Hague - Request for refund of the indivisial designation fee after decision of refusal

If the application is made via Hague in Japan and is rejected, the notice of refusal includes the notice from JPO and the second page indicates the reimbursement from JPO after the decision of refusal.

If a Hague application that designates Japan is rejected by the JPO, the applicant can receive a partial refund of the Individual Designation Fee for Japan. Specifically, if the application was filed in April 2022, the refund amount is 603 CHF minus 15,300 JPY, which corresponds to the annuities for the 1st through 5th years that were paid at the time of the international design application. The request for reimbursement must be submitted by the local Japanese agency.

The reimbursement request must be made within 6 months after the decision of refusal becomes final and binding. "Becomes final and binding" means after the deadline for filing an appeal against the decision of refusal has passed, which is 3 months after the decision of refusal is issued.  Namely, the refund should be requested within 9 months after the decision of refusal issues roughly.

If you need further assisctance for this matter, please let us know, preferrably the specifici filing number.

NOTE: Such refund system is NOT provided in Madrid trademark filing in Japan.