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Reference.org
Kokai
open-in-new
<p>A <i>kōkai</i> (公開), short for <i>kōkai tokkyo kōhō</i> (公開特許公報), is a published, unexamined <a href="/facts/Japan/U5mz0SRT">Japanese</a> <a href="/facts/Patent_application/ACHxPn3A">patent application</a>, in contrast to the <i><a href="/facts/Kokoku_(patent_law)/xhLlQ13v">kokoku</a></i> or <i>tokkyo kōhō</i>, the examined and approved <a href="/facts/Japan/U5mz0SRT">Japanese</a> patent application. <i>Kōkai</i> means "open to the public", or "laid-open". <i>Kōkai</i> are published eighteen months after the earliest <a href="/facts/Paris_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Industrial_Property/qeRePQ8b">priority</a> date. </p><p><i>Tokukai</i> (特開) is another shorthand for <i>kōkai tokkyo kōhō</i>, taken from the first character of <i>tokkyo</i> (patent) and the second of <i>kōkai</i>. </p>