Get your Trademarks in Japan with fairly affordable price at our firm

　In this era of globalization, it is necessary for a company to register trademark rights in Japan when the company sells their products in Japan and exports their products to Japan and/or offers their services in Japan. Based on the trademark registration, a third party cannot immitate your trademark and the company having the trademark can claim for damages if the third party violates your trademark right.

　Get fairly affordable trademark service in Japan at our firm！Our service fees are below.
　We promise that your fees will be just Attorney's fee ¥26,000JPY plus official fee at the JPO in most cases.

Do not concern about communication with a Japanese attorney

　If you worry about communication to a Japanese patent attorney, do not worry about it!

　Our patent attorney is proficient in English and speaks English fluently.

　With that said, you can convey your real intention and instructions directly to us correctly through the internet, phone, email, etc in English. We think that this ability is very important for our job, because a trademark application is a legal document. We are not tolerant of miscommunication. 　

　Based on this English skill, our firm can offer you high quality services at speed with affodable costs.

Trademark fees

<Trademark fees for filing and registration>

  Attorney's fee Official fee for filing
 Registration fee(including
deadline management)
 Official fee for registration (5 years) TOTAL
1 class ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥54,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $544)
2 classes ￥20,000 ￥20,600 ￥6,000 ￥32,800 ￥79,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥53,400)(approximately $794)
3 classes ￥20,000 ￥29,200 ￥6,000 ￥49,200 ￥104,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥78,400)(approximately $1,044)

※In most cases (over 90% filing cases at our firm), the above-mentioned fee according to the number of the class (classes) will be your total peyment.
※If you claim priority based on the Paris Convention, we will charge you ¥5,000 for claiming priority.
※Notification of reasons for refusal will be issued if any inappropriateness is found in the examination, which can be responded to within a specified response period (e.g.three months) by submission of an argument accompanied by amendment if necessary. Attorney's fee to response to the OA would be ¥10,000~30,000 (MAX) (This fee may vary with the complexity of the OA).
※The attorney fee includes a quick trademark search based on the JPO database, which is very useful. If you need more detailed trademark searches including a written opinion letter for each class before filing, it will cost ¥6,000.
※You can select either 5 or 10 years for the period of duration. If you select 10 years duration period, the official fee for registration will be ¥28,200*the number of the class (classes).

<Renewal fees>

  Attorney's fee Official fee for renewal
5 years ￥15,000 ￥22,600
10 years ￥15,000 ￥38,800

※Registration is valid for ten years from the registration date, and renewable every ten years. You can pay the official fee by two installlments every five years.

 

<Fees relating to the Madrid Protocol>

  Attorney's fee Official fee
Responding to the provisional refusal (including serving as an intermediary for your JPO communication) ¥30,000 -
Translation fee (if necessary) From Japanese to English (¥20/English word) -

※We note that a signed power of attoney is necessary in case when responding to the provisional refusal against the trademark application based on the Madrid Protocol on behalf of a foreign applicant.
※We can offer you translation services English⇔Japanese, Chinese⇔Japanese, if necessary.

Price comparison between our firm and other firms in Japan

For your better understanding, price comparison between our firm and other firms in Japan will be mentioned below.

(A) In case when your trademark application has one class

  • Our Price
      Attorney's fee Official fee for filing
    		 Registration fee(including
    deadline management)
    		 Official fee for registration (5 years) TOTAL
    1 class ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥54,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $544)
  • Sample service fees at other firms in Japan

    Although these firms attract many forgign clients with saying about their cheap service fee, we believe that it is still expensive. We hope that you will easily understand about our competative price if you compare our fee with other firms in Japan.

      Attorney's fee Official fee for filing
    		 Registration fee(including
    deadline management)
    		 Official fee for registration (5 years) TOTAL
    Firm X (1 class) ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥54,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $544)
    Firm Y (1 class) ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥79,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $794)
(B) In case when your trademark application has two classes
  • Our Price
      Attorney's fee Official fee for filing
    		 Registration fee(including
    deadline management)
    		 Official fee for registration (5 years) TOTAL
    2 classes ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥79,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $794)
  • Sample service fees at other firms in Japan

    Although these firms attract many forgign clients with saying about their cheap service fee, we believe that it is still expensive. We hope that you will easily understand about our competative price if you compare our fee with other firms in Japan.

