FAQ

A1 It depends on whether the PCT application claims priority. If the PCT application claims priority, the deadline is 30 months from the priority date. Otherwise, the deadline is 30 months from the international filing date.

A2 Yes, but strict requirements need to be fulfilled to have such late entry be approved by the Japanese Patent Office (JPO); in fact, only 10-20% of late entries are approved by the JPO, as opposed to 60-70% by the European Patent Office (EPO). If you would like to file a PCT national phase application in Japan but the 30-month deadline for the application has already elapsed, please contact us for more details.

A3 Yes, there are several types of patent acceleration programs that can be used by filing a petition, which we can prepare and file upon your request at a total cost of only 10,000 JPY (roughly 70.00 USD). Please contact us for more details if you are interested in participating in these programs. According to statistics published by the Japan Patent Office in 2017, the average time period until the issuance of a First Office Action can be reduced to less than 3 months, on average, by participating in these programs.

A4 There is no definite answer to this question because the procedure until patent allowance differs from case to case.
Specifically, patent prosecution before the JPO can be roughly divided into the following three stages.

1. Filing a PCT national phase application along with a Japanese translation and a Request for Examination: Please check our Fee Calculator (https://www.pctjapan.com/auto-calculate/) for an estimate of the cost incurred in this stage.
2. Responding to Office Actions: The cost and time necessary to pass this stage (and also the entire patent prosecution process) varies depending on the number of times the application is rejected until allowance. The overall cost necessary to prepare and file a response to one rejection would be around 60,000-180,000 JPY (actual cost varies depending on case). On the other hand, if no rejection is received during prosecution (i.e., if the first Office Action is a notice of allowance), no cost is incurred in this stage. Also, according to statistics published by the JPO in 2022, a First Office Action is issued in 10.1 months, on average, from a Request for Examination.
3. Payment of Issue Fee: The total cost incurred in this stage can be calculated using the following equation: (4,300+300*N)*3+18,000, where N is the number of claims in the application at the time of allowance. Thus, for example, the cost would amount to 48,900 JPY for an application including 20 claims at the time of allowance.

A5 Yes, a preliminary amendment can be filed at any point before a first Office Action on the merits is received. However, once a First Office Action is received, amendments can be filed only within periods specified by the Examiner.

A6 Please see our upload check list (https://www.pctjapan.com/upload-check-list-2/) for details.
If there is anything else you would like to know, please feel free to contact us at info@pctjapan.com. We at PCT Japan will be more than happy to help you!