- Discount Programs for SME, venture companies and individual business owners - New Platform for Patent Information Mitsuru Inoue JPAA International Activities Center

2 Discount Programs which are discussed in this presentation are applicable to: - Examination fee (for patent applications) and - 1st-10th annuities (for patents) Calculation formulas without discount: - Examination fee (for non-PCT) = 118,000 (yen) + N x 4,000 (yen) -Total of 1 st -10 th annuities = 154,000 (yen) + N x 12,000 (yen) (N: the number of claims) Discount Programs

3 Calculated fees in example cases without discount Discount Programs Examination fee and 1 st -10 th annuities are reduced to 1/3 or 1/2 of the above depending on the applicable Program.

Discount Programs Program 1. for SME, Ventures Companies and Individuals -1A. for small sized Individual businesses -1B. for young Individual businesses -1C. for small-sized Enterprises -1D. ｆ or young and medium-sized Enterprises Program 2. for young individual businesses Program 3. for young and medium-sized Enterprises Program 4. for R&D type SME Program 5. Academic Discount... etc. 4 JPO is providing:

Discount Programs 5 Terms and Reduction Rate of the Programs Request for Examination should be filed in

Discount Programs 6 *1) 5 or less for applicants in service industries. *2) ND: Non-Domination requirement - no more than 1/2 of the shares is owned by another Juristic Person; and - no more than 2/3 of the shares is owned by other Juristic Persons Conditions for Programs 1A-1D

7 Discount Programs

8 Conditions for Programs 2-4 *2) ND: Non-Domination *3,4): for manufacturing companies (other numbers are applied for other industries) *5) Expense Rate: R&D expense must exceed 3% of the total income Conditions for Programs 2 and 3 are the same as in Programs 1B and 1D.

Information Platform 9 - INPIT is providing an on-line search service for JP patent, utility model, design and trademark information. - The current service “IPDL” will be replaced by the new service “J-PlatPat” with some changes on March 23, 2015.

Information Platform 10

11 Information Platform PAJ page (Current)

12 PAJ page (New) Information Platform

13 Information Platform Patent Map Guidance (New)

Appendix 14

15 Details of Discounts under Program 1-4 Discount Programs For 10 claims (1 US Dollar = 107 yen) Regular Fees (Basic + Claims) Program 1A-1D 1/3 of Regular Fees (Total as Rounded) Programs 2-4 1/2 of Regular Fees (Total) Request for Examination for Non-PCT118, ,000 yen52,660 yen79,000 yen for PCT national phase: ISA is other than JPO 106, ,000 yen47,330 yen71,000 yen Annual Fee / Registration Fee 1-3rd year, annually11, ,000 yen7,130 yen10,700 yen 4-6th year, annually17, ,000 yen10,630 yen15,950 yen 7-9th year, annually35, ,000 yen21,260 yen31,900 yen 10th year71, ,000 yen42,530 yen63,800 yen

16 Other Discount Programs Program 5: Academic Discount - 1/2 of Regular “Examination Fee” and “1-3rd Registration Fees” - Applicable to Universities and Researchers of Universities - The term “University” is defined in “School Education Act.” Program 6: “Act for Promotion of Japan as an Asian Business Center” - 1/2 of Regular “Examination Fee” and “1-10th Registration and Annual Fees” - For R&D type Small-sized Enterprises as defined by the Act Discount Programs

17 Why “J-PlatPat”? In order to meet the increasingly sophisticated and diversified needs, the Japan Platform for Patent Information (J-PlatPat), which is a new service to provide patent information, will be provided from March 23, Any New Services? - Non-traditional trademark - Collaboration with Non-patent literature Database “J-Global” (maybe, only in Japanese) - [Future Plans] References to patent family information, and cooperation in services with other foreign IP Offices (Source: JPO Website) Information Platform

18 Any good references for Japanese Patent information? “Asian patent information” by EPO Searching in databases - Japan Tips & tricks for searching in databases - Number search and document retrieval - English machine translation - Legal status information - FI/F-Terms - Searching designs Information Platform

THANK YOU Mitsuru Inoue INOUE Patent Office