination Guidelines has been prepared based on the discussions at the 13th meeting of the Working Group on the Patent Examination Standards supervised by the Patent System Subcommittee under the Intellectual Property Committee of the Industrial Structure Council. We invite public comments as outlined below.

1. Subject on which comments are invited

Document 1:
Draft revision of Examination Guidelines for Extension of Patent Term as Compensation for the Curtailment of the Term (Patent Act Article 67(2)) (PDF:151KB)

Document 2:
Draft revision of Examination Guidelines for Extension of Patent Term for Pharmaceutical Inventions (Patent Act Article 67(4)) (PDF:127KB)

• ※ There is no substantive amendment in Document 2. A formal amendment is made to number items of Article etc. as in Patent Act and other laws/regulations, and to add the description that the duration of patent term (the time length in the year-month-day format) is calculated in accordance with the calendar though it has conventionally been adopted at JPO. The amended parts are highlighted in the text. Comments on Document 2 are invited in regard to these amended parts.

2. Due date

Written comments must be received on or before Friday, March 8, 2019.

3. Submission of comments

Please give us your name*, contact information and occupation, and send us your comments via one of the following methods:

* If you are a corporate body or an institution, please give us the name of the body, department, and person in charge.

E-mail

PA2A10@jpo.go.jp

Please use "Written comments on the draft revision of Examination Guidelines in Feb. 2019" as the subject line.

Facsimile

+81-3-3580-8122
To the attention of: Examination Standards Office, Administrative Affairs Div., Patent and Design Examination Depart., Japan Patent Office

Please use "Written comments on the draft revision of Examination Guidelines" as the subject line.

Postal mail

To the attention of: Examination Standards Office, Administrative Affairs Div., Patent and Design Examination Depart., Japan Patent Office
3-4-3 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-8915, Japan

Please use "Written comments on the draft revision of Examination Guidelines in Feb. 2019" as the subject line.

4. Notes

Please note the following

• The comments submitted to us will be collectively taken into consideration when we make the final decisions. It is not our intention to respond to individual comments. In principle, no replies will be offered to inquiries on hypothetical cases and comments unrelated to this revision.
• We do not accept comments and inquiries by telephone.
• All the descriptions excepting your name and contact information may be released to the public. However, if a comment contains personal information that could make it possible to identify a specific individual, the concerned descriptions will be concealed prior to the release of the comment to the public.
• The personal information received with your comments, such as your name, contact information etc., will be managed appropriately, and will only be used for administrative affairs related to the invitation for public comments, such as to contact you in the event that we have any questions concerning your comments.

[Last updated 6 February 2019]

Contact Us

Administrative Affairs Division Examination Standards Office, Japan Patent Office E-mail: PA2A10@jpo.go.jp