Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2016 submitted by Japan Patent Office
Recommended Contents of Annual Technical Reports (ATR)
on Industrial Design Information Activities
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.
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Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
Paper based application
The INPIT provides the free consultation service on the procedures for industrial property rights at the Consultation Department on the second floor of the JPO office building.
Moreover, the portal site for consultation and support on intellectual property is available on a 24-hour basis at http://faq.inpit.go.jp/.
Electronic application
The e-filing software allows users to conduct administrative procedures such as the filing of applications for patents, utility models, industrial designs and trademarks, and PCT-RO international application, appealing for trials and payment of the annual fees, and receipt of documents dispatched from the JPO, on-line. The software may be downloaded for free at: http://www.jpo.go.jp/tetuzuki/pcinfo/outline/index.html
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Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
On-line reference
The software for electronic application allows users to request or refer to application documents and registers from computers from their home or office, and to make a request for issuing certifications on-line.
Regarding the software for electronic application, refer to 2. (1) b).
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Classification and reclassification activities; classification system used, e.g., International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno Classification), other classification
In January 2005, the JPO started using the revised Japanese Design Classification in order to cope with the new conception of articles etc. such as the information and communication devices. The revised Japanese Design Classification mainly uses the concept of the usage in the same way as the former Japanese Design Classification, which is comprised of a 3-stage classification; group, main class, and minor class, and consists of about 3,200 classification branches in total. Also, the JPO provides about 1,800 branches of D-terms, which are search keys to further subdivide the Japanese Design Classification mainly based on the forms of articles.
In addition, in April 2007, the JPO started using the revised Japanese Design Classification that was amended again in order to cope with design protection of graphic image designs. After this amendment another classification stage for graphic image design was added below the aforementioned minor class and broke it down from a viewpoint of intended use in April 2016.
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The JPO publishes the following official gazettes via the Internet in 2016:
- Publication of Registered Design
- Publication of Decision on Appeal/Trial in Design
The following is the URL of the Publication of Registered Design provided through the Internet. URL: https://www.publication.jpo.go.jp/
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Providing patent information via the Internet
a-1) Providing official gazettes via the Internet
See 3.(1)
a-2) J-PlatPat
The JPO started to provide the Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL) service through the Internet in March 1999. This service has enabled users to search patent information by using document numbers and classifications as search keys. This service was transferred to the INPIT as of October 2004, and has been operated by the INPIT since then.
In order to meet advancing and diversifying user needs for patent information, the INPIT renovated the IPDL and started providing the J-PlatPat in March 2015, a new service to provide patent information via user-friendly interface. The J-PlatPat currently stores about 116 million cases of patent information and can be searched by document numbers, various classifications, keywords, etc.
(Japanese) https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/web/all/top/BTmTopPage
(English) https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/web/all/top/BTmTopEnglishPage
a-3) FOPISER
In August 2015, the JPO launched the FOPISER a search service to promptly provide the general users with patent information obtained from foreign IP Offices through data exchange with foreign IP Offices. Design documents of Russia and Taiwan, which are not available on the J-PlatPat, are available for retrieval of document numbers using a Japanese user interface.
Providing JPO data
The following types of data is currently provided to commercial providers in Japan by bulk download service on the J-PlatPat.b-1) Standardized data
The JPO provides the JPO’s bibliographical and status information to external users by organizing and converting it into a standard format (Standardized data) for better usability for external users. This data has been provided to external users on a weekly basis.
Reference to design gazettes, etc
The INPIT has 8 access devices which is available in the Public gazettes reading room on the second floor of the JPO office building. This allows free public access to the J-PlatPat Service, gazettes on CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, etc.
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.
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Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
Design search system
This is a client server-type online system for retrieving application documentary materials and publicly known documentary materials (including foreign design gazettes) by using the Japanese Design Classification and D-terms (search keys that subdivide the Japanese Design Classification), indication of articles (goods), applicant identifying numbers, etc. as search keys. The image data of the document retrieved is sent from the image file server and displayed (color image data is displayed in color) onto the screen of a terminal, for enabling high-speed screening. For an efficient document search, a function is provided to display the design classifications and applicant identifying numbers etc. by the frequency of them coming up as cited references based on past examination results.
