24.04.2009
Posted in Patent Offices, Trademarks, Patents, Japan at 18:17 pm by TMSJ
The 2008 Revised Patent Act, Design Act and Trademark Act included the extension of the period for filing an appeal against an examiner’s final decision of rejection of an application. The new periods have become effective starting on April 1, 2009.
The revision extended the period for appeals against the rejection of patent, design and trademark applications, as well as the period for filing an appeal against an examiner’s final decision of rejection for a dismissal of an amendment for Japanese design and trademark applications for Japanese applicants from 30 days to three months.
For non-Japanese applicants the changes are the following:
1. For patents, according to the old law, the period for filing an appeal against an examiner’s final decision of rejection is a maximum of 90 days (a basic 30-day period with an option for a 60-day extension) plus another 30 days to file an amendment after the request for an appeal has been made. The total timeframe to file an amendment was 120 days (90 days + 30 days).
The revised provision extends this period from 90 days to four months (three months with an option for a one month extension). Applicants should take note that under the previous law the applicant could submit an amendment 30 days after the appeal was made. The new regulation however requires that the amendment is submitted concurrently with the request for an appeal within the four month period.
2. Regarding designs and trademarks the period for filing an appeal against an examiner’s final decision of rejection was 90 days (basic 30-days plus a 60-day option for an extension). The new provision provides a period of three month, which is not extendable.
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28.11.2008
Posted in Trademarks, Patents, Japan at 19:02 pm by TMSJ
From December 4 until December 5, the FICPI Japan Symposium will take place in Yokohama. Topics include recent IP developments in Japan.
For more details please visit http://www.ficpi.org.
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24.10.2008
Posted in Patents, Japan at 18:44 pm by TMSJ
From November 5 until November 7, the 2008 Patent Information Fair and Conference will take place in Tokyo. Various companies will be presenting services and solutions for intellectual property management, especially on the field of patent information.
For more details please visit http://www.business-i.net/event/pif
(only in Japanese).
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29.09.2008
Posted in Patent Offices, Trademarks, Patents, Statistics, Japan at 16:40 pm by TMSJ
The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has released its annual Report 2008. The report contains detailed information about trends and statistical data of Japanese IP rights and is certainly worth reading it.
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20.08.2008
Posted in Patent Offices, Patents, Courts and Cases, Japan at 8:44 am by TMSJ
Osakana Planning Company caused quite a stir at the International Japan Seafood Show: Japanese tuna can now expect something new – an acupuncture treatment. “The Australian” reports that the company had even obtained a patent on this technique.
Toshiro Urabe, the president of the Osakana Planning Company named better taste and less dependence on chemical preservaties as the main advantages of tuna which had been treated with the famous needles.
It is still a secret where to put the needles. We were not able to obtain a copy of the patent or patent application.
As sashimi (raw fish) is very popular in Japan, it was to be expected that the Intellectual Property High Court had to deal with tuna as well, sooner or later. The court recently dismissed an appeal of a food import company, which had filed a patent application “method for processing tuna meat for preservation” which uses the carbon monoxide gas in certain kinds of smoke to preserve the tuna meat. The application was dismissed by the JPO stating there was prior art for using CO gas for processing tuna meat for preservation. The court did not follow the plaintiff’s argument that there was a difference between CO gas contained in the smoke and pure CO gas used for conservation.
The court also briefly touched the question whether this method would possibly offend public order under food sanitation laws (possibly due to the fact that tuna treated with CO gas keeps its “fresh” color longer). The anwer was left open, but one thing is clear: Matters of Tuna are not to be taken lightly in Japan.
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