Revisions to the Japan Patent Law as Preparations for the Patent Law Treaty (PLT)
- Summary of the 2015 revision (effective from April 1, 2016) -

A new revision (hereinafter the “2015-revision”) to the Japan Patent Law (hereinafter “JPL”) was announced in 2015, and brought into effect on April 1, 2016. This 2015 revision includes several law changes in preparation for the Patent Law Treaty (hereinafter “PLT”), which is scheduled to become effective on June 1, 2016. We summarize hereinbelow the PLT-related changes in the JPL effected by the 2015-revision as well as the relevant changes in the Regulations and the Orders for Implementing the JPL (hereinafter “Regulations” and “Orders”, respectively).