As bibliographic data of filed applications for searches, application numbers, filing date, registration numbers, registration date, indication of articles (goods), Japanese Design Classification, D-terms, the International Classification of Industrial Design (Locarno Classification) and others are used. As bibliographic data of other documents for searches, disclosure dates, acceptance dates, publishing date, indication of articles (goods), Japanese design classifications, D-terms and others are used. The data is stored in a database according to the type of materials.
Search System for Appeal/Trial and Court Decisions (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.
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File building
The JPO has stored in search files the image data (including color image data) and the bibliographic data (including the Japanese Design Classification and D-term) of designs presented in the following: magazines published in Japan and abroad, catalogs, websites, foreign design gazettes and elsewhere. These are used as the base data for the JPO’s design examination.
On January 1, 2000, the JPO started accepting design registration applications on-line. Accordingly, information on designs of which the registration has been applied for is automatically put into the search files. By the end of 2016, the search files accumulated the image data and bibliographic data of about 2.50 million applications and about 7.10 million publicly-known designs.
Updating
In 2016, the image data and bibliographic data for about 30,000 applications and about 500,000 publicly known designs were added.
Storage, including mass storage media
The image data is stored on RAID and the bibliographic data on a database.
Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
The bibliographic data and image data of design gazettes published by the KIPO, the EUIPO, the SIPO the USPTO, and the WIPO are stored and those data can be searched by using the Japanese Design Classification.
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Office's library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
Operation of the JPO Library, collection and management of materials
a-1) Operation of the JPO Library
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:
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Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
a. J-PlatPat
The INPIT compiles an instruction manual for how to operate and utilize various search services provided by the J-PlatPat.
URL http://www.inpit.go.jp/j-platpat_info/reference/index.html
b. e-filing
Useful information on e-filing including how to fill out application forms and FAQs is provided at the “E-filing software support website”.
URL http://www.pcinfo.jpo.go.jp/site/
See 3. (4)for information products available to external users.
Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.
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Education and training: training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.
J-PlatPat training seminars
Training seminars of the J-PlatPat were held by the INPIT for beginners of industrial property right search from individuals and SMEs (20 times in 14 major cities nationwide in FY2016).
The organization also held information sessions of the J-PlatPat by request from universities and enterprises (6 times in FY2016).
Search expert training seminars
The INPIT held the following trainings.
・Search Experts Training (Industrial Design)
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International exchange of industrial design information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
Sending Official Gazette on CD-ROM to overseas
In 2015, the JPO exchanged official gazettes, etc. with 56 organizations (including international organizations) in 53 nations, out of which it sent information on CD-ROM Published Registered Design Applications to 23 organizations.
The JPO discontinued sending official gazettes on CD-ROM overseas in March 2015 and is currently providing the data on line.
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Activities/cooperation through voluntary contributions (Funds-in-Trust) for WIPO
a-1) Training for government officials
A 1-week training related to computerization was provided in Japan in January 2017 under the cooperation with the WIPO. Trainees from 11 IP offices were invited.
a-2) Data capture, digitization support, workshop at IP offices of African countries/regions
A project on data capture was conducted at IP offices in Nigeria, Namibia and Zambia. In Kenya and Malawi as well as the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), projects of digitizing domestic and foreign filings to make it possible to manage them were conducted. In addition, in Mozambique, a workshop for discussing management method using the IPAS was held. Also, in Zimbabwe, a workshop was conducted related to the development and effective use of intellectual property statistics for ARIPO member states and observer countries. In Morocco, an enforcement seminar on the experiences and measures against counterfeiting was carried out. As for Uganda, a workshop was held at WIPO headquarters with the aim of deepening the understanding of International Classification of Goods and Services, promoting records management and improving provision of services. Furthermore, in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, and others, workshops were held in order to promote development of capacity building concerning an efficient access to technical database and to strengthen their own TISC (technical and innovation support center) network.
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