The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has announced that holders of international design registrations under the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement will be given special treatment, in the form of an additional opportunity to submit priority documents for their registered designs.

The 1999 Geneva Act allows applicants to protect their design applications in multiple regions by filing a single application with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Japan became a contracting party to the Act in 2015.

The JPO will accept the submission of priority documents under this special treatment until January 30, 2017. For more information regarding the program, or the specific applications eligible for the treatment, please visit the JPO webpage at the link below.

http://www.jpo.go.jp/english/applications/isho_yusenken_e.htm