Japanese courts slow to adopt information technologies
Web meeting

Finally, Japan’s courts are going to use information technologies for proceedings. Despite widespread use of IT in daily life, we have been required to conduct paper-based procedures and go to court for a brief preparatory proceeding. It would be welcome to improve this situation, but it’s too slow. The reported rough schedule is as follows.  […]

Tokyo and Osaka district courts to start Intellectual Property mediation service
Mediation

Japan’s Tokyo and Osaka district courts will start an intellectual property mediation service in October 2019. The Tokyo district court published the operational guidelines for the new service on August 1.  The purpose of this service is to solve an IP dispute quickly through a discussion between both parties, by advice or opinion from a mediation […]

Recent IP activities of Japanese companies
JPO Annual Report

Japan Patent Office (JPO) published an annual report on July 12 2019. According to the report, 313,567 patent applications were filed in Japan in 2018. And, 253,000 patent applications among them were filed by domestic applicants. It slightly decreased than last year. As you may know, Japanese companies have been reducing investment in Japanese patents. However, […]

JPO’s SEP advisory opinion service updated
Negotiation on SEP

JPO’s SEP advisory opinion service has been updated for cases received on or after July 1 2019. This service started from April 2018, to provide a JPO’s non-binding opinion on whether a particular patent is a standard essential patent (SEP). We covered this service in the previous article here. The changes in the user’s guide include the […]

Japanese large companies stealing IP of SMEs
IP theft

Japanese large companies have been stealing SMEs’ intellectual property. This issue was brought up in a working group discussing the improvement of business conditions for SMEs or subcontracting companies, as reported in our previous article. Then, Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) conducted surveys on the handling intellectual property in the transactions in manufacturing industry, and […]

Japan IP High Court rules standard for calculating damages in patent infringement case
calculating damages

On June 7 2019, Japan Intellectual Property High Court ruled standard for calculating damages, especially deductible expenses, in a patent infringement case on carbonated pack cosmetics. Below is the summary of the decision. 1. Presumed damages Japanese patent law provides provisions to make it easier for patent holders to prove the amount of damages. One […]

Japanese universities to acquire stock option rights as IP license fees
licensing revenues of universities

Previously on this blog, we featured a story about a fight on patent royalty between a university researcher and a licensee company. And, it suggested a problem of a talent shortage for intellectual property in the university.  Licensing Revenues of Japanese Universities When talking about licensing revenues of universities, Japanese universities are often compared with American universities. […]

Japan’s enhanced personal data protection results in providing individuals with the right to sell their data
Personal data protection

In response to the global trends, the Japanese government announced a policy to strengthen the personal data protection on April 25 2019. It will enhance the right for individuals to demand companies to stop using their personal information. Under the current law, individuals can demand it, only if