The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has compiled trends surrounding intellectual property (IP) at home and abroad, as well as its own initiatives into the Japan Patent Office Annual Report 2022, with the aim of deepening public interest in IP systems and understanding of them.

The following are some of the key points explained in the 2022 report.

• The number of applications for patents and requests for patent examinations in 2021 increased from the previous year.
• Regarding patent applications submitted to Japan from abroad, the number of applications from China, the United States, and Europe increased from the previous year.
• The number of primary examination notifications (FAs: First Actions) for trademark examinations showed a large increase of 23.3% from the previous year as a result of strengthening and streamlining the examination system.

Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry