There are some firms that specialize in extending Japanese Patent translation services. These Japanese patent translation services are mostly based in Japan although some are in the US. The key features of Japanese patent translation services professional practice are:

• Japanese patent translation of patent specifications
• Direct prosecution from Japan of patent applications before the U.S.P.T.O.
• Verbal communications in Japanese concerning preparation and prosecution of patent applications

These Japanese Patent Translation services are oftentimes U.S. patent translation and law firms located in Japan and fully established for handling U.S. patent applications in all phases from translation and preparation of specifications through to allowance. Japanese Patent Translation firms are made up by patent agents with experience in Japan prosecuting patent applications directly before the USPTO and many years' experience translating Japanese patent specifications. Japanese Patent Translation firms include paralegal staff, and patent filing and prosecution infrastructure.

Japanese Patent Translation services extend Patent filing with the aid of the prosecution infrastructure which includes: electronic filing and application status-monitoring capabilities via the USPTO's EFS and PAIR systems, direct-dial call forwarding from the U.S. to Japan, full docketing system to manage patent prosecution deadlines, and a liaison patent agent in the U.S. for emergencies.

Japanese patent translation is a long process. First, Japanese applicants for U.S. patents conventionally file applications in the United States based on an original Japanese patent application. For thus filing in the U.S., the Japanese patent application first must be translated into English and put into proper form to meet U.S. filing requirements. In addition, it is often desirable to revise and augment the claims over their form as directly translated from the Japanese. This stage of preparing a U.S. patent application based on an original Japanese patent application is conventionally handled by the patent law firm of the Japanese patent attorney that prepared and filed the Japanese original. The Japanese patent law firm itself handles the Japanese patent translation into English, using translators the firm employs, or otherwise an outside translation agency. Then the Japanese patent translation attorney in charge of the original application reviews the English translation, and together with the applicant readies the corresponding English patent specification for filing in the U.S.

To file the corresponding U.S. patent application, conventionally the next step is to send the English patent specification prepared as noted above to a firm of patent practitioners in the U.S. that is an associate of the Japanese patent firm. The U.S. associate patent firm then reviews the Japanese patent for compliance with U.S. filing requirements, and files it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. An original Japanese patent conventionally passes from the applicant company in Japan to: a Japanese patent attorney, a translator, the Japanese patent attorney again and the applicant, then a U.S. patent practitioner, and finally the USPTO