JP IPO

The Japan Patent Office provides information about its activities (hereinafter referred to as the “Service”) on its website (Official Website of the Japan Patent Office, hereinafter referred to as the “Website”). Users of the Website are required to conform to the terms of use in using the content described herein (hereinafter referred to as “Terms of Use”). Furthermore, use of the Service constitutes agreement by the user with the Terms of Use. Since the contents of the Terms of Use are subject to change without prior notice if necessary, users are requested to check this page for its latest version in using the Service.

Using the content of the JPO website

Information made available on the JPO website (hereinafter referred to as “Content”) may be freely used, copied, publicly transmitted, translated or otherwise modified on condition that the user complies with provisions 1) to 6) below. Use of the Content constitutes agreement by the user with the Terms of Use.

Source citation

1. The user must cite the source when using the Content. Sources should be cited in the following manner:
   (Examples of source citation)
   Source: JPO website (URL of the relevant page)
   Source: XX Survey (JPO) (URL of the relevant page) (accessed on year/month/day)
2. If you have edited the Content for use, you must include a statement expressing that the content has been edited, in addition to the abovementioned source citation. Making public or using edited information in a format that may be misconstrued as having been created by the Government of Japan (or its ministries and/or agencies) is prohibited.
   (Example of citation when using edited content)
   Created by editing the XX Survey (JPO) (URL of the relevant page)
   Created by Company YY based on XX Survey (JPO) (URL of the relevant page)

No infringement of third party rights

1. In some cases, a third party (refers to a party other than the state. Hereinafter referred to as “Third Party”) may hold copyrights or other rights to a part of the Content. For Content where a Third Party holds copyrights or other rights (e.g. portrait rights in a photograph, publicity rights etc.), it is the responsibility of the user to obtain consent for use from the Third Party unless there is explicit indication that the rights have already been cleared.
2. If a Third Party holds rights to a part of the Content, said fact may be directly or indirectly stated or indicated through source citations, but in some cases the part of the Content to which the Third Party holds the rights may not be clear or may not be explicitly stated. It is the responsibility of the user to confirm the rights pertaining to use of the Content.
3. The user must comply with the terms and conditions of the source provider for Content obtained through API (Application Programming Interface) links to external databases etc.
4. Even if a Third Party holds copyrights to the Content, some use of the Content, such as quoting, may be allowed without the consent of the copyright holder, under the Copyright Act of Japan.

Content where the Terms of Use does not apply

The Terms of Use herein does not apply to the following Content.

1. Symbol mark, logo, and character designs which represent an organization or specific business
2. Content where other terms of use apply with rational and concrete reason (Content where other terms of use apply is listed in the Appendix to the Terms of Use.)

Governing law and jurisdiction

1. The Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Japan.
2. In case of disputes relating to the use of the Content based on the Terms of Use, or the Terms of Use, the user agrees that the exclusive court of first instance shall be the district court with jurisdiction in the place where the organization that has published the disputed Content or Terms of Use is located.

Disclaimer

1. The state bears absolutely no responsibility for any action taken by the user involving the use of the Content (including use of information based on edited Content).
2. Part of the Content is provisionally translated from the original Japanese documents. In case of using the Content, the Japan Patent Office recommends users to also refer to the original Japanese documents.
3. The Content may be modified, moved or deleted without prior notice.

Other

1. The Terms of Use does not limit those types of uses for which, under Copyright Act of Japan, license from the right holders are not required.
2. The Terms of Use was established on March 3, 2016. The Terms of Use is based on the Government of Japan Standard Terms and Conditions (Version 2.0). The Terms of Use may be modified in the future. If you are already using Content under previous version of the Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use, these terms and conditions will continue to apply.
3. The Terms of Use are compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (hereinafter referred to as the CC License). This means that Content based on the Terms of Use may be used under the CC License in lieu of the Terms of Use.

Links

1. In principle, users are free to create links to information on the Website (The same shall apply not only to links to the top page but also to those to individual information webpages (individual webpages).) However, this does not apply to information contained on the website where restrictions concerning links are denoted.
2. Users should indicate clearly that the link(s) they create are to the “Official Website of the Japan Patent Office.” (This does not require prior notification to the Cabinet Secretariat.)
3. When a link is created, users are requested to ensure that the link to the Website does not open as a frame within another website.
4. A banner image is available as shown below when the JPO symbol mark is used for creating a link to the JPO website.

Disclaimer of Liability

The JPO has been exerting its utmost efforts as regards the accuracy of information placed on its web pages. However, it is not liable for any acts of users for which one or more pieces of information on the JPO web site are used.

Other

Please note that the information on the JPO web site is subject to change without notice.

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