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A beginner's guide to filing for trademark registration is accessible on the Patent Office website, and smartphone-enabled online trademark filing services are now available.
Although the application process for trademark registration has become more convenient, the basics of the trademark system remain the same.

◆The list of designated goods and services required for application for trademark registration is publicly available on the Patent Office website.
However, it is with a very large number of pages and has difficult technical terms, which makes it difficult for you to identify appropriate classes that cover your business.
◆Trademarks vary in features and expression, such as Kana characters, Chinese characters, Alphabetic characters, English, French, German, coined words, pronunciation, meaning, fonts, and combined figures.

The feature and expression of the trademark affect the possibility of registration and further affect the availability of use (infringement of the rights of others).
Even for experts, judging these factors and appropriately filing for trademark registration are not easy.

◆Comparison between online trademark registration services and patent attorney firms

○：Excellent　 △：Good 　×：Poor

◆When using an online trademark registration service, you have to decide your desired trademark and designated goods/services before using the service.
Meanwhile, when entrusting with a reliable patent attorney firm with the procedures, you can consult with them even just after picking up your choice(s) of desired trademark(s) and planning your business development strategy.
By receiving a suitable advice from the patent attorney, you can finalize your decision on the appropriate trademark(s) and designated goods/services.

◆In case a similar trademark is found as a result of trademark search, your desired trademark cannot be registered. Further, it should be noted that using the trademark may infringe other’s right.
While avoiding infringement, the patent attorney will examine the possibility of registration by changing the feature of the trademark (such as Kana characters, Chinese characters, Alphabetic characters, fonts, and combined figures), etc.

Hanabusa Patent ＆ Trademark Office will help you with registration of trademark(s) that you are keen to acquire, such as names that you have an attachment to and you eagerly seek for.
When registration of your trademark(s) is difficult due to prior registered trademarks, we will provide you with measures to increase the possibility of registration based on our thorough search and extensive experience.

We do not offer the lowest price in the industry or money-back guarantee.
This is because we concern about the tendency of patent attorney firms to recommend their clients to file an application for easily registrable trademarks only because they seek a profit by increasing filing numbers.

With the revision of the Design Act in 2019, the scope of protection for designs has been expanded, and the designs of ①images that are not recorded on articles,②buildings and③interiors have been newly added thereto.

① Examples of designs of images that are not recorded on articles
 (quoted from JPO Examination Guidelines)

Image recorded in a server
and provided through the network

Image projected on a road

② Examples of designs of buildings

Factory

Detached house

Office

Bridge

③ Examples of designs of interiors

Interior of waiting room in hospital

Interior of exhibition room

As an example, articles to the design, “dish”, “drone” and “drone controller” can be filed collectively in a single application form, and one design right can be obtained for each design (Drawings below are quoted from the documents for Design Examination Guidelines working group).

Dish

Plane view

Front view

Drone

Perspective view

Drone controller

Perspective view

With the revision of the Design Act in 2019, in addition to the above expansion of the scope of protection for designs, the following revisions have been made.

1. ① Extension of the duration of design rights(25 years from the filing date)
2. ② Revision of the system for related designs
   (Design registration can be granted for the related designs that are applied before the date which has elapsed 10 years from the application of the principal designs.
   Registration can also be allowed for the designs similar only to the related designs.)
3. ③ Expansion of indirect infringement acts
   (Dividing infringing articles into components and then manufacturing or importing them can be regulated.)

The revision of the Design Act for enhancement of the design system is assumed to bring a considerable influence on your design strategy.