Report on FY2023 Annual User Satisfaction Survey on Patent Examination Quality

October 2023
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 FY2023 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 FY2022. The Survey was conducted from May to June, 2023, and achieved a response rate of over 80% (592 out of 745 respondents surveyed). We would like to take this opportunity to thank our users for their cooperation in the Survey.

Respondents at the rate of 96.6% 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 61.1%.

Respondents at the rate of 97.1% 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 63.7%.

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," as these items received lower levels of satisfaction in spite of having a more significant influence on the satisfaction with the overall quality of both patent examination on national applications and the international search and international preliminary examination on PCT applications. We will strive to work toward improving the consistency of judgements among examiners by promoting knowledge-sharing through consultations among examiners, while utilizing statistical data related to examination.

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

• Report on FY2023 Annual User Satisfaction Survey on Patent Examination Quality (PDF: 2,254KB)

[Last updated 20 October 2023]

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