For several years, the Japanese government has been implementing measures to address long processing times and long backlogs of patent applications. A number of reforms were put in place including the recruitment of considerable number of new examiners and the outsourcing of certain aspects of the examination process. The new system has only recently started to process applications and expects to process patents in just over 2 months. IPworld reports that the first patent was granted 17 days after the filing date.

View a detailed account of the recent developments of the Japanese Patent Office at Thomson Reuters.

Labels: Japan, Patent News