Status of non-traditional trademarks in Japan

Zen International Patents and Trademarks

Almost 2 years have passed since the Japan Patent Office (the "JPO")  started accepting applications for non-traditional trademarks, such as sounds, holograms, colors (without delineated contours), positions and moving images.

According to the JPO's database as of June 7, 2017, the JPO received 1,276 applications for non-traditional trademarks and among them, 252 have been registered for now.

The breakdown of no. of registration is as follows:

Sound marks : 133
Holograms: 10
Colors:2
Positions: 33
Moving images: 74

With respect to color marks, only 2 have been registered among 406 applications.
Registration of color trademarks becomes a challenge since JPO requires high level of awareness to be registered.

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