27 November 2014Jurisdiction reportsHiroshi Hari

The JPO's new strategy

The BPPIP sets out policy goals such as: (1) supporting innovative research aimed at putting to practical use Japan’s basic research in the fields where it is said to be the best in the world, for example induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research, (2) revitalising Japan as a top-level-technology nation, and (3) reforming Japan as an IP-oriented nation by mobilising people’s creativity and ideas.

The basic policies set out in the BPPIP include:

1. Reducing application-filing fees and examination-request fees, to encourage small enterprises to develop their business overseas;

2. Achieving high-quality patent examinations that match global standards in regards to speed and quality;

3. Harmonising Japan’s design patent system with the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, so that Japanese enterprises can obtain design patents worldwide, including in developing countries;

4. Establishing, in 2015, a patent search system that enables access to Chinese language patent documents within six months of the JPO receiving the patent data; and

5. Reviewing the employee invention system.

On August 27, 2014, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced that it will launch a new strategy to achieve the second of the goals above.

The JPO’s new strategy

To help with this strategy, the JPO has prepared guidelines for achieving high-quality patent examinations.

These allow the JPO to establish a new section within its Administrative Affairs Division, to be named the Examination Quality Control Subdivision, as well as two advisory committees, which will respectively be named the In-House Committee for Examination Quality Control and the External Subcommittee for Examination Quality Control. The members of the External Subcommittee will be selected from outside the JPO.

The JPO is also to appoint a group of quality control examiners.

"the JPO has announced several policies—some of which have already been implemented—aimed at improving Japan’s IP system."

The members of the In-House Committee for Examination Quality Control have been selected from the JPO’s chief examiners, ie, heads of examining units. The In-House Committee is responsible for: (1) checking examinations on a random basis, and (2) by considering both the decisions made by JPO appeal examiners and  applicants’ evaluations of examinations, identifying problems facing each of the JPO’s examining units and providing information that will be useful to the JPO in making policies in the future.

These quality control examiners are experienced JPO examiners and former JPO chief examiners. They check examinations on a random basis and give information to the examiners and/or chief examiners concerning the quality of the examinations.

The External Subcommittee for Examination Quality Control has been created within the IP Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Industrial Structure. The members of the External Subcommittee have been selected from professionals in the business and legal fields, and include scholars. The IP External Subcommittee’s first meeting was held on September 10, 2014.

The External Subcommittee aims to independently evaluate the JPO’s examination control activities and the effectiveness of the examination control system, thereby enabling the identification of problems that prevent the JPO from achieving its goal of providing the world’s highest quality examinations.

Comments

Following the Japanese cabinet’s approval last year of the country’s BPPIP the JPO has announced several policies—some of which have already been implemented—aimed at improving Japan’s IP system, such as those relating to patents, designs, utility models and trademarks.

The strategy reported on in this article—aimed, with the help of feedback from within and outside the JPO, at providing the world’s highest quality examinations— can be said to be unique.

Also, the JPO’s strategy to establish a patent-search system that enables access to Chinese language patent documents within six months of the JPO receiving the patent data within 2015 has been studied carefully because of the recent tight trading relationship of Japan and China.

Hiroshi Hari is a patent attorney at the Kyosei International Patent Office. He can be contacted at: info@kyosei.or.jp

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