(1) PURPOSE OF THE LAW AND SYSTEM
The objective of this law is to ensure maintenance of the business reputation of persons using trademarks by protecting trademarks, and thereby to contribute to the development of industry and to protect the interests of consumers.

(2) PURPOSE OF THE LAW AND SYSTEM
Trademarks for which an application was made are registered after examination under the Trademark Law. Any rightful person of a trademark may require a person who is infringing or is likely to infringe the trademark right to discontinue or refrain from such infringement (Paragraph 1 of Article 36).
In addition, any rightful person of a trademark right which has been infringed may also claim for compensation for damages (Article 709 of the Civil Code) or claim for measures for credit recovery (Article 39).
Note that in the Trademark Law, trademarks for services (service marks) and trademarks for goods are registered and protected through the same procedures.

(3) CABINET ORDER AND MINISTERIAL ORDINANCES
Enforcement Order of the Trademark Law
Enforcement Regulations of the Trademark Law
Trademark Registration Order
Enforcement Regulations of the Trademark Registration Order

(4) OUTLINE OF THE CONTROL
1) Items Covered
Trademarks used for goods or services relating to own business may be registered except in the following cases (Article 3):
i. Trademarks which consist solely of a mark indicating, in a common way, the common name of the goods or services;
ii. Trademarks which are customarily used to refer to the goods or services;
iii. Trademarks which consist solely of a mark indicating in a common way, the origin, place of sale, quality, raw materials, efficacy, use, quantity, shape (including packaging shape) or price of the goods, or the method or time of manufacturing, processing , or method of use or the place, quality, articles provided, efficacy, use, quantity, type, or price of the services or the method or time of utilization;
iv. Trademarks which consist solely of a mark indicating, in a common way, a commonplace surname, name or title;
v. Trademarks which consist solely of a very simple and commonplace mark;
vi. In addition to those mentioned in the five preceding cases, trademarks which do not enable consumers to differentiate the goods or services pertaining to several businesses.
However, trademarks which do not fall under any of i. to vi. above cannot be registered if they conflict with those of other persons that filed first or well-known trademarks of others.

2) Outline of Specifications, Standards and Inspections, etc.
i. Trademark right
A trademark right shall be effected by the law of each country. However, the Paris Convention imposes an obligation to contracting states for the protection of trademarks.

ii. Any person who wants to obtain a trademark right is required to file to the Patent Office a written request bearing (1) the name and the address of the applicant and, if the applicant is a juridical person, its name and the name of its representative, (2) trademark to be registered, (3) the designated goods or the designated services and the class of the goods or services as set forth in Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the cabinet order, together with a document displaying the trademark to be registered, along with required written documents.

(5) HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RECENT AMENDMENT
In response to an adoption of the Trademark Law Treaty to improve the facility of users through the international harmonization and simplification of a trademark system in WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), the Law was amended in 1996 and the related laws and ordinances have been improved, after which Japan joined in the said Treaty in April, 1997. The amendment was implemented to respond to join in a protocol of the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks in 1999, and the said Protocol entered into force on March 14, 2000 with respect to Japan.

(Amendment in 1996)
1) Radical simplification of procedures
Abolishment of examination at the time of renewal, permission of multi-class applications, simplification of mentioned items in documentation, etc.

2) Security of early grant of trademark (Shift to protest system after granting)
an appeal and trial system prior to the grant of a trademark right that was admitted as before is to shift to a post-grant opposition system (the same system of the Patent Law).

3) Protection of well-known trademarks, etc.
Prevention of registration for trademarks for the unjust purposes such as surreptious use of well-known foreign trademarks and free ride of domestic well-known trademarks.

4) Three-dimensional trademarks
Protection for not only two-dimensional articles such as letters, designs and symbols but also three-dimensional shapes such as shapes of advertising characters.

(Amendment in 1999)
1) Amendments for early protection of trademarks and other amendments
Introduction of a application disclosure system
Introduction of a right to monetary claim prior to a trademark registration
Allowance for narrowing amendment in classifications at the time of paying established registration fees

2) Amendment in order to join in the Protocol of the Madrid Agreement
Statutory provision of the period allowed for notice of reasons for rejection
Application for international registration: Provisions to file applications for international registration to the international secretariat in Japan
Exception pertaining to application for international registration of trademarks: Provisions to receive protection of international registration through the contracting state other than Japan designating Japan
Exception of application for trademark registration: Provisions to receive the protection in Japan after the protection under the protocol were lost.

(Amendment in 2002)
1) Strengthening of the protection of reputation for trademarks used in network businesses
Explicitly provided that for business activities on the network including distribution, services provision, or advertisement, the use of trademarks through displays on the screen would equally constitute infringement

2) Revision of scope of amendment regarding international application for registration
Explicitly provided that amendment is not allowed for a trademark whose application was internationally made based on the Madrid Protocol.

3) Separate payment for individual handling fees for application for international trademark registration
In the cases of application for international trademark registration, allowance for the portion of handling fees, which represent the registration fee to be paid after examination of registration, has taken place domestically, as provided for domestic application cases.

(Amendment in 2005)
The Law Partially Amending the Trademark Law was passed in June, 2005, with an objective of appropriate protection for regional brands by introducing measures that will allow for trademarks consisting of names of certain region and certain product to be allowed for registration at an early stage as a collective trademark.
(1) Registration, by business cooperatives or agricultural cooperatives as regional collective trademarks, of trademarks consisting of names of regions and names of products (trademarks with regional locales) if the use by the organization, for example, has resulted in publicity among multiple prefectures.
(2) If for such trademarks the relevance to publicity or region has been lost, they are subject to invalidation trials; patents that were used inappropriately to lead misunderstandings of the quality of the product will be subject to cancellation trials
(3) A third party who has been using the same trademarks with regional locales since before the trademark was applied can continue using for the party's own use.
The amendment will come into force on April 1, 2006.

(6) REFERENCE INFORMATION
(Liaison Offices for Further Information)
Japan Patent Office
http://www.jpo.go.jp