Annual Technical Report 2008 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Japan (SCIT/ATR/TM/2008/JP)
Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.
I. Evolution of registration activities
Changes experienced in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to the previous year
In 2008, the number of applications was 119,185 (down 16.8% from the previous year) and the number of registrations was 100,243 (down 3.8% from the previous year).
Trends or areas experiencing rapid changes with respect to the previous year
The number of applications in 2008 decreased by 16.8% compared to the previous year. This decrease is presumably attributed to the effect of the trademark system for retail and wholesale services (there was an increase during the exemption period of the trademark system for retail and wholesale services) introduced during the previous year in April 2007.
The decrease in the number of application is also presumed attributable to the recent economic downturn. It is important to closely monitor the trend in applications to ascertain the ongoing effect of this recession.
The number of international applications for trademark registration increased by 2.4% in 2008 compared to the previous year, showing the continuous trend of increase.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide statistics related to trademarks
http://www.jpo.go.jp/shiryou_e/toushin_e/kenkyukai_e/pdf/annual_report2008/part5.pdf
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
Publishing, printing, copying techniques
The Japan Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the "JPO") published the following trademark documents in 2008.
- Published Registered Trademarks: 88,718 issues
- Published Reclassification on Registered Trademarks: 28,684 issues
- Published Unexamined Trademark Applications: 105,825 issues
- Published International Trademark Applications: 12,471 issues
- Published Registered International Trademarks: 8,304 issues
- Decision on Appeal/Trial in Trademark: 4,467 issues
Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of trademark information
Nothing in particular.
Mass storage media and microforms used
Since January 2000, the JPO has been accepting on-line trademark applications (electronic applications). The JPO electronically edits the collected data acquired from electronic applications or electronic conversion of paper-based applications and compiles them and publishes the Trademark Gazettes.
The Trademark Gazette contains mixed-mode type data, composed of text data and image data, thus text search using only text data is available.
a) Published Unexamined / International Trademark Applications
Since February 2000, the JPO has been issuing Published Unexamined / International Trademark Applications in the form of CD-ROMs which include Published Unexamined Trademark Applications, Published International Trademark Applications and Published Registered International Trademarks.
A single-volume of Unexamined / International Trademark Gazette contains a total of about 2,600 issues and they were issued 50 times in 2008.
Published Unexamined Trademark Applications enables a search using 8 items as search keys, including application number, goods and/or service classification and designated goods and/or services. Published International Trademark Applications enables a search using 7 items as search keys, including international registration number, Vienna classification, and priority number. Published Registered International Trademarks enables a search using 14 items as search keys, including international registration number, classification of goods and/or services, translation of classification of goods and/or services and classification of similar-group.
b) Published Registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks:
Since January 2000, the JPO has been issuing Published Registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks in the form of CD-ROMs which include Published Registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks.
By the Trademark Law revision in 1996, a scheme was introduced to reclassify and re-register designated goods of trademarks registered before March 31, 1992 in accordance with the goods and services classification in force at the time of the submission of a reclassification registration application. The JPO has been publishing Published Reclassification on Registered Trademarks, containing the trademarks that were thus re-classified and re-registered.
A single-volume Published Registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks contains a total of about 2,400 issues and they were issued 50 times in 2008.
Published Registered Trademarks enables a search using 16 items as search keys, including registration number, goods and/or services classification, designated goods and/or services, and appeal/trial number. Published Reclassification on Registered Trademarks enables a search using 13 items as search keys, including goods classification before reclassification, designated goods before reclassification, goods classification after reclassification, and designated goods after reclassification.
The JPO has been providing viewer software free of charge for viewing the Trademark Gazette. The software is also operable on Windows English version so that it can be used in overseas Patent Offices.
Word processing and office automation
Refer to the third section of paragraph II.
Techniques used for the generation of trademark information (printing, recording, photocomposing, etc.)
Nothing in particular.
