Japan Patent Office
Encyclopedia
Government of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
in charge of industrial property right
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
affairs, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan)
The or METI, is a ministry of the Government of Japan. It was created by the 2001 Central Government Reform when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry merged with agencies from other ministries related to economic activities, such as the Economic Planning Agency.METI, which used to be...
. The Japan Patent Office is located in Kasumigaseki
Kasumigaseki
Kasumigaseki is a district in Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is the location of most of Japan's cabinet ministry offices...
, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Chiyoda, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English, it is called Chiyoda ward. As of October 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 45,543 and a population density of 3,912 people per km², making it by far the least populated of the special wards...
and is one of the world's largest patent office
Patent office
A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
s.
The Japan Patent Office's mission is to promote the growth of the Japanese economy and industry by administering the laws relating to patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s, utility model
Utility model
A utility model is an intellectual property right to protect inventions. This right is available in a number of national statutes, as described below...
s, design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
s, and trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s. (Copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
affairs are administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs
Agency for Cultural Affairs
The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education . It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. As of April 2007, it is led by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Tamotsu Aoki....
.) In 2005, the Japan Patent Office received 427,078 patent applications, 11,386 utility model applications, 39,254 design applications, and 125,807 trademark applications; it registered 122,944 patents, 10,573 utility model rights, 32,633 design rights, and 97,939 trademark rights in the same year. http://www.jpo.go.jp/shiryou_e/toushin_e/kenkyukai_e/kenkyukai_e_list.htm
The JPO cooperates with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
(USPTO) and the European Patent Office
European Patent Office
The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...
(EPO) as one of the Trilateral Patent Offices.
Organization
The Japan Patent Office is headed by a commissioner and consists of seven departments: http://www.jpo.go.jp/shoukai_e/soshiki_e/sosikie.htm- General Affairs Department
- Trademark, Design, and Administrative Affairs Department, in charge of examining trademark right applications, design right applications and formalities check of all applications including patent applications
- First Patent Examination Department, examining patent applications related to applied physicsApplied physicsApplied physics is a general term for physics which is intended for a particular technological or practical use.It is usually considered as a bridge or a connection between "pure" physics and engineering....
, opticsOpticsOptics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
, and architectureArchitectureArchitecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art... - Second Patent Examination Department, examining patent applications related to machinery
- Third Patent Examination Department, examining patent applications related to chemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, pharmacyPharmacyPharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, and biotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose... - Fourth Patent Examination Department, examining patent applications related to electronicsElectronicsElectronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
, telecommunicationTelecommunicationTelecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
, and information technologyInformation technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications... - Appeals Department
The commissioner of the JPO is appointed from among the higher officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan)
The or METI, is a ministry of the Government of Japan. It was created by the 2001 Central Government Reform when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry merged with agencies from other ministries related to economic activities, such as the Economic Planning Agency.METI, which used to be...
and generally serves for at most two years. The present commissioner is Takashi Suzuki
Takashi Suzuki (government official)
is a Japanese public official.Suzuki graduated from Kyoto University and joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1973. He was appointed General Manager of the Washington office of Japan National Oil Corporation in May 1988, Deputy Director-General of the Agency for Natural...
.
History
During the Edo periodEdo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
discouraged inventions in order to preserve the stability of the feudal society. In fact, Tokugawa Yoshimune
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
, the eighth shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
of the Tokugawa dynasty, decreed in 1721 the "Ban on Novelty" (新規御法度 shinki gohatto), which was intended to prohibit everything novel, especially clothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
of rich design.
In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate ended and a new reformist government took its place (the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
). The government studied the Great Powers and adopted a national policy of emulating them in various government areas. Industrial property rights were recognized as a means for catching up to Western governments.
The first patent law in Japan was thus established in 1871, though it was abandoned in the next year. Today, the founding date of Japanese patent law and of the Japan's patent office is considered to be April 18, 1885, when the "Patent Monopoly Act" (專賣特許條例 senbai tokkyo jōrei) was enacted. In 1899, Japan acceded to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property...
. Takahashi Korekiyo
Takahashi Korekiyo
Viscount was a Japanese politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Japan from 13 November 1921 to 12 June 1922. He was known as an expert on finance during his political career.-Early life :...
was the first commissioner of the JPO.
The first patent was granted for Hotta Zuisho (堀田 瑞松), a lacquerware craftsman, on August 14, 1885. The patent granted to him was for an anticorrosive paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
containing lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
, which effectively protected ship bottoms from corrosion
Corrosion
Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
.
In 1978, Japan acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty
Patent Cooperation Treaty
The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states...
(PCT). In 1980, the JPO adopted the International Patent Classification
International Patent Classification
The International Patent Classification is a hierarchical patent classification system created under the Strasbourg Agreement and updated on a regular basis by a Committee of Experts, consisting of representatives of the Contracting States of that Agreement with observers from other...
, discarding its own patent classification.
Miscellaneous
The Japan Patent Office (JPO), the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property OfficeKorean Intellectual Property Office
The Korean Intellectual Property Office is the patent office and intellectual property office of South Korea. In 2000, the name of the office was changed from "Korean Industrial Property Office" to "Korean Intellectual Property Office". It is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City...
(KIPO) are sometimes referred to as "Asian Trilateral Offices".
See also
- Japanese patent lawJapanese patent lawJapanese patent law is based on the first-to-file principle and is mainly given force by the Patent Act of Japan. Article 2 defines an invention as "the highly advanced creation of technical ideas by which a law of nature is utilized"...
- F-termF-term (patent law)In Japanese patent law, F-term is a system for classifying Japanese patent documents according to the technical features of the inventions described in them. It is not a replacement for the International Patent Classification or other patent classifications, but complements other systems by...
, a patent classification used by JPO - Intellectual Property High CourtIntellectual Property High CourtThe Intellectual Property High Court , sometimes abbreviated IPHC, is a special branch of Tokyo High Court in the judicial system of Japan. It is based in Kasumigaseki, a district in Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, Japan....
- Japan Intellectual Property AssociationJapan Intellectual Property AssociationThe Japan Intellectual Property Association is a non-profit, non-governmental organization and bar association representing "industries and users of the intellectual property system". It was established in 1938...
(JIPA) - Takashi SuzukiTakashi Suzuki (government official)is a Japanese public official.Suzuki graduated from Kyoto University and joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1973. He was appointed General Manager of the Washington office of Japan National Oil Corporation in May 1988, Deputy Director-General of the Agency for Natural...
- Makoto NakajimaMakoto Nakajimawas the commissioner of the Japan Patent Office until he was succeeded by Tetsuhiro Hosono.-Government service:Upon graduating from the University of Tokyo with a law degree, Nakajima began working in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in April 1974. On May 1988, the Industrial...
- Trilateral Patent Offices
- European Patent OfficeEuropean Patent OfficeThe European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...
(EPO) - United States Patent and Trademark OfficeUnited States Patent and Trademark OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
(USPTO)