Frequently asked questions: Is there any Duty of Disclosure before the Japan Patent Office?
Please note that there are NO duty of disclosure requirements for patent applications in Japan. Only one thing similar thereto is a duty of describing prior art close to the claimed invention in the specification. Therefore, there are NO related deadlines. It is not required to add prior art information to the application once the application is filed. If the application has no such disclosure without any reason, the Examiner may order to submit prior art information which can be of help for examination. However, we have never received such an order so far in the past 20 years.