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide access to online trademark gazettes and to other sources of trademark information, including download of bulk trademark data
The following URL provides the public access to webpage including trademark information, however, no bulk data is available:
http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg_e.ipdl (Industrial Property Digital Library (hereinafter referred to as the "IPDL")).
http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Syouhyou/syouhyou.htm（the IPDL in Japanese）
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
Classification and reclassification activities; Classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification (please indicate whether goods and services for the registration of marks and whether the figurative elements of marks are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification(s) is (are) used)
a) Nice International Classification
The JPO adopted the 6th edition of the Nice Classification in April 1992, the 7th edition of the Nice Classification on January 1, 1997, the 8th edition on January 1, 2002 and the 9th edition of the Nice Classification on January 1, 2007. Since April 1, 1998, a "consolidation of classification" scheme has been implemented in order to reclassify the trademarks registered under the old Japanese classification and to reregister them in accordance with the International Classification.
b) Vienna Classification
The JPO has adopted a unique Japanese coding system to classify the figurative elements of marks.
In order to utilize the Vienna Classification, the JPO surveyed the relation between the unique Japanese coding system and the Vienna Classification from April, 1999 to March, 2000 and created the Vienna Classification Table, which has been subdivided according to the Japanese situation.
The JPO has assigned the subdivided Vienna Classification to the registered trademarks and the filed trademarks from April 2001 until March 2004. The reference by the subdivided Vienna Classification (the fifth edition) has been provided since April 2004.
Use of electronic classification systems to check the classification symbols furnished by an applicant and which are contained in the lists of goods and/or services
The classification symbols listed on the application filed by applicants are examined electronically by the names of goods and/or services classified according to the classes of Nice Classification recorded in the JPO computer system.
Obligation for applicants to use pre-defined terms of the classification applied
Nothing in particular.
Bibliographic data and processing
Classification of goods and/or services can be searched for by using the "Check Table of names of goods and services", which stores the names of goods and/or services previously adopted. This Check Table is also used to confirm the classification of designated goods and/or services that are described in filing documents.
The subdivided Vienna Classification (version 5) showing figure elements is used for figure classification, and is granted as a search key for retrieving the figure trademarks.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
File Building
Nothing in particular.
Updating
Nothing in particular.
Storage, including mass storage media
Nothing in particular.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
Nothing in particular.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
In-house systems (online/offline)
The JPO has been electronically storing trademark applications and examination-related documents for trademark examination. At the end of fiscal year 2008, trademark-related data for about 4 million documents had been accumulated.
(a) On-line trademark search system
On-line trademark search system comprises of phonetic search, character string search, and well-known / famous trademarks search. The phonetic search performs a similar trademark search by the use of sound (calling) generated from trademark and similarity group codes (which represent similarity between the goods and/or services that are estimated to be identical or have a similarity between each other), as search keys.
The character string search using character strings composing a trademark began in 2000. With this system, a "trademark for indication (text)" is produced from the application trademark (image) composed of characters, from which a "trademark for search" is automatically produced to be stored in the database for search.
In order to protect well-known/famous trademark, a well-known/famous trademark database was constructed and the search system thereof was put into operation in March 2001.
(b) Figurative trademark examination system
For the figure trademark search system, unique Japanese figure terms and similarity group codes were used as search keys, however since March 2004 a figure examination system using the subdivided Vienna Classification (version 5) has been used instead.
(c) Search System for Appeal/Trial and Court Decision (J-term search system)
Appeal/trial and court decisions are accumulated in the form of electronic data with a search index, called "J-term", and searching and screening for the appropriate appeal/trial and court decisions are conducted by using "J-term".
In addition, a full-text search service is available for appeal/trial and court decisions issued after January 2000.
External databases
External data such as telephone directories and press articles are used for examination purposes.
Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
A paperless trademark electronic application and trademark system was introduced in January 2000. Administrative work and examination processing systems based on electronic data was constructed, and all work including filing, formality and substantive examination, sending, registration, gazette issuing, viewing, and certification request are processed electronically. Thus a remarkable improvement has been achieved in terms of operational efficiency, substantiating application and case management and so forth.
Furthermore, with the implementation of the real-time trademark search function, and a trademark examination scheme that actively takes advantage of data in electric form, resulting in the downsizing of the search system, cost efficiency has been also improved. Of all the trademark applications filed in 2008, 84% was via online. On the other hand, on joining the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol, a Madrid Protocol system was developed, and put into operation in March 2000.
For international registration application (an application filed at member states) and for international trademark registration application (an application requesting the protection that specifies Japan as one of the member states or as an added member state after filing the original application), the Madrid protocol system performs information management, such as various notifications, ad interim documents and decisions, as well as time and progress management. Moreover, the registration of application for international trademark registration application is controlled using the electronic register, thus the registration can be referred to online. An examination system for the examination of international trademark registration application was constructed, and an electronic transmission system to the International Bureau was introduced in April 2005.
