Basic searching method for JPO S IPDL (TRADEMARKS)

Transcription

1 Basic searching method for JPO S IPDL (TRADEMARKS) Introduction This issue of PAJ News is to briefly explain trademark databases available at JPO s IPDL. Access to JPO s website at and open Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL). The IPDL toppage is shown on the upper right. Four services are available for trademark search in English. Please choose one fit for your purposes.

2 OVERVIEW OF IPDL S TRADEMARK DATABASE Services and Contents Japanese Trademark Database This database supports Japanese trademark application and registration information searchable by keywords such as word marks, application number, registration date, and so on. Japanese Figure Trademarks This service provides for retrieval of figure trademarks which are registered or pending in JPO. List of Figure term, which is Japan s unique identifier for figurative element of marks, is also available. Japanese Well-known Trademarks This database contains all the trademarks registered as defensive marks as well as the registered trademarks that are authorized as well-known under the decisions made by appeal examiners or court judges. List of Goods and Services This database allows users to find applicable goods and services and similar group codes. Similar group code classifies the goods and services according to their similarity, and is assigned to goods and services which are inferred to be similar. This can be a useful tool for searching purposes (See below). **Japanese Trademark Publications /Gazettes TRADEMARKS Present Published Unexamined Trademark Application Published Examined Trademark Application Trademark Gazette Published Trademark Application (Madrid) Trademark Gazette (Madrid) Paper CD-ROM Pre-grant opposition system launched Publication of TM application started Madrid system entered into force **Class and similar group code Class 20 Letter boxes of metal 19B35 Letter boxes of woods, plastics... Letter boxes of masonry Class 6 For example, a similar group code 19B35 is assigned to letter boxes made of: -metal (class 6) -masonry (class 19) -other materials (class 20) - Class 19 All Goods and services

3 Japanese Trademark Database In Japanese Trademark Database, You can enter several search keys in query boxes to retrieve trademark application/registration information. Please note that trademarks consisting of Japanese characters only are not retrievable. Note also that it takes a few months for any legal status information to be updated in the IPDL. You can select a field to look for from the drop-down menu shown below. When you enter two or more words in the same column, please make sure to select an operator (and / or). **Please note that, Applicant/Holder CANNOT be used as search key. This is because of the difficulty on translation of their names. **Unlike Japanese Well-known Trademark database, trademarks consisting of Japanese characters only are not retrievable here. Click MENU icon to jump to the top of IPDL. Click SEARCH icon to go back to the search page with the previous query. Click INDEX icon to display the hit lists again. Click DETAIL to check further information. Figure terms are to be explained from the next page

4 Japanese Figure Trademarks (1) List of Figure Term This is a database for figure trademarks filed in JPO. For the convenience of the examination and retrieval, one or more Figure terms are assigned to them. Figure term is the JPO s original code representing various figurative elements of figure trademarks. Hierarchically structured like other classification systems, figure term makes trademark retrieval efficient. Before using this database, it is necessary to know how the figure term is assigned to the trademarks (See below). Consult HELP icon for more search tips. Click Figure Term Lists icon to see all the figure terms. Consult Stored data for the latest updated information. List of figure term is displayed. **Example of the figure term: Three figure terms are assigned to the registered trademark No : 02A03, 02A13, and 02A22. Each term corresponds to a specific figurative element of the trademark, as shown on the right. The following chart shows how these terms are structured: Reg.No A22 02A03 02A13 1 st Tier 2 nd Tier 3 rd Tier 02A03 02 (beast, birds) A (beasts) 03 (dogs) 02A13 02 A 13 (bears) 02A22 02 A 22 (cats)

5 Japanese Figure Trademarks (2) Trademark Retrieval After checking which figure terms are applicable, figure trademarks become retrievable on the same page. Three-dimensional marks, which have become registerable since April 1997, are also searchable. If you enter two or more items, AND operation is conducted. Either class or similar group code must be specified. See List of Goods and Services about scope of search when the class is used. Narrow the scope of the retrieval by application/registration date if the results are too many. Number of the search results is displayed. Click INDEX to display the list of the results. Click SEARCH icon to go back to the previous screen if you need to modify the queries. Click any image to see the trademark. Indications that the trademarks are registered as three-dimensional marks. INID Code is shown at the top of some of the displayed items ** Check Japanese Trademark Database to see more detailed legal status information.

6 Japanese Well-known Trademarks This database includes trademarks registered as defensive marks as well as the registered marks which were judged to be well-known by judicial/administrative decisions. Please note that additional trademarks will be stored once in three months. Trademark (characters) is used for retrieval of trademarks made up of alphabets (e.g. JPO ). Each well-known trademark has a transliteration. This means that trademarks comprising only of Japanese characters are also searchable. In the case where a trademark consists of alphabets, the original words and its transliterated version are both valid as its search keys. Unlike Japanese Trademark Database, trademark owner s name is a valid search key. If you click All Documents List, Every item included in this database can be shown. At present, there are 860 items included in this database, and are renewed once in three months. Each well-known trademark has transliteration, which shows a representative Japanese pronunciation. Trademark owner s information is available only at this database. Either this notice or a message This trademark has been recognized as a well-known in a trial or court decision is shown.

7 List of goods and services This service allows you to find class 1 or similar group code assigned to specific goods and services by using keywords. You can also input a class or similar group code and retrieve the name of goods and services which belong to that category. You can enter any words, or input class number or similar group code in these columns. This is the result of the retrieval for 19B35. Blank Goods and Services cell has acceptable Japanese indication of goods, which are not translated into English. Application number on the righthand side shows that the indication is first assigned for that application. **Retrieval process using class There may be applications under goods and services whose Application Number cell remains blank. QUERY pop Class: 1 Class 1 has: 01A01 01A02 01B01 34A01 34D01 SEARCH RESULTS pop (No ) Class: 16 Similar Group Code: 01A02, 18C04, 20C01 pop (No ) Class: 17 Similar Group Code: 34A01 pop (No ) Class: 1 Similar Group Code:... For example, when a class of the goods and services are used as search key (in the above example, class 1) in Japanese Trademark Database, the scope is extended to other classes of the goods and services by similar group codes assigned to class 1 (01A01, 01A02, 01B01, 34A01 and so on). This is because (1) similarity of goods and services is irrelevant to the classification, and (2) the classes may change in line with the reform of the classification. 1 JPO has adopted Nice Classification system since 1992.