Invitation for Public Comments on the Draft Revision of Examination Guidelines

February 10, 2022
Japan Patent Office
Administrative Affairs Division
Examination Standards Office

The draft revision of Examination Guidelines is prepared based on the policy to restrict multi-multi claims presented in the report of the  Fundamental Issues Subcommittee under the Intellectual Property Committee of the Industrial Structure Council, which was compiled in February 2021, and the results of the study conducted at the 16th meeting of the Working Group on the Patent Examination Standards supervised by the Patent System Subcommittee under the said Committee (held on December 15, 2021). We invite public comments as outlined below.

• (Note) "Multi-multi claims" restricted by the revised ministerial ordinance means " claims that alternatively refer to two or more other claims (multi-claims) that alternatively refer to two or more other claims. "

If a patent application or utility model application filed after the enforcement of the Regulations under the Patent Law and the Regulations under the Utility Model Law regarding the restriction of multi-multi claims (the enforcement date is scheduled to be April 1, 2022) includes multi-multi claims, the patent application will be notified of reasons for refusal for violation of Article 36(6)(iv) of the Patent Act. In the case of a utility model application, an order to amend will be issued as the claims do not meet the requirements (basic requirements) provided in Article 6bis of the Utility Model Act. The revised proposal of the examination standards explains their specific operation.

1. Subjects on which comments are invited

• Comparative Table of “Restriction of multi-multi claims” (PDF: 189KB)

2. Due date

Written comments must be received on or before Friday, March 11 2022.

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" 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" 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 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 an individual commenter, the concerned descriptions will be concealed prior to the release of the comment to the public.
• The personal information included 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 to contact you in the event that we have any questions concerning your comments.

[Last updated 10 February 2022]

Contact Us

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