      Attorney's fee Official fee for filing
    		 Registration fee(including
    deadline management)
    		 Official fee for registration (5 years) TOTAL
    Firm X (2 classes) ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥54,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $544)
    Firm Y (2 classes) ￥20,000 ￥12,000 ￥6,000 ￥16,400 ￥79,400(our fee￥26,000+official fee￥28,400)(approximately $794)

 

Our trademark services

1. Preparing trademark applications and filing to the JPO
2. Conducting trademark searches before filing
3. Responding to oppositions from the JPO (Trademark Prosecution)
4. Trademark registrations. Renewal of trademark registrations
5. Responding to the OA for acquiring Japanese Trademarks via the Madrid protocol

Trademark examination process in Japan

　Japan has adopted the examination system in terms with trademark applications. All applications are placed under substantative examination after formalities are checked.

　You can refer to the below flow chart which shows the steps of obtaining a trademark right in Japan.

Our trademark filing history at the JPO

　We have been filing many applications not only for domestic clients,but also for foreign clients such as China, America, England, Singapore,and so on. If you like, you can search for our trademark filings over the past six months from the JPO database, because JPO usually discloses trademark filings which are still pending at the JPO.

　Kindly click here to redirect you to the trademark search page at the JPO. You can select 国内代理人(attorney) and enter 蓑和田登 (my name in Japanese) and click “検索 (search)” botton, so that you can see our trademark filing history over the past six months.

Your payment can be made via Paypal

　You can pay your bills via Paypal with your credit card. Its remmitance fee is 3.9% of the total bill. I think it has a very reasonable price compared to the charge at the bank.

　Furthermore,in some instances, sometimes exchanging currency can be very troublesome when paying the fee. However, if you choose Paypal, you are not required to exchange the currency to Japanese yen. You can pay your fee directly with the Japanese yen. This is very useful. 　

　It goes without saying that you can pay your bill through banks. But if you choose to pay by Paymal, all you need is your credit card information and your paypal account. It is very convenient.

Skype

You can reach us through Skype, in case that you hope to have a Skype interview with us.
We will be pleased to give you one. If you make an appointment in advance, we would be glad to assist you.
Please provide us a few information boforehand. Then we will get back to you for available slots.

  • a Skype interview request
  • kindly input your available schedule (at least three time slots, if possible)

Evaluation comments on our jobs from foreign clients

　It is needless to say that we assure you of high quality service with fairly affordable price.

　We disclose some evaluation comments on my work from our clients, which allowed me to disclose their comments onto my webpage, thankfully.

(1)Mr. Martin who is CEO of RITTER Group of Companies London, Singapore, New York


（２）Evaluation comment from Ms. Emily who owns a trademark firm in Shenzhen, China.

Required information for filing a national trademark application

　For trademark applications in Japan, there are two routes, one by filing national trademark applications to the Japan patent office and the other by filing international applications based on the Madrid protocol designating Japan.

  • Required information for filing a national trademark application

    ・the subject trademark
    ・Goods and/or services
    ・the full and non-abbreviated name and address of the applicant
    ・the application number and its filing date of any priority application, when claiming priority

    Priority can be claimed if the first application is filed within the last six month. A certified copy of the priority application must be filed within three month from the Japanese filing date.

    It is required of applications to specify what goods and/or services the subject trademarks are to be used for. A single application can designate a plurality of classes if the goods and /or services to be designated take a wide variety.

  • Appointting a patent attorney

    If you do not have a permanent address or residence(Office, if the applicant is a legal entity) in Japan, a legal representative(such as a patent attoney) with a permanent address or residence in Japan must be appointed as a patent administrator.Except for a few exceptions, all procedures must be conducted through your patent administrator.

    In addition to this, it is strongly recommended that you appoint a patent attorney as your representative because patent attoneys are extremely knowledgeable about Patent, design, and trademark laws and the necessary filing procedures to complete the process successfully.

  • as for a power of attorney

    You do not need to submit a signed power of attoney when applying a patent, trademark, and design.However, if you appoint a representative(e.g.a patent attorney) acting on behalf of your client to proceed with our patent office afterwards, you need to submit a power of attorney.

  • as for registerable trademarks in Japan

    Trademarks, which are accepted in Japan, are letters, figures, symbols, three-dimensional shapes,combinations thereof, as well as colors with combinations thereof, which are to be used for business. Furthermore, mere colors without any figures and sounds are acceptable in Japan.

