Deferring Fees and Extending Pendency of Patent Applications in Japan

Green-highlighted options cost the same or less per deferred month than filing a divisional application (yellow). We suggest pursuing the green options first and then filing a divisional application to keep a patent application pending longer.

1. Fees and deferred months are typical numbers and may vary.
2. The fees do not include those for studying the office actions or inventions, because those fees are incurred anyway regardless of the deferral.
3. The fees for appeal (D,H) and divisional (J) are dependent on the number of claims.
　 We assumed 15 claims for a divisional application, and 13 claims for an appeal.
4. The JPO suspends the examination of the divisional application upon request, if the parent application is pending an appeal.
　 The examination resumes three months of the decision on appeal.
　 https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/patent/shinsa/general/bunkatu-shutugan_chushi.html