Non-traditional trade marks thriving in Japan

Abstract

Shortly before the new Japanese trade mark law—which allows the registration of non-traditional trade marks like sound marks, motion marks, hologram marks, colour marks and position marks—entered into force on 1 April 2015, 1 the Japan Patent Office (JPO) introduced non-traditional trade mark examination guidelines that went into effect on the same day. 2 These amended examination guidelines were introduced to comply with the statutory amendments to Japan’s Trade Mark Act that allowed the application and registration of non-traditional trade marks. On the very first day of the new law’s effective date, Japanese trade mark holders rushed to file a staggering 481 non-traditional trade mark applications at the JPO. 3 Even though Japan is a relative latecomer 4 to the non-traditional trade mark registration world, it had actually been studying the feasibility of statutory trade mark protection for non-traditional trade marks since 2007. 5 Nevertheless, it appears that there was pent-up demand for non-traditional trade marks in view of the filings surge at the trade mark office. According to the JPO statistics, as of 23 October 2015, there were over 1039 non-traditional trade mark applications filed ( Fig. 1 ). 6