The Diet recently passed a bill to amend the Japanese Patent Law. The bill includes a new remedy for the failure to file by the 30-month deadline for national entry in Japan. The bill was submitted by the cabinet on March 2, 2021, and the bill was enacted on May 14, 2021. The bill for the law amendments was promulgated as Act No. 42 on May 21, 2021.

The date that the Act will go into effect has not yet been decided. The actual effective date will be within two years from the promulgated date, that is, by spring of 2023. The JPO will announce the actual effective date next fall, i.e., after September 2022.

This bill also covers other procedures, such as missing deadlines for filing an application in Japan based on Paris Convention, filing a request for examination, payment of annuities, etc.

The JPO’s official fee for each remedy per case in the bill are as follows:

Patent: 297,000 JPY
Utility Model: 50,000 JPY
Design: 25,000 JPY
Trademark: 102,000 JPY