The Diet recently passed a bill to amend the Japanese Patent Law. The bill includes a new remedy for the failure to file by the 30-month deadline for national entry in Japan. The bill was submitted by the cabinet on March 2, 2021, and the bill was enacted on May 14, 2021. The bill for the law amendments was promulgated as Act No. 42 on May 21, 2021.
The date that the Act will go into effect has not yet been decided. The actual effective date will be within two years from the promulgated date, that is, by spring of 2023. The JPO will announce the actual effective date next fall, i.e., after September 2022. Continue Reading