The Ordinance enacted on September 26, 2022 allows for submission of a duplicate of a power of attorney as a proof of authority to represent of an agent.

 
1.Background
  As for authority to represent of an agent of a person who takes a given procedure with the Japan Patent Office, it is required to submit a document proving the agent’s authority to represent (so-called a “power of attorney").

  Conventionally, it was in principle required to submit the original copy of a power of attorney for proving the authority to represent.

  In patent offices of major countries other than Japan, however, it is permitted to submit a duplicate of a power of attorney for proving authority to represent.  Under such circumstances, there was a demand that the Japan Patent Office should also reconsider the procedure of proving the authority to represent, from a viewpoint of increasing convenience of administrative procedures.

  Thus, the Enforcement Regulation of the Patent Act etc. was revised in order for a duplicate of a power of attorney to be accepted as a proof of authority to represent.  As a result, not only the original copy but also a duplicate of a power of attorney is allowed to be submitted to prove the authority to represent.

 
2.Contents
  After the revision, a duplicate of a power of attorney submitted in writing is treated as "a document proving the authentic authority to represent," unless it is doubtful that it is the duplicate of the power of attorney created based on an agreement between a mandator and a mandatary.  If necessary, however, submission of the original copy or a clearer duplicate of the power of attorney may be required, such as when the submitted duplicate of the power of attorney is blurred.

 
3.International Application
  In case of an international application, it is practiced in a different way from the above.

  When an individual power of attorney is submitted or a general power of attorney is deposited to a receiving office, the original copy of the power of attorney is still required.  Thus, even when a copy of a sealed general power of attorney has been submitted (deposited), it cannot be incorporated in a PCT international application by reference.  On the other hand, when a signed general power of attorney has been submitted (deposited), it can be incorporated in a PCT international application by reference.  This is because the signature in the general power of attorney is the same as a handwritten signature converted into image data by scanning etc. as already accepted.  Therefore, it is believed more advantageous to create a signed general power of attorney than a sealed one for proving the authority to represent in a PCT international application.

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