Announcement on Revision of the Trademark Examination Manual

March 2013

The JPO announces that the following revisions have been made on the Trademark Examination Manual.

Points of Revision

1. The partial revision of the Examination Guidelines for Trademark (10^th revision) concerning the handling of an application for trademark registration consisting of national and overseas geographical names is explained in the Trademark Examination Manual (The Trademark Examination Guidelines 41.103.03 and 41.106.52)
2. The Renewal of “Agreements between Governments Abroad and Japan” (88.01) Along with concluding a treaty between Japan and Republic of Peru concerning economic partnership, a list of Peruvian geographical indications to be protected has been added. Furthermore, a list of South Korean geographical indications has been renewed.
3. “Trademarks Indicating a Place of Origin of Wines or Spirits of WTO Member Countries as Stipulated in Article 4(1)(ⅹⅶ) of the Trademark Act” has been renewed (Appendix 2-2).
4. Making style corrections by renumbering the sections, unifying terminologies, and so on in the grounding law (Trademark Examination Manual 17.01 and 45.02)

The List of Revisions

The followings are the revised provisions.

17.01(PDF：17KB)

Regarding Notification in a Case in which a Divisional Application is Rejected

41.103.03(PDF：58KB)

Explanation of the “Handling of Trademark Application Consisting of Geographical Names in Japan and overseas”

(41.106.52)→41.103.03(PDF：58KB)

Explanation of the “Handling of Trademark Application Consisting of Geographical Names in Japan and overseas”

45.02

Handling of a Trademark Application that Overlaps with a Trademark subject to Reclassification

88.01(PDF：973KB)

Agreements between Governments Abroad and Japan

Appendix 2-2(PDF：139KB)

Trademarks Indicating a Place of Origin of Wines or Spirits of WTO Member Countries as Stipulated in Article 4(1)(ⅹⅶ) of the Trademark Act” has been renewed

Please refer to The Trademark Examination Manual for the revised Trademark Examination Manual.

[Last updated 30 January 2014]

Contact

Trademark Examination Standards Office Tel:+81-3-3581-1101 Ext. 2807 Fax: +81-3-3580-5907