Please note that the JPO's system is a comprehensive system and that the trademark system is a part of this comprehensive system. Thus for the overall system, please refer to the "Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities".
Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
Please refer to the "Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities".
VI. Administration of trademark information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
Planning, administration, automation, security
The JPO Library, as a branch library of the National Diet Library, is located on the first basement of the JPO office building, and is operated in the following manner:.
(1) Open
- 9:30 to 18:00
Collection management, preservation
The books are labeled and stored with a storage number and classification data, and the bibliographic information is inputted in the library system constructing a database for the books.
Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and trademark information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
a) Providing industrial property (IP) rights information via the Internet
The JPO has been providing the IPDL service since March 1999. This service is accessible through the Internet and covers 71 million items of IP information by using document number and/or classification as search keys. In October 2004, this service was transferred to and has been operated since by the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (hereinafter referred to as the “INPIT”).
The main services relating to trademark information provided by the JPO are as follows:
(1) Simplified search for beginners (trademark)
This search method is for beginners who are not familiar with IP information. Pending or registered trademarks can be searched by a keyword search or by the document number.
(2) Trademark Gazette database search
Trademark Gazettes published in and after 1885 can be searched by using the document number.
(3) Search by trademark document number
Various trademark gazettes published after 1964 can be searched by using the number of each gazette.
(4) Trademark application and registration information search
Bibliographic particulars, legal status, etc. of a pending application or registration in force
regarding a text trademark can be searched by using trademarks (for search purposes) or document number, etc. An English version of this service is available.
(5) Search by use of title
Bibliographic particulars, legal status information, etc. regarding pending or registered trademarks can be searched by using the title (pronunciation).
(6) Figure trademarks search
Bibliographic particulars, legal status, etc. of pending or registered figure trademarks can be searched by using the subdivided Vienna Classification. An English version of this service is available.
(7) List of Vienna Classification of Figure
Starting from April 2004, the Subsection Table of the Vienna Classification of Figurative Elements of Marks (the 2nd edition prepared in accordance with the fifth edition of the Vienna Classification) can be referred to. An English version of this service is available.
(8) List of Goods and services
Goods and services, classification, designated goods and/or services, similar group codes, etc. based on the 8th and 9th edition of the Nice Classification can be searched and referenced. An English version is available.
(9) International Classification of Goods and Services
International Classification of Goods and Services on the Nice Agreement (8th edition and 9th edition) together with similar-group codes can be referred to.
(10) Well-known and famous Japanese trademark search
Registered trademarks, registered as defensive mark or certified as a well-known and famous Japanese trademark by decision on opposition, appeal/trial decision or court decision can be searched. An English version is available.
(11) Unregisterable trademark search
Unregisterable trademarks can be searched by using the title (pronunciation).
In addition, as related information, the status information (for those filed in and after 1990) on applications, registrations and appeal/trial decisions, are also provided.
b) Providing JPO data
In March 1999, the JPO began providing bibliographical and progress information of the JPO to external users by organizing and converting it into a standardized format with better usability. Furthermore, the service was transferred to the INPIT in October 2004, and the service is being provided to the external users once every two weeks.
c) Reference to trademark gazettes, etc.
The INPIT has provided 101 devices for search purposes in the gazette access room on the second floor of the JPO office building allowing free public access to the “IPDL Service,” “CD-ROM”, etc.
Concurrently, in eight locations (Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Fukuoka, and Naha), similar devices are being provided to offer search services. In 2008, the number of users of the above services was about 35,000.
d) Reference to examination and trial documents
The INPIT is collecting various technical documents (books, etc.), which are used in the examinations and trials by the JPO, widely from inside and outside of Japan and making them available to the public.
e) Intellectual Property Center
61 Intellectual Property Centers nationwide are widely implementing support operations for users including regional companies and applicants etc. They are giving advice to the users, providing them with guidance in regards to the retrieval methods of patent information, etc. in accordance to their purposes, regularly conducting workshops and preparing booklets relating to the retrieval methods of patent information etc.
