As of December 28, 2020, as part of the COVID-19 relief measures, the JPO relaxed signature requirements. As a result, signatures are not required on Power of Attorney documents for filing Applications, Appeals, Notices of Appointment of Agent, Opposition procedures, etc. This relief measure was not applied to issued cases for recording a change of ownership.

However, of June 12, 2021, an additional measure was accepted by the JPO. This measure provides that there is no need to file original hand-signed Power of Attorney documents for issued cases when recording a change of ownership and a name/address change.

Instead, the JPO also accepts Power of Attorney documents with no electronic signature (blank signature lines) but with typed name of the signatory and the date. In addition, Power of Attorney documents with an e-signature will be accepted. More specifically, for an e-signature, the name of the signatory may be typed using in the form of “/name/” together with the signed date. Please note that a scan of a handwritten signature will be rejected.