Changes Due to New Postal Regulation
According to Article 19 in the Japanese patent law, when applications and other documents with deadlines such as amendments are sent to Japan Patent Office, the day they are received at the post office will be considered to be the date on which they were submitted. The purpose of this law is to eliminate disadvantages caused by different geographical distances between the applicants and the Japan Patent Office.
With the recent privatization of post office, some types of mail are no longer considered as first class mail under Article 19 as of October 1, 2007. If an applicant sends documents in these types of mail, the documents will be considered as having been submitted on the day they arrived at the Japan Patent Office.
Types of mail which will not be considered as first class mail are listed below:
- You-packs (general parcels)
- EXPACK500 packages
- Small packets
- Booklet parcels
Regarding the first class mails, the day they are received at the post office will continue to be considered as the date on which they were submitted.
For more information, please refer to the homepage below:
http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/link.cgi?url=/tetuzuki/t_sonota/yuubinnbututeisyutubi.htm