Promotion for SMEs under Japanese Patent Policy

1. Promotion for SMEs under Japanese Patent Policy Eiichi Yamamoto Patent Information Policy Planning Office Japan Patent Office

2. Trend of SMEs in Japan

3. Strategies for Patent Applications ・SMEs carefully consider whether they should apply for patents. ・Once they have acquired a patent, they tend to utilize it effectively. Utilization rates of patents 42.7% 57.2% Source: White paper on small and medium enterprises in Japan (2009)

4. Relationship between Patents and Operating Profit Enterprises that possess patents generate more operating profit per employee than those that possess none. SMEs can attempt to improve business performance through the acquisition of patents. Main effects of obtaining intellectual property rights • An improved credit rating • Help to acquire new customers • Help to improve the brand • Able to eliminate imitation goods and similar products • Gained external appeal Source: White paper on small and medium enterprises in Japan (2009)

5. Support Measures for SMEs by JPO

6. Comprehensive Support Measures for SMEs Before applications, or requests for examination ・Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL) ・Survey on technical trends ・Assistance for patent applications to foreign countries etc. Requests for examination, Examination, Appeal, Registration ・Accelerated examinations / appeal and trial examinations ・Circuit examinations (visiting interview examinations) ・Reduction of examination request fee and annual patent fees etc. IP protection and registration IP Activities in SMEｓ IP mind Idea R&D Business Product Education, Consultation ・Explanatory meetings on the intellectual property right system ・Seminars for SMEs and venture companies ・Support by Intellectual Property Right Specialist etc. Exploitation support ・Collection of licensable patent exploitation examples etc.

7. Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL) • Purpose • To Improve SMEs, universities and research institutes access to IP information • To contribute to further facilitating R&D activities • Basic information • Launched in 1999 • More than 80 million documents • Dating back to 1880’s • Covering patent, utility model, industrial design, trademark, and trials/appeals • Fee free service

8. IPDL Services • Search Menus • Search service for beginners • Patent and utility model searchex. Gazette DB Gazette text search • Legal status information • Othersex. Trademarks Designs Appeals and trials Example Bｙ clicking patent and utility model search, each service is displayed.

9. Comparison of IPDL Utilization • Companies actively access IPDL and commercial DB. • Particularly, SMEs prefer utilizing IPDL. Source: Surveys by JPO (2006)

10. The most popular purpose is “search of prior arts.” IPDL enables users to conduct a basic survey. Some users answers that the number of documents for prior arts pointed out by patent examiners is reduced more than ever. Purpose of IPDL Utilization Source: Surveys by INPIT

11. Main reasons of support are easy accessibility on Internet and fee free service. Annual additional service and function improve user-friendliness. Reason of IPDL Utilization Source: Surveys by INPIT

12. Right after the service launched, 12 million searches were recorded. The number of searches increased to 86 million hits in 2010 due to the introduction of additional services. Number of Searches on IPDL Source: JPO Annual Report (2011)

13. IPDL in English Version Patent Databases with MT service Patent Database of Patent Abstract of Japan Trademark Databases Design Database with MT service English Databases on IPDL 2. Design Database DB with Machine Translation Service Design Gazette DB 1. Patent Databases DB with Machine Translation Service Patent & Utility Model Gazette DB Patent & Utility Model Concordance FI/F-term Search 3. Trademark Database Database (Bibliographic Items such as Dates and Numbers) Japanese Trademark Database Japanese Figure Trademarks Japanese Well-Known Trademark List of Goods and Services Human Translation Database Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ)

14. Patent Databases with MT service • Patent and design gazettes can be searched by document number or FI/F-term. • All information (except drawings) is translated by machine translation system. Publications of unexamined patent applications

15. Patent Database of Patent Abstract of Japan • PAJ database provides both text search and number search in English. • Text search scope covers an applicant, a title of invention and an abstract.

16. Current status of IP Information Services

17. IP Information Dissemination Policy JPO/INPIT Foreign IP Offices Data Exchange IPDL Publication via the Internet Standardized Data DVD/CD-ROM Publication Commercial Providers Via Internet Via Internet Via Internet Reasonable Price on Marginal cost basis Reasonable Price on Marginal cost basis High Value-added Services End-users

18. Best Mix between Public and Private Sectors Bulk Data Public Sector (JPO/INPIT) Private Sector (Commercial Providers) Provide primary information in standardized form at reasonable price IPDL Online DB Services Provide search service for ordinary use by the public Add high-value so as to meet diverse needs of end-users End-users

19. Pricing on Marginal Cost Basis The price of CD-ROM publication of unexamined patent applications was dropped from JPY21,000 (USD280) to JPY5,330 (USD70) after the introduction of the marginal cost policy.

20. Growth of Japanese IP Information Service Market After the introduction of new system in 1999, IP information service market has grown by 43%. One reason of decline in 2009 is attributed to the decreased number of patent applications. Source: JPO survey (2011)

21. Market Share of IP Information Services by Category *The mark "+" means that more than 40% respondents expect the future market will expand. "++" means that more than 50% expect the expansion of market. "No change" means that more than 40% forecast the market size will not change."-" means that more than 40% think the future market will shrink. Source: JPO survey (2011)

22. Future Vision of IT Infrastructure in JPO~System Optimization Plan~

23. Optimization Plan for the JPO Systems The JPO’s New Search System • Constructing the state-of-the art IT environment, which enables the leading, speedy and accurate examination. • Establishing the environment of patent information utilization which contributes more greatly to R&D and the management strategy of companies and universities. Cross-lingual search system (Chinese, Korean etc.)

24. Thank You