Is there any duty to disclose relevant prior art for a Japanese patent application?
Yes. Applicants need to identify the relevant prior art in the specification for all patent applications filed on or after September 1, 2002.(For PCT applications, the international filing date is regarded as the Japanese filing date.)If there is no such identification of the prior art, the Examiner will request applicants to identify the relevant art. Consequently, the identification of the relevant art can be supplemented during the examination. Note that there is no need to submit actual copies of the art.
