A Japanese trademark is only as secure as the diary entry behind it. We docket Japanese renewals and statutory deadlines against the official JPO record, reconcile them every month, and escalate before the date rather than after it.
The Japanese renewal regime
- Term. 10 years from the registration date.
- Measured from. The registration date — which matters, because a portfolio docketed off the wrong one of those two dates can be out by months.
- Grace period. 6 months after expiry, with late fees.
- Opposition window. 2 months from publication of registration.
Deadlines beyond renewal
JPO requires no affirmative declaration of use between renewals, which sounds easier and is in one way more dangerous: there is no periodic filing to force a review of the portfolio. A mark can drift into five years of non-use and become vulnerable to cancellation with no deadline having been missed at all. We review use evidence on a schedule for exactly this reason.
The Japanese deadline most portfolios get wrong
Japan lets you pay the registration and renewal fees in five-year instalments instead of ten. It lowers the immediate cost but creates an extra mid-term deadline that does not exist anywhere else — and missing the second instalment lapses the mark just as surely as missing a renewal.
How we docket Japanese marks
- Reconcile against the register. Every date is taken from the JPO record, not from a spreadsheet you inherited.
- Dual escalation. A first alert with working time to act, a second as the statutory date approaches, and a named human chasing it.
- Grace-period tracking. The 6 months window is docketed as a separate deadline, because it is a real last chance and not a soft extension.
- Monthly audit. New registrations, assignments and address changes reconciled so the docket does not silently drift from the register.
Frequently asked questions
When does a Japanese trademark need renewing?
10 years from the registration date, calculated from the registration date. The grace period afterwards is 6 months, with late fees applied.
What happens if a Japanese renewal deadline is missed?
Inside the 6 months grace period the mark can be renewed late on payment of a surcharge. After that the registration lapses and the only routes back are discretionary or unavailable — and in the meantime the mark is open for a competitor to register. Recovering a lapsed mark, where it is possible at all, costs many times what the renewal would have.
Can you take over an existing Japanese docket?
Yes, and the first thing we do is reconcile what you hand us against the JPO register rather than trusting it. Inherited dockets are where the errors live: marks recorded off the wrong base date, assignments never updated, and deadlines that were computed once and never rechecked.
Never miss a Japanese deadline again
Send us the portfolio — a list of marks and numbers is enough to start. We reconcile it against the JPO register and come back with the live deadline picture, including anything already overdue. See how our trademark docketing service works, or file a new trademark in Japan for a $399 per-class professional fee. Government and official fees are additional, are never marked up, and are confirmed in writing before anything is filed.