Accelerated Examination of Patent Applications in Japan for Foreign Applicants

"We need a Japanese patent quickly — a competitor is copying our product." "Our application was also filed in China and the US. Does that help in Japan?" "How much does the JPO charge to speed things up?"

Japan has an accelerated examination system (soki shinsa) that lets eligible patent applications be examined much sooner than in the regular queue. For foreign applicants the most useful category is the "foreign-related application" — an application whose invention has also been filed outside Japan. In this article, Japanese Patent Attorney Toru Kano of BrandAgent explains who is eligible, what goes into the request, how the prior-art comparison works, how fast it is, and how it differs from the PPH.

*Information as of November 2026, based on the JPO's Guidelines for Accelerated Examination and Accelerated Appeal Examination (March 2026 edition) and its published Q&A. Check the latest information on the JPO website.

Foreign applicants act through a Japanese patent attorney

An applicant with no domicile or business office in Japan cannot file procedures with the JPO directly. The examination request, the accelerated examination request and responses to Office Actions must go through a representative in Japan — in practice a licensed Japanese patent attorney (Benrishi). The JPO's guidelines also require that, where a representative is appointed, the lead representative is a patent attorney, an attorney-at-law or a legal representative. At BrandAgent, every case is handled personally by the patent attorney, and we communicate in English and Chinese. Payment can be made by PayPal (in JPY) or bank transfer.

How fast is accelerated examination?

According to the JPO's Status Report 2026, the period from an accelerated examination request to the first action was 2.3 months on average in 2025. Regular examination takes considerably longer. Faster examination means you know earlier whether you will get a patent, can enforce it sooner, and can make decisions about other countries with Japanese results in hand.

Accelerated examination does not lower the bar. The examiner applies the same standards; only the waiting time is shortened. The normal response periods for Office Actions still apply.

Who is eligible?

The common requirements are that a request for examination has been filed (it can be filed at the same time as the accelerated examination request) and, where a representative is appointed, that the lead representative is a patent attorney, an attorney-at-law or a legal representative. The application must also fall into at least one of the following categories:

There is also an accelerated examination with interviews for startups that are working the invention. For most overseas companies, however, the realistic route is the foreign-related category, sometimes combined with the working-related category.

The foreign-related category in detail

The JPO's guidelines and Q&A clarify several points that matter to foreign applicants:

• One foreign filing is enough. You do not need to list every country.
• PCT applications count — the definition includes international applications, and the JPO's Q&A says an international application that has not yet entered the national phase can qualify.
• Order does not matter. The Japanese application may be filed before or after the foreign one.
• Identify the foreign filing. State the country/office and the application number (or publication number, or international application number). If no number is available yet, you can state the office and filing date and attach a copy of the foreign filing instead. A US provisional application with an application number can also be used.
• Divisional applications of a qualifying application can also qualify.
• Foreign-language PCT national-phase applications can be accelerated, subject to the JPO receiving the necessary documents from the International Bureau.

In practice, almost every application that a Chinese, Korean, US or European company files in Japan with a Paris priority claim or via the PCT is a foreign-related application.

The statement of circumstances

Accelerated examination is requested by filing a "Statement of circumstances concerning accelerated examination" (soki shinsa ni kansuru jijo setsumeisho) — one per application. It contains:

• Bibliographic data (application number, applicant, representative) and the type of accelerated examination requested.
• Circumstances: the facts showing eligibility — for a foreign-related application, the countries/offices and application numbers.
• Disclosure of prior art and comparison with the claimed invention (see below).
• A list of submitted documents, where any are attached.

If something needs to be added later, a supplementary statement can be filed. The JPO's Q&A states that the comparison explanation must be written in Japanese — your Japanese patent attorney prepares it from your materials.

Prior-art disclosure and comparison

This is the core of the request. For foreign-related applications, the guidelines require both a prior-art search and a comparison between the prior art and the claimed invention. There is a helpful shortcut:

The comparison must explain, concretely and concisely, the differences between the claimed invention and each relevant document, and the advantageous effects resulting from those differences, with references to the relevant pages, lines or figures. You may also propose an amendment in the statement and base the comparison on the amended claims — useful when the foreign search already shows that the original claims are too broad.

Note the difference from the SME category: SMEs, individuals, universities and similar applicants filing alone do not need a prior-art search (documents they know of are enough), but they still need the comparison. Foreign-related applications need the search — which is why an existing foreign search report is so valuable.

Timing and what happens next

• Examination request: required; it can be filed together with the accelerated examination request. In Japan the examination request must be filed within 3 years of the filing date, and the JPO fee is JPY 138,000 + JPY 4,000 per claim (as of 1 April 2026).
• Even after a first Office Action: the JPO's Q&A confirms that a request can be filed after the first Notice of Reasons for Refusal.
• Result: the JPO notifies whether the request has been accepted by a "Notice concerning accelerated examination". If requirements are not met, the application stays in the regular queue.
• Before publication: examination can start before the application is published.

One strategic point: a fast grant also shortens the time during which you can still amend claims or file divisional applications. If you want to keep a patent family pending in Japan, plan divisional filings before the decision arrives.

No JPO fee

The JPO charges no official fee for filing the statement of circumstances or a supplementary statement, and no data-entry fee for paper filings. The regular examination request fee still applies, and attorney fees depend on the work involved (mainly the prior-art comparison) — ask us for a free quote.

Super-accelerated examination

For applications that are both working-related and foreign-related (or working-related applications filed by startups), the JPO offers super-accelerated examination. According to the JPO's procedures, it aims to issue the first action within about 1 month of the request (about 2 months for PCT national-phase applications). The conditions are stricter: all procedures from 4 weeks before the request must be filed online, responses to Office Actions are expected within 30 days (2 months for overseas applicants), and extension requests should not be filed. If these conditions are not met, the case is handled as ordinary accelerated examination.

Accelerated examination vs the PPH

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is another fast track, available when another office has already found claims patentable. Under the PPH, all Japanese claims must sufficiently correspond to those claims, and the request must be filed before the JPO starts examination. Accelerated examination as a foreign-related application has no such claim restriction, so it fits when no other office has decided yet or when you want a scope tailored to Japan. Neither carries a JPO fee.

FAQ

• Q. Is there a JPO fee for accelerated examination?
  A. No. Only the regular examination request fee and attorney fees apply.
• Q. Our Japanese application claims priority from China. Is it foreign-related?
  A. Yes — an application whose invention is also filed at another office, including through the PCT, falls into the foreign-related category.
• Q. Do we have to translate the cited prior art into Japanese?
  A. According to the JPO's Q&A, translations are not required if the comparison is adequate, but the comparison itself must be in Japanese.
• Q. Can we request it after receiving an Office Action?
  A. Yes, the JPO's Q&A confirms that this is possible.
• Q. Does accelerated examination continue into an appeal?
  A. No. If the application is refused and you appeal, a separate request for accelerated appeal examination is needed.