  • as for an actual usage

    It is not necessary that ths subject trademarks are in autual use at the time an application is filed, though the applicant's intention to use the trademark in Japan in the near future is required.


Trademark applications relating to the Madrid Protocol

　Japan is also a contracting state of the Madrid Protocal; thus a request for territorial extention to designate Japan shall be deemed to be a trademark application filed on the date of international registration.

　We can also support a Japanese trademark application relating to the Madrid Protocol. In Japan, all applications, including trademark applications based on the Protocol, are placed under substantive examination after formalities are checked. And if you receive “Notification of provisional refusal” from JPO concerning a trademark application based on the protocol, you are required to appoint a patent attoney in Japan. In this case, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be able to help you and your client to get trademark rights in Japan in proper manners.

　In order for us to respond to the provisional refusal against the trademark application based on the Protocol on behalf of a foreign applicant, a signed power of attoney is necessary. No legalization is required, but the original document is needed.

　The applicant can respond to the provisional refusal within a three-month period(plus one month, if necessary) by submission of an argument in Japanese and/or an amendment in English.

　Furthermore, unlike many other countries, indivisual fees provided in Article 8(7)(a) of the protocol shall be paid in Japan not only where a trademark application based on the Protocol is filed, but also when the trademark application is to be registered.

　Our fees for a trademark application relating to the Protocol are below.

Q＆A

  • 1. Does your office provide free search service?

    Yes, we have been doing trademark search for our clients. In Japan, the government database is very reliable and has a lot of functions. That’s the reason why many patent firms in Japan rely on the government database when conducting trademark search.

  • 2. What are the related information of trademark application required ? Does the power of attorney require notarization? If it does,where is the location of notarization? During notarizing process, will there be any fee charge?

    In Japan, the power of attorney is not required in most cases.
    The power of attorney is required only when we need a special delegation of powers, such as a trial against examiner's decision of refusal.
    And we do not have notarization system in terms with trademark and patent.

  • 3. Can trademark logo be colorful? Can the applicant change the color in the later use? Is it feasible for logo with pure Chinese or must the logo have English word?

    In Japan, trademark logo can be colorful. To some extent, the applicant can change the color in later use, but you can not tatally change the color.
    If you want to change the color later, you don’t have to submit a colorful trademark. It is better to submit a black and white trademark. Or you can submit another trademark application having different colors to the JPO later.
    And it is feasible to submit logo with pure Chinese. But in this case, this is not regarded as letters, but as figures or symbols. Needless to say, English is also applicable to the JPO.

  • 4. Does the applicant need to provide the specimen of use of trademark?

    No, it does not. In Japan, we are not required to show the specimen of use of trademark.

  • 5. During apply for trademark,is there any translation fee if we provide English edition?

    In most cases, no, there is not. As long as it relates to the information of the trademark filing, we will not charge you any translation fee.
    However, when it comes to an Office Action, you may require to translate the office action and so on. In this case, we will charge you some amounts of translation fee.

  • 6. When the applicant request to claim priority,does the government charge extra fee? Does your office charge extra service fee? what are application documents should the applicant provide? Is it feasible to take the letter of acceptance/receipt as the proof of priority claim?

    No, the Japanese government does not charge extra fee relating to claiming priority.
    Our firm usually charges you ¥5,000 for claiming priority.
    You need to privide us a priority document issued by the Patent Office.
    And claiming priority must be wrriten in the request form for a trademark application so that we can proof(or you can check) that we have claimed priority in safe.

  • 7. After filing a trademark application, is there any certificate which could proof the governmental trademark office has accept our application? If have ,is there a paper edition? and when will we receive it?

    We receive a receipt showing that tha application has just applied to the JPO, at the same time we file it to the JPO through the Internet. Ususally the receipt is a PDF file.

  • 8. How long is the validity period of a registered trademark? Is it start from the date of filing, or from the date of registration?

    A trademark right expires 10 years from day on which the trademark was registered (not filing date).
    You can renew your trademark right by filing a request for renewal six months before the trademark right expires. You need to pay the renewal fee at the same time you request to renew your trademark right.

    Further, the registration fee can be paid in two installments, one for the first five years and the next for the last five years. When paid over installments, however, the amount of the registration fee for 10 years ends up being higher than if it were paid all at once.