Utility Model Act Article 48-7 Submission of Drawings
Under the Utility Model Act, unlike the Patent Act, drawings are mandatory documents.
However, since the submission of drawings is not mandatory under the PCT system, it is possible that an international application for utility model registration may not include drawings. In such cases, the Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office will issue an order to submit drawings. If the drawings are not submitted even after an order to submit drawings has been issued, the application may be dismissed.
However, depending on the content of the submitted drawings, it may result in the addition of new matter. In this case, the submission of the drawings will create grounds for invalidation.
Also, if an international application on the international filing date includes drawings, an order to submit drawings will not be issued even if the "translation of the description in the drawings" is not submitted by the date on which the national processing standard time falls (because the drawings themselves have already been submitted).
・Utility Model Act Article 48-7
(Submission of Drawings)
Article 48-7 (1) An applicant for an international application for utility model registration must, if the international application does not include drawings on the international filing date, submit the drawings to the Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office by the date on which the national processing standard time falls.
(2) The Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office may, if the drawings are not submitted pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph by the date on which the national processing standard time falls, order the applicant for the international application for utility model registration to submit the drawings by specifying a reasonable period of time.
(3) The Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office may, if the person ordered to submit drawings pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph fails to submit them within the period specified pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph, dismiss the international application for utility model registration.
(4) The submission of drawings made pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) or based on an order pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) (if a brief description of the drawings is submitted along with the drawings, the submission of the drawings and the description) is deemed to be an amendment of the procedures pursuant to the provisions of Article 2-2, paragraph (1). In this case, the provisions of the proviso to that paragraph do not apply.
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