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Amendments to Trademark Laws

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Apr 11, 2018 (Newsletter Issue 7/18)
Japan
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Method of Counting Similar Groupings Changed


"Similar groupings" refers to the universal 5-character alphanumeric codes assigned to goods and services. The goods and services contained in a group are, as a rule, inferred to be similar in nature. Formerly, certain goods and services that appear in multiple groups weree counted only as a single group, with a maximum of seven groups allowed. If the number of groups surpasses seven, a notification of reasons for refusal was issued under principal paragraph of Article 3(1) of the Trademark law.

Following revision, the number of groups is counted in which a given group or service appears. The maximum number of groups that can appear in a single class is set to 22. There is no change regarding the handling of services such as retail. The announcement and implementation of the revised method of counting groups took place on April 2, 2018, and the change applies to all pending applications.

Source: www.harakenzo.com