URLs of web pages of the Office's website for electronic filing of trademark applications
The INPIT has developed software for electronic application, enabling administrative procedures such as the filing of applications for patents, utility models, trademarks and industrial designs, appealing for trials and payment of the annual fees, to be conducted online. The software can be downloaded for free at: http://www.inpit.go.jp/pcinfo/index.html
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and registration procedures related to trademarks; opposition and appeal procedures related to trademarks; etc.
http://www.jpo.go.jp/tetuzuki_e/t_gaiyo_e/tr_right.htm
URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., trademark search service(s) and trademark databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
The following URL provides the public access to webpage including Trademark Information, however, no bulk data is available: http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg_e.ipdl (the IPDL)
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
International or regional cooperation in the exchange of trademark information, e.g., in the form of official gazettes
The JPO mutually exchanges official gazettes with 75 organizations (including international organizations) in 63 nations, out of which it sends CD-ROM Trademark Gazettes (" Published registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks" and "Published Unexamined / International Trademark Applications") to 18 organizations.
Exchange of machine-readable information
The JPO has been sending CD-ROM "Published Registered Trademarks and Reclassification on Registered Trademarks" since January 2000 and "Published Unexamined / International Trademark Applications " since February 2000.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office’s website wherever appropriate)
Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
a) Workshop on IPDL
Workshops for beginners of trademark search using the IPDL aimed at individuals and small to medium enterprises were held concurrently during the holidays (at a total of 6 places around Japan). The IPDL has been provided at the INPIT, an Independent Administrative Institution since October 2004. (Workshop program was started in FY2006)
b) Patent Information Advisors
In order to realize the effective use of IP information amongst SMEs and universities/research institutions, the INPIT dispatches Patent Information Advisors to domestic local government units to provide instructions on how to search for IP information, and consultation services on how to utilize such information, as well as to hold workshops in response to various requests regarding IP information.
The URL providing information on the PI Advisors: http://www.ryutu.inpit.go.jp/en/ptpadv/.
Training courses for national and foreign participants
See previous/next items.
Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
a) Activities and assistance through WIPO Funds-in-Trust/Japan
(1) Holding of Workshops
- In February 2009, in Indonesia, a workshop on the theme "Sharing of best IT Practice between IPOs" "Exchange of information and debate regarding the use of IT among IPO of different scales" was held and about 100 officials from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region participated in the workshop.
(2) Training for government officials
In cooperation with WIPO, the JPO held a training course on the Use of Information Technology for about two weeks in Japan.
b) Assistance to developing countries using other institutions
(1)Dispatch of Experts
Under the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) scheme, the JPO had dispatched one expert official to the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and one expert official to the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights (DGIPR) in the Republic of Indonesia as long-term experts as of December 2008.
(2)Modernization of Intellectual Property Administration
For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP)), under the JICA scheme, from April 2000 to June 2004, the JPO carried out the "Modernization of Industrial Property Administration Project", a project for the modernization of administrative procedure at the NOIP, and the development of human resources was performed through the automation of administrative work. From January 2005 to March 2009, "The Project for Utilization of Intellectual Property Information" was carried out, which aims at the construction of a search system and an information system as well as the development of human resources through the building of these systems in order to realize the modernization of the industrial property operation. In June, the JPO dispatched one official for guidance and advice on the Trademark search system and another official for guidance and advice on the IP information system renewal plan. In addition in March, a seminar was held in the country strongly encouraging the take up of the system, which was achieved due to the project.
In the Republic of Indonesia (the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights (DGIPR)), the Phase II of the "the Project for the Improvement of the Indonesian Intellectual Property Rights" has commenced since July 2007. In August the JPO dispatched one official for guidance and advice on the maintaining and managing the trademark search system. In addition, in December, under the JICA management guidance and research scheme, 2 officials were dispatched, in order for them to exchange views with the IT staff of the DGIPR on the new project (online application, online viewing) and also for the JPO staff to investigate the automation status of the DGIPR.
(3)Training for government officials
The JPO invited eleven counterparts of the JICA experts who have been dispatched from the JPO to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia on a long-term basis, to provide them with lectures/on-site training on the current experience issues and IT implementation status of the intellectual property field in Japan, and the training and implementation plan regarding the field of patents in Japan.
IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
provide information on legislation related to trademarks
http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/hourei/data/TA.pdf
contain the Annual Report of the Office
http://www.jpo.go.jp/cgi/linke.cgi?url=/shiryou_e/toushin_e/kenkyukai_e/annual_report2008.htm
if necessary, provide further information related to the topics referred to in the current ATR
Nothing in particular.
provide open source codes related to trademark information systems
Nothing in particular.
contain trademark-related news regarding the Office
http://www.jpo.go.jp/index.htm