F-term revision information

June 2024

The JPO reviews F-terms (*) in order to see whether it can be improved or corrected on a constant basis, and, as a result, revisions are made every year of F-terms, including the development of new lists of F-terms, so as to catch up the technological progress in several technical areas (i.e., “themes”).

Once new lists of F-term are created, new F-terms are assigned to the patent documents to which relevant (old) F-terms have already been assigned, which is called "reassignment" to the backlogs, as well as to newly filed patent applications. Reassignment is performed by manual assignment, mechanical assignment, or a combination of these. Note that, in some cases, such reassignment requires several years to complete and therefore, it may be necessary to use both old and new F-terms for prior art searches until the reassignment is completed.

You can retrieve the lists of themes for which F-term revision is planned and those for which reassignment of F-terms is planned and/or ongoing below.

* F-terms are JPO's original search keys that cover multiple aspects (e.g., purpose, use, structure, material, manufacturing method, processing and operational method, and means of control) prepared for a relevant technical area ("theme").

To find themes for which reassignment of F-terms is ongoing or planned.(PDF:58KB)

[Last updated 12 June 2024]

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Search Information Policy Planning Section Administrative Affairs Division Japan Patent Office Fax:+81-3-3580-8122 E-mail：PA0L20@jpo.go.jp