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The Japan Patent Office (hereinafter, the “JPO”) has announced the commencement of a pilot plan for the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies, in which the examination is conducted at the applicant’s requested timing (12 to 24 months from the request for examination) for patent applications involving technologies intended to become the industrial standard. Details will be explained in Section 2(3). Note that the applicant wishing to utilize this pilot plan examination must make a preliminary application to be eligible. The initial preliminary application period extends from July 1, 2026, to July 31, 2026.

1. Background

In recent years, standardization has played a critical role in the industrial world in disseminating products and services. The “standardization” here refers to activities for simplification, unification, and harmonization. The agreements established and documented through these activities are generally called “standards”. The standardization process and the examination process operate independently, and generally, the standardization process takes longer than the examination process. This discrepancy was also identified as a challenge to overcome by the International Standard Strategy Subcommittee of the Cabinet Secretariat.

• • The standardization process and the patent examination process operate independently. It is difficult for businesses to align the timing of both processes.
  • If patent examination and granting occur before standardization activities are finalized, it becomes difficult to secure patent rights that reflect the progress of the standardization activities.
  • Companies need timely patenting of applications related to standardization tailored to the progress of standardization activities.
  • Companies also wish to obtain patent rights for multiple standard-related applications together.

Cited from Reference 5

2. Procedures for Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies

(1) Eligible Patent Applications

To be eligible for the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies, a patent application must satisfy all of the following requirements:

• The patent application must relate to a technology for which the applicant, or the organization (e.g., company) to which the inventor belongs, is conducting standardization activities (activities to establish and promote standards).
• The patent application must be listed in the application number list submitted during the preliminary procedures described in section (3)(i) below. (If an international application number is listed, this requirement applies to the patent application that has entered the national phase in via the JPO).

(2) Official Fees

No official fee is payable to the JPO when requesting participation in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies.

(3) Procedure Flow

The figure below outlines the general flow of the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies. The following sections explain each procedure with reference to this figure.

(i) Preliminary Procedure

Applicants who wish to participate in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies must first apply for this program as a preliminary procedure. Applications are accepted every July from the applicants wishing to participate in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies during the one-year period from October 1 of that year to September 30 of the following year. Applicants must submit a list of application numbers for which participation is planned during that one-year period.

Example: For preliminary applications in July 2026
Applications are accepted from applicants wishing to participate in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies during the one-year period from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2027.

Applying to this preliminary procedure does not guarantee the eligibility for the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies. Instead, it is a process to receive a quota, i.e., the number of requests for participation in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies to be accepted. The quota will be determined from the list of the application numbers submitted in the preliminary procedure by comprehensively considering factors such as the estimated number of requests for participation in such Examinations to be made for the one-year period along with the past record of requests submitted for this initiative. After the period for the preliminary procedure, the JPO notifies each applicant of the quota by technical theme (technical scope) every year between August and September.

(ii) Request for participation

If an applicant, having received the notification of quota (described in section (i) above), intends to participate in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies, in each patent application for which the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies is desired, the applicant is required to submit documents such as:

• a request form describing the preferred timing to start examination (within 12 to 24 months from the time a request for examination is filed) and details of the standardization; and
• a statement indicating the applicant’s intention to participate in the initiative.

Note that the total number of applications must not exceed the quota announced after the preliminary procedure deadline. Additionally, while a single request form may list multiple standardization-related patent applications together, a statement must be submitted separately for each patent application.

Request Form

• Name of the applicant
• Application number(s) of the patent application(s) seeking participation in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies
• Desired timing for starting examination
• Explanation of the standardization (name of the organization or body developing standardization technology; estimated timeline/timing for standardization technology development; description on the nature of the standardization technology to be developed)
• Contact person information on the applicant side (name, affiliation, phone number, email address)

Statement

• Name of the organization or body where the applicant, or the organization (e.g., company) to which the inventor belongs, is conducting standardization activities
• Desired timing to start examination
• Statement requesting participation in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies

Both the request form and the statement must be submitted within five business days from the date of the request for examination. Due to this short deadline, applicants in practice often submit both documents simultaneously with the request for examination, as indicated by “Request for examination & Request for participation” in the general flow chart above. Note that an application becomes eligible for the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies only when both documents are submitted within the deadline; submitting only one of the documents will render the application ineligible.

(iii) Post-Application Workflow

After submitting a request for participation in the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies, the workflow is as follows. In principle, the examination is scheduled to start in the month specified by the applicant in the request form and statement as the desired timing for the commencement of the examination.

1) Notification of JPO Coordinator

The JPO notifies, by email, the applicant’s contact person of the contact information for the assigned JPO coordinator, four months prior to the scheduled examination start month.

2) Interview

The applicant’s contact person contacts the JPO coordinator for schedule arrangement, and conducts an interview with the Examiner typically about one month prior to the scheduled examination start month.

(a) Prior to the Interview (whenever possible):

The applicant amends the claims as necessary so that the scope of rights corresponds to the content of the standardization technology.

(b) During the Interview:

The applicant (e.g., the applicant themselves or IP department personnel capable of providing responsible responses) provides explanations on the positioning of the target standardization technology within the standardization strategy, the relationship between the standardization technology and the application, and the technical details of each application.

3) Start of Examination

The examiner in charge of the Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies commences the examination as soon as possible on or after the scheduled examination start month.

3. Expected Effects of Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies

The Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies enables flexible examination tailored to the progress of standards development (standardization) for patent applications related to technologies in which the applicant, or the organization (e.g., company) to which the inventor belongs, is conducting standardization activities.

Cited from Reference 1

References:

1. Japan Patent Office (JPO): “Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies (Pilot Program)“
2. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI): “Trial Launch of ‘Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies’ in Patent Examination“
3. Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA): “What are Intellectual Property Rights? > Standardization“
4. Japan Patent Office (JPO): “Guidelines for Patent Examination to Support Standardization Strategies” (PDF)
5. Cabinet Secretariat: “Agenda for the 10th Meeting of the Task Force on Global Standardization Strategy” – “Reference Material 4: Progress on the Japanese-style Standardization Acceleration Model (METI Document)” (PDF)

Etsuko Nagano