Japan Patent Office announced that trademark registration was granted to a trademark application where Letter of Consent was applied. It is the first case of trademark registration since JPO revised the Japan Trademark Law and adopted LOC in April 2024.
The following is the first trademark registration where Letter of Consent (LOC) was applied.
And the cited trademark is as follows.
The above information is quoted from the news release by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2025/04/20250407001/20250407001.html
Under JPO’s practice, in addition to a letter of consent, applicants need to submit supplementary documents, such as agreement between applicant and earlier trademark owner, to prove that applied mark and earlier trademark would not cause a confusion not only at present but in future. Applicants may also file an argument if necessary.
Though JPO has introduced LOC into examination practice, examiners have discretion to refuse applied mark, even after filing a letter of consent and other documents, when applied marks are likely to cause confusion.
There are some alternative ways to overcome refusal reason (Article 4-1-11), such as “Assignment Back” (temporally transferring the right related to applied mark to earlier trademark owner and assigning it back to applicant after JPO decided to grant a trademark registration.