On July 15, 2022, the Cabinet approved “Cabinet Order for Determining the Date of Enforcement of a Portion of the Law for Partial Amendment of the Patent Law, etc.” and the “Cabinet Order for Partial Amendment of the Order on Fees Related to the Patent Law, etc.”

With this Cabinet’s decision, the effective date of the new remedy for the failure to file by the 30-month deadline for national entry in Japan was decided as April 1, 2023.

Further, the JPO’s official fee for each remedy per case are as follows:

 Patent:               212,000 JPY
 Utility Model:   21,800 JPY
 Design:              24,500 JPY
 Trademark:       86,400 JPY

The requirements for the restoration of patent/utility model/design/trademark rights that have lapsed due to the expiration of a procedural period have been relaxed from “having justifiable grounds” to “not intentionally.”

In addition, under the Cabinet’s decision, two-tiered payment of individual fees for international applications for trademark registration under the Madrid Protocol has been abolished and a lump-sum payment is now possible.