Japan Legal Update Vol. 13 | April 2016

Intellectual Property

Accession to the Patent Law Treaty and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks

On March 11, 2016, the Japanese government submitted instruments of accession to the Patent Law Treaty ("PLT") and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks ("STLT," and together with PLT, "Treaties") to the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO"). The Treaties will come into force for Japan on June 11, 2016.

The PLT and the STLT aim at the standardization and simplification of the procedures for local patent and trademark applications, which vary among countries, in order to improve user-friendliness and reduce the burden on applicants. The Japanese government decided to accede to the Treaties in light of the rapid advance of international harmonization of such procedures in recent years, given the increasing accession by countries in Europe and the United States. As of the end of February 2016, 36 countries, including