In order to meet the needs of some applicants for accelerated examination, three accelerated examination modes, namely, priority examination, early examination and ultra early examination, are set up to provide different degrees of accelerated examination for different applicable objects. The three systems are introduced below.

1、 Priority review procedure

The conditions for priority review are:

(1) A request for actual examination has been filed against the patent application;

(2) The patent application is after publication and before authorization;

(3) After the patent application is published and before authorization, another person implements the patent application for business purposes;

(4) There is a need for urgent review.

The examiner will give priority to the applications that meet the priority review conditions, and the final review decision will be made within four months at the earliest.

2、 Early Review Procedure

Patent applications that can apply for early examination include:

(1) Patent applications being implemented or to be implemented by the applicant or a third person with the applicant's permission;

(2) The applicant has filed a patent application for the invention with the patent offices of other countries, or has filed an international application for the invention;

(3) All or part of the applicants of the application are small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes, individuals and public welfare institutions;

(4) The application relates to green energy-saving technology.

When filing an application for early examination, it is necessary to submit a "fact sheet for early examination", which includes a fact sheet and a comparison between the application and the prior retrieved prior art. Early review can greatly speed up the process of review, and the final review decision will be made in about six months.

3、 Ultra early review procedure

In addition to meeting the relevant conditions of early review, the applicable objects of ultra early review also need to meet the following conditions:

(1) The associated patent application has been implemented and the associated patent application has been filed abroad;

(2) All procedures for the application for ultra early examination must be submitted via the Internet;

(3) It is not the case that international patent applications have entered the national stage of Japan.

The application procedures for ultra early examination are roughly the same as those for early examination, with the only difference being that it is necessary to indicate in the "Fact Sheet" that the application is for ultra early examination. The ultra early review can further accelerate the review process, and the final review decision will be made in about three months.