Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition

October 2021
Japan Patent Office

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) is leading the world in publishing examination guidelines and case examples regarding AI and IoT technologies. Now, it has released the world's first manga*-based version, namely, “Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition”. The aim of publishing them as a manga is to get people who are not patent specialists interested in patent examination.

• * Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan.

1. Contents of Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition

Videos are also available for some chapters!

• Prologue (PDF:11,321KB)
  • ​Video version of "Prologue" (YouTube video) (External link)
    
• Patent Examination for Beginner (PDF:5,164KB)
  • ​Video version of "Chapter1: Patent Examination for Beginner" (YouTube video) (External link)
    
• Patent Eligibility (PDF:17,907KB)
• Novelty (PDF:9,277KB)
• Inventive Step (PDF:11,208KB)
  • Annex: “Multi-Factor Reasoning” in the Determination of Inventive Step (issued March 2022) (PDF:4,661KB)
• Description Requirements (PDF:6,084KB)
• Epilogue (PDF:2,617KB)

2. Features of Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition

• The main characters are Ai, the president of a venture company and Ota, its employee. This will make it feel more relevant for small and medium-sized enterprises, ventures, universities, etc. As an aside, “Ai” comes from AI, or Artificial Intelligence and the combination of “Ai” and “Ota” makes “iOt”, or IoT.
• The manga explains not only the characteristic determination aspects of AI and IoT-related technologies, but also the basic concepts regarding patent examinations that are common to all technical fields. This means it can help people who are unfamiliar with the basic concepts regarding patent examinations and want to learn about them. It can also help people who are interested in technical fields other than AI and IoT.
• The manga was created by the staff in the JPO's Examination Standards Office.

3. References

• Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition (Japanese version)
• Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition (Vietnamese version) (External link)
• Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition（Thai version）（External link：Click on "法令・判例" in the links at the bottom of the page.）
• Examination Guidelines in Manga: AI/IoT Edition (Arabic version) (External link)
• Examination Guidelines for Patent and Utility Model in Japan
• Examination Handbook for Patent and Utility Model in Japan
• Examination Guidelines pertinent to IoT related technologies
• Patent Examination Case Examples pertinent to AI-related technologies

[Last updated 27 November 2023]

Contact Us

Examination Standards Office, Administrative Affairs Division, Japan Patent Office E-mail : PA2A10@jpo.go.jp   Examination Policy Planning Office, Administrative Affairs Division, Japan Patent Office E-mail : PA2260@jpo.go.jp