From 1 April 2023, the requirements for restoration in relation to relief for missed deadlines will be relaxed. The standard for restoration will be changed from ‘Due Care’ to ‘Unintentional’, which means that there will now be an opportunity for relief in cases in which the priority claim deadline has been missed. Relief has rarely been granted for such cases in the past.
The graph below shows the restoration procedure for PCT applications for which the deadline for national entry into Japan has been missed. There are two requirements regarding the deadline for this procedure: (1) the procedure must be completed within two months after the reason for not being able to enter the national phase in Japan has been resolved; and (2) the procedure must be completed within one year of the deadline for national phase entry into Japan.
The JPO has not yet announced the detailed guidelines. However, we will continue to check for further updates. If you need our help with any cases, please do not hesitate to let us know.
