What's new Ip
TITLE
JPO updated Quality Management Manual for Patent Examination
DATE
Sep 7,2022

Takuya FUJI

 

The JPO revised “Quality Management Manual for Patent Examination” (the “Quality Manual”) which outlines the quality management system consisting of quality management and its implementation system.

 

The followings are some important points of the Quality Manual.

 

(1) Approvals of a notice of reasons for refusal by a director of an examiner

A notice of reasons for refusal is subject to the directors’ quality check in terms of substantive/formal aspects before it is dispatched to an applicant.  Please refer to pages 20-21 of the Quality Manual.

 

(2) Careful survey of a notice of reasons for refusal by Quality Management Officers’ check

When necessary, Quality Management Officers carefully scrutinize the prior art searches which the examiner conducted, appropriateness of the judgments which the examiner made and clarity of the notice which the examiner drafted, and give the directors feedback on the results.  The directors then give guidance to the examiner based on the feedback, if necessary, to improve patent examination quality.  Please refer to pages 22-23 of the Quality Manual.

 

For more detail, please click below.

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

2022