KAZUYUKI OBINATA, Patent Attorney
The Japan Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the "JPO") has been aiming at such an examination system that patent applications can be examined earlier than usual at the time when users want them to be examined, and the Super Accelerated Examination System which conducts examination much earlier than the current Accelerated Examination, started on a pilot basis on October 1st, 2008.
In this paper, a variety of procedures for examining patent applications earlier than usual such as the current Accelerated Examination or the Super Accelerated Examination System in the JPO will be introduced.
Such examination systems are the Preferential Examination System prescribed in Section 48^sexies(48-6) of the Patent Law and the Accelerated Examination/Accelerated Appeal Examination System which started in February, 1986 in order to fulfill the needs of the applicants who are in a hurry for obtaining patent rights on patent applications due to various circumstances. Incidentally, by the Accelerated Appeal Examination System, appeals against Examiner's decisions of rejection regarding patent applications are examined earlier than usual.
There are three types of Accelerated Examinations:
The "Normal Accelerated Examination" (for a working invention-related patent application, an internationally-filed patent application and the like) where the first examination result is dispatched earlier (within an average of 2.2 months after requesting the Accelerated Examination) than usual (within an average of less than 30 months after filing of a request for examination) and the final result can be received within 9 months (within an average of 5.9 months) after requesting the Accelerated Examination;
The "Patent Prosecution Highway Program" (hereinafter referred to as the "PPH") (for an application in the second country which corresponds to an application determined to be allowable/patentable in the first country); and
The "Super Accelerated Examination" (for a working invention-related and internationally-filed patent application) where the first examination result is dispatched within one month after requesting the Super Accelerated Examination. However, the Preferential Examination and Accelerated Appeal Examination have no such types as the PPH and the Super. Incidentally, when the Accelerated Appeal Examination is requested, the final result of appeal examination will be dispatched earlier (within 10 months after the appeal examination becomes possible) than usual (the first appeal examination results are dispatched within an average of 24 months after filing a request for appeal).
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