Business brief 2012: Japan

Patents

How do you register or secure patent rights, and is national or international coverage most appropriate?

Applicants can apply to the Japan Patent Office (JPO) to obtain a patent. Foreign applicants can take action under the Paris Convention and/or initiate a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) national-phase application in Japan. The JPO requires a Japanese specification, but it can be filed first in English, followed later by the Japanese translation. We recommend this when translation time is short.

What are the costs of obtaining and a defending patent?

The typical basic costs for obtaining a patent are: