Revision of the Japanese Patent and Utlility Model System

Abstract

As part of the international harmonization of industrial property rights, in the summer of 1992 a U.S. advisory committee published recommendations concerning revisions to the patent system. The Industrial Property Council of Japan also published a report at the end of 1992 concerning revisions to the patent law and utility model law. Soon thereafter the U.S. administration in Washington changed, and the U.S. position on patent law harmonization became unclear. Japan, however, enacted its report into legislation. Japan revised the relevant parts of its Patent Law (Law No. 26 of 1993) on April 16, 1993, and the revisions were promulgated on April 23, 1993. The new law went into effect on January 1, 1994. The purpose of this paper is to comment on the revised law and to examine its questionable aspects.