JPO Provides Revised Guidelines For The Collective Application Process To Fit The Business Strategies Of Applicants

In July 2022, the JPO revised the collective examination guidelines to make it easier for applicants to utilize. The main revisions are as follows:

1. The guidelines clarify that the business explanation meetings and examiner interviews which may take place during collective examination will be possible both in person and online (previously there was no documentation explicitly providing for this);
2. Collective examination for a group of applications will be possible as long as a group of applications contains at least 1 patent application (previously at least 2 patent applications were required);
3. Collective examination will be possible even when examination has already started for an application in the group (previously as a general principle this was not possible); and
4. In collective examination, where accelerated examination is desired for patents and designs, it will not be necessary to submit an explanation of the circumstances why accelerated examination is being requested (an explanation will still be required for trademarks; previously, an explanation was required for patents, designs, and trademarks).

Specific information on this topic can be found here. (Japanese)

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