The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has begun providing patent information on a trial basis using an application programming interface (API) from January 2022, with the aim of promoting the use of patent information held by the JPO.
With the API, it will be possible to obtain bibliographic information, progress information, and document substance (the text of submitted documents such as notices of reasons for refusal, outgoing documents such as decisions of refusal, amendments, and written opinions) of patents in Japan.
The Japanese government will submit to the Diet in 2022 a system to make patents, which in principle are open to the public in Japan, private if they are deemed to be important for security.
On December 27, 2021, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Industrial Property Information and Training Institute (INPIT), jointly with the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency (SME Agency), formulated an "Action Plan for the Promotion of Intellectual Property Utilization by Small and Medium Enterprises and Start-ups.
With the enforcement of the "Act for Partial Revision of the Patent Act, etc." and the "Cabinet Order Concerning the Establishment of Related Cabinet Orders in Connection with the Enforcement of the Act for Partial Revision of the Patent Act, etc." in 2021, patent-related fees, trademark-related fees, and international search fees for international applications will be revised.
The Japan Patent Office (JPO) prepares and publishes the Patent Administration Annual Report (Materials and Statistics) every year, and has also started to publish the monthly preliminary figures that form the basis of this report.
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