The Japan Patent Office (JPO) Plans to Implement Common Application Format Soon
In November 2007, the Trilateral Offices comprising the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the JPO have agreed on the Common Application Format which allows an applicant to file a single application that will be accepted by each office. Specification, Claims, Abstract and Drawings are scheduled to be in a common format shared by each office. The JPO is planning to start accepting the Common Application Format from January 1, 2009.
Applications filed in the Common Application Format will satisfy the formality requirements of each of the three countries, and amendments to overcome formality objections will not be necessary later when filing the application before the other Trilateral offices. Therefore, filing applications before the Trilateral Offices is expected to become easier and less expensive.
For details, please refer to the website below:
http://www.trilateral.net/