Report on FY2021 Annual User Satisfaction Survey on Patent Examination Quality

January 2022
Quality Management Office
Administrative Affairs Division

To achieve the utmost quality in the world in terms of patent examination, it is essential to accurately understand the needs and expectations of users such as applicants and third parties. Therefore, we have conducted a user satisfaction survey on patent examination annually since the first Survey in FY2012 was conducted.

We are pleased to announce that we have published our report on the FY2021 Survey results.

In this report, a 5-point scale (Satisfied, Somewhat satisfied, Neutral, Somewhat unsatisfied, and Unsatisfied) is used to indicate the level of satisfaction with the overall quality of patent examination on national applications and the international search and preliminary examination on PCT applications in FY2020. The Survey was conducted from May to June, 2021, and achieved a response rate of over 80% (640 out of 737 respondents surveyed). We would like to take this opportunity to thank our users for their cooperation in the Survey.

Respondents at the rate of 95.1% evaluated the level of satisfaction with the overall quality of patent examination on national applications (overall satisfaction level) as neutral or higher, with positive responses (the sum of “Satisfied” and “Somewhat satisfied”) of 63.0%.

Respondents at the rate of 97.4% evaluated the level of satisfaction with the overall quality of the international search and international preliminary examination on PCT applications (overall satisfaction level) as neutral or higher, with positive responses of 62.7%.

Many respondents expressed their expectations for improvement in “communication with examiners in face-to-face interviews and telephone conversations” in the comment boxes. With regard to this, we enhanced its video-conference service for interview examinations and developed a means for its examiners working remotely to reach users by telephone in April, 2021.

After analyzing the survey results, the Quality Management Office concluded that we should focus on “consistency of judgements among examiners”, “consistency of judgements among examiners on Article 29 (2): inventive step” and “consistency of judgements in the international phase”. We will strive to share expertise on examination and to improve consistency of judgements through consultations among examiners.

We will thus commit to making continuous efforts to maintain and improve examination quality.

• Report on FY2021 Annual User Satisfaction Survey on Patent Examination Quality (PDF: 1,522KB)

[Last updated 27 January 2022]

Contact

Quality Management Office Administrative Affairs Division Patent and Design Examination Department Japan Patent Office TEL：+81-3-3581-1101 (ex. 3121) E-mail:PA2A30@jpo.go.jp