The JPO has been aiming to achieve the “world's fastest and utmost quality patent examinations”. To this end, the JPO has been implementing various measures focused on “maintaining speed”, “granting high quality rights”, and “cooperating and collaborating with foreign IP offices”.

With the acceleration of the intellectual property creation cycle, there is a growing need to shorten total pendency, and the JPO has been engaging in initiatives to speed up examinations.

●Accelerated Examination System

Under certain conditions, the JPO offers an accelerated examination system/super-accelerated examination system that, upon the request of an applicant, expedites the commencement of an examination. An accelerated examination system may be applied for applications that are also filed in one or more other countries and applications by small and medium-sized enterprises, etc. The JPO is running pilot programs for a super-accelerated examination system for highly important applications, such as applications for inventions that have already been put into practice and that are also filed in one or more other countries. In principle, this system aims for the period from request to first action to be within one month (within two months for PCT National Entry Phase applications) .

●Quality Management Initiatives

Under the “Quality Policy on Patent Examination”, which constitutes the JPO's fundamental principles of quality management, and the “Quality Management Manual for Patent Examination” (Quality Management Manual), the JPO has been engaging in the following initiatives in order to realize the utmost quality of patent examinations in the world.  

1）Quality Assurance

Before sending applicants and agents documents by examiners regarding notices and decisions, etc., managers in the examination office check substantive and formal aspects of such documents for all cases. Examiners consult with other examiners in order to share search know-how and knowledge, etc., in order to curb search and decision discrepancies among examiners.

2）Quality Verification

Decisions and notices, etc. prepared by examiners are audited by quality management officers to check compliance and validity in terms of content and format before sending official documents to applicants and agents. In order to ascertain various user needs, the JPO conducts interviews at informal meetings with businesses, accepts information provided in relation to individual cases, and expands the scope of user satisfaction surveys covering overseas users and small-scale users.