Requirements for Unity of Application - Japan Patent Office
Requirements for Unity of Application - Japan Patent Office
Requirements for Unity of Application - Japan Patent Office
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3.1 The requirements <strong>for</strong> <strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong><br />
3.1.1 The meaning <strong>of</strong> the term "<strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong>"<br />
The term "<strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong>" indicates the range <strong>of</strong> inventions and devices, which can be<br />
filed in one application. This is a term synonymous with "<strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> Invention" in western<br />
countries.<br />
3.1.2 The purport <strong>of</strong> the requirements <strong>for</strong> <strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong><br />
The provisions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong> (<strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37 and Utility Model Law<br />
Section 6) are meant to reduce the demand on applicants, a third party and the <strong>Patent</strong> <strong>Office</strong>,<br />
<strong>for</strong> the sake <strong>of</strong> convenience, by allowing the inventions and devices that are technically close<br />
to each other to be filed in one application. In another word, the requirements <strong>for</strong> <strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Application</strong> provide the cases that two and more inventions and devices, which might be filed<br />
in different applications, can be filed in one application.<br />
3.1.3 A general rule <strong>of</strong> the requirements <strong>for</strong> <strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong><br />
<strong>Unity</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Application</strong> satisfies the requirements, when inventions or device described in<br />
each claim included in one application <strong>for</strong> patent or one application <strong>for</strong> utility model registration<br />
meet any <strong>of</strong> the relationships provided by each item <strong>of</strong> <strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37 or Utility Model<br />
Law Section 6 <strong>for</strong> the specified invention and device (the invention and device which satisfy<br />
such relationship are called related invention and device). The specified invention and device<br />
described here indicate the invention and device mentioned in a specified claim in an<br />
application <strong>for</strong> patent or an application <strong>for</strong> utility model registration including two and more<br />
claims.<br />
3.2 Relationship under <strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37(i)(ii)<br />
The specified invention and related inventions should belong to the same category “a<br />
product and a product,” or “ a process and a process” to meet the provisions <strong>of</strong> <strong>Patent</strong> Law<br />
Section 37(i)(ii).<br />
Judgement is made as to whether two or more inventions satisfy the relationship <strong>of</strong> (i) or<br />
(ii) <strong>of</strong> this section according to the industrial field <strong>of</strong> application and the problem to be solved or<br />
the substantial parts <strong>of</strong> matters in the claim. The requirement, the same industrial field <strong>of</strong><br />
application, is common to <strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37(i)(ii). In addition, the same industrial field <strong>of</strong><br />
application indicates the case that the specified invention and related invention are in a<br />
common industrial field <strong>of</strong> application. The types are as follows:<br />
(1) Where the specified invention and related invention have same technical field;<br />
(2) Where the technical fields <strong>of</strong> the specified invention and related invention overlaps; and<br />
(3) Where the technical fields <strong>of</strong> the specified invention and related invention are technically<br />
and directly related.<br />
3.2.1 Relationship under <strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37(i)<br />
To judge as to whether or not the relationship prescribed under <strong>Patent</strong> Law Section 37(i) is<br />
satisfied, it is judged whether the specified invention and related invention have the same<br />
industrial field <strong>of</strong> application and deals with the same problem to be solved. The problems to<br />
be solved are technical problems to be solved that have not been solved at the filing time and<br />
would be solved by the invention.<br />
The same problem to be solved denotes that the specified invention and related invention<br />
have a common problem to be solved, and it is considered whether one or more problems to<br />
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