Trademark Registration
What is trademark registration?
For protecting your business and brand
Registering a trademark results in a trademark right. A trademark right is the right to exclusively use a trademark registered with regard to products and/or services of your company. This exclusive right prevents the third party to use such a trademark that may be confusing with the registered trademark.
On the other hand, if you have not registered the trademark you are using on business, there is a risk that the third party who has registered the trademark will request you to stop using the trademark.
Shimazaki International Patent Office will do our best to support you for obtaining trademark registration.
Flow of obtaining trademark right
1. Meeting
We have a meeting with you about the trademark and the products/services you want to register. When a trademark application is filed, the products/services are designated in accordance with "classifications". "Classification" is a grouping of products and services according to a certain standard, and there are 45 classifications. The larger the number of classifications becomes, the more products/services can be designated and the wider the scope of trademark right becomes. However, the costs of the application, registration and renewal will increase.
If the trademark you want to register cannot distinguish your own products/services from those of others, such a trademark is not registrable. For example, even if there is a mark "Yokosuka" used with regard to the product "fruits", consumers recognize that the mark "Yokosuka" is just an indication of "products in Yokosuka". As a result, consumers are not able to recognize the goods as those pertaining to a business of a particular person. Please note that such a mark is not registrable.
Meetings via email or video phone such as the LINE are available free of charge.
2. Trademark search
We will conduct a search to check whether the same or similar trademarks have already been applied for or have not been registered, and report the possibility of trademark registration. A screening search using the Japanese Patent Office database is available free of charge.
3. Preparation of application documents and quotation
Before filing a trademark application with the Japanese Patent Office, please check the list of trademarks and products/services you are applying for. We will also send you a detailed cost estimate from filing of the application to the registration.
4. Application procedure
After confirming the payment from you, we will file a trademark application in accordance with the contents confirmed by you.
5. Examination by the Patent Office
Examination on a trademark application may be commenced about one year after filing of the trademark application.
6. Notification of examination results
If you receive a notice of reasons for refusal from the Japanese Patent Office, you can submit a written opinion that the trademark applied for can be registered, and/or amend the descriptions of the product/service applied. If the reason for refusal is resolved, a decision of trademark registration will be issued.
7. Registration
After receiving the decision of trademark registration, the establishment of the trademark right shall be registered by paying the registration fee (for 5 years or 10 years) within the prescribed period. A trademark registration certificate will be issued in about one month from the payment of the registration fee. A trademark right is valid for 5 or 10 years from the date of registration. A trademark right can be renewed for the next 5 or 10 years by paying the renewal fee.
Information
To see the overview of the Japanese trademark system or our fee schedule, please click each of the link buttons as below.