JPO Updates Trademarks Examination Guidelines and Fifth Edition of Patent Examination Quality Management Manual

Release Time：2026-04-17 09:21Author：Views：28

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has recently updated and published two intellectual property examination documents: the Examination Guidelines for Trademarks and the fifth edition of the Quality Management Manual for Patent Examination (referred to as the Quality Manual).

The Examination Guidelines for Trademarks officially came into effect on April 1, 2026, and the Quality Manual was revised and published on the same date.

These updates are routine improvements by the JPO, based on current IP examination practices and quality management systems, with the aim of further streamlining examination procedures and enhancing quality and efficiency.

The Examination Guidelines for Trademarks serve as the general benchmark for trademark registration examination, providing clear guidance on examination practices for trademark applicants and agents. The Quality Manual focuses on the entire patent examination process, systematically defining quality management system and its implementation framework for patent examination.

The simultaneous update of these two documents further refines Japan's IP examination and quality management system. Market participants from various sectors may refer to the latest content of these documents as a clear and authoritative official guide for conducting trademark- and patent-related business in Japan.

Source：

https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/system/laws/rule/guideline/trademark/kijun/index.html

https://www.jpo.go.jp/e/introduction/hinshitu/shinsa/tokkyo/tokkyo_manual.html

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