Trends of Trademark Applications of Japan

According to the 2013 Annual Report by JPO (Japan Patent Office), trends of trademark application of Japan in recent years are as follows.

Number of Trademark Applications at JPO

In 2012, the number of trademark applications filed for registration at JPO was about 119,000, a 10% increase over 2011. About 96,000 (＋12.9% compared to 2011) were filed by residents of Japan and about 23,000 (＋0.3%compared to 2011) were filed by residents of foreign countries and region. The amount of increases in 2012 was mostly due to domestic applications.

FA Pendency of Trademark Applications

JPO announced that Forward-looking FA (first office action) pendency of trademark applications ( pendency from application to FA ) at the end of 2012 was 4.7 months (4.8 months, previous year ) , and SA Pendency (average pendency from FA to final action ) was 9.8 months (10.8 months, previous year).

Trends of Trademark Applications filed by Non-Residents at JPO

Among the total number of trademark applications filed by non-residents at JPO in 2012, 11,800 applications were filed through the “Madrid system”. Main origin countries and regions of trademark applications filed by non-residents at JPO in recent years are shown at table 2.

Trend of Trademark Applications at main overseas IP Offices from Japan

Overseas trademark applications at main overseas IP offices from Japan in recent years are shown at table 3. We can see the number of overseas trademark applications from Japan have been increasing steadily.