Japan
PATENT ANNUITIES COUNTRY GUIDE
About this Guide
This series of Spotlight Articles developed by the Astria team, shares insights into patent annuity country rules and formalities, based on key Patent Offices (PTO) jurisdictions Worldwide. Astria’s software-enabled payments service combines; leading intuitive software, IP data integrity and outstanding paralegal services, within one solution.
This article highlights Japan, a key market for many of Wellspring’s clients.
Japan Patent Overview
In Japan, renewals are paid after the patent grants. Applicants are required to pay the first, second and third renewal fee at the time of grant. The fourth and future years must be paid annually on the anniversary of the grant date. When docketing Japanese renewal information, the grant number, grant date and number of granted claims are required.
Astria then checks these data points to accurately calculate and display the renewal year and deadline date. The renewal costs in Japan are calculated based on the number of granted claims of the patent.
Japan
Patent Office
Renewal Process
Patent Applications
Since 2014 to 2018, the number of applications filed annually in Japan have been relatively flat. In 2020, as in many patent and trademark offices (PTOs) globally, there was a large decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with filings slowly trending upwards. However, 2023 was still below filing rates prior to 2017.
Source: Japanese status report 2024
Patent Renewal Rules
As mentioned, renewals in Japan are payable after the patent grants. Therefore, if an example patent has the grant date of 22/06/2024, the 4th year renewal fee would be due on 22/06/2027.
Astria displays the routine renewal payment deadline for Japan renewals. Organizations do have the option through Astria to pause payment, as it is still possible to pay the Japan renewal during the grace period.
The grace period in Japan lasts up to 6 months with late fees applied by the PTO in Japan. The incremental, official late fee increases are displayed to Astria clients in the portal to aid the decision on when to pay a Japan renewal.
Effortless IP Renewals with Astria
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