Japan: amendments in official fees for IP protection

On January 19, 2016, the Cabinet of Japan approved the order to enforce the Amended Patent Act and Other Acts of 2015, which had been enacted in 2015. Current Act amended and revised the IP protection fees schedule. According to amendments, some of patent application fees and annuities were reduced by 10 %, trademark registration and renewal fees were reduced by 25%.

Amended fees will enter into force on April 1, 2016, and our quotation system will be updated accordingly.

Comparative table of the official fee amendments in Japan is represented below.

	Before April 1, 2016	From April 1, 2016
Patent application fees
Filing a patent application	¥15,000	¥14,000	approx. 123 USD
Patent maintenance fees
1–3^rd year: annually	¥2,300 + ¥200 per claim	¥2,100 + ¥200 per claim	approx. 18 USD + 2 USD per claim
4-6^th year: annually	¥7,100 + ¥500 per claim	¥6,400 + ¥500 per claim	approx. 56 USD + 4 USD per claim
7-9^th year: annually	¥21,400 + ¥1,700 per claim	¥19,300 + ¥1,500 per claim	approx. 170 USD + 13 USD per claim
10-25^th year: annually	¥61,600 + ¥4,800 per claim	¥55,400 + ¥4,300 per claim	approx. 488 USD + 38 USD per claim
Trademark registration and renewal fees
Registration fee (for 10 years)	¥37,600 per class	¥28,200 per class	approx. 248 USD
Registration fee (by installments)	¥21,900 per class	¥16,400 per class	approx. 144 USD
Renewal fee (for 10 years)	¥48,500 per class	¥38,800 per class	approx. 341 USD
Renewal fee (by installments)	¥28,300 per class	¥22,600 per class	approx. 199 USD
Trademark registration fee	¥37,600 per class	¥28,200 per class	approx. 248 USD
Trademark renewal fee	¥41,800 per class	¥33,400 per class	approx. 294 USD