Previous Practice (Extension of Patent Term for Pharmaceutical Inventions):

The duration of a patent right in Japan shall expire 20 years from the filing date. In the case of a PCT national phase application in Japan, 20 years from the international filing date.

However, the duration of patents related to pharmaceuticals may be extended, not exceeding 5 years, if patented inventions were unable to be worked for because it was necessary to obtain regulatory approval.

The patent term to be extended:

• Starts: when a clinical trial is started or when a patent is registered, whichever is later
• Ends: when an applicant receives regulatory approval

For more details, please see:

New Ruling on Scope of Protection of Extended Patent Rights in JAPAN – Japanese Patent Attorneys | Allegro IP (allegropat.com)

New Practice (Extension of a Patent Term as Compensation for the Curtailment of the Term):

Under the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement), patent term can be extended due to unreasonable or unnecessary delays by the Patent Office. Accordingly, the Japanese Patent Law was revised and it is possible to extend the patent term regardless of the technical fields of patents.

Under the new practice, which is applied to applications filed on or after March 10, 2020, applicants may request an extension of patent term if:

• a patent takes more than five years to issue from the filing date; or
• patent examination continues beyond three years from the date of filing a request for examination.

1) Requirements:

In order to obtain the Patent Term Extension, it is required to file an application for the extension.

The applicant should be the patent holder, and if the patent is owned jointly, the application should be filed by all of the holders.

The application should be filed within 3 months form the registration date.

The official fee for filing the application is JPY 74,000 (around USD 550).

2) Patent Term to be Extended:

• Starts: (1) five years from the filing date or (2) three years from the request for examination, whichever is later
• Ends: when patent right is registered.

Please note that the following periods, for example, are deducted from the extension:

• extended period when responding to an office action
• appeal procedural period against decision of rejection

We believe the above comments will be clear to you.  Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@allegropat.com