Reduction of Official Fees for Request for Examination

According to the Japanese government ordinance regarding an amendment of official fees for patent applications approved on July 8, 2011, the official fees for a request for examination for patent applications will be reduced as of August 1, 2011, as in the table below. These reduced fees will apply to all patent applications for which a request of examination is filed on or after August 1, 2011.

The official fees for a request for examination will be reduced by about 25% in case of a patent application having average numbers of claims (from about JPY 200,000 to about JPY 150,000).

For the patent applications for which a request for examination is filed before August 1, 2011 and the payment of the official fees will be made on or after August 1, 2011, utilizing the deferred payment system introduced April 1, 2009, the present official fees will apply.