Before 1 July 1995, the term of a Japanese patent was “15 years from the date of examined publication but not in excess of 20 years from the filing date”. On I July 1995, this was changed to “20 years from the filing date”. This also applies to all patents already in force on 1 July 1995.
Before 1994, the term of a Japanese utility model was “10 years from the date of examined publication but not in excess of 15 years from the filing date”. In 1994, this was reduced to six years from the application date. On 1 April 2005, however, the Japanese utility model law was revised, increasing the term of utility models to 10 years from the application date. The new 10-year term applies to all utility models filed on or after 1 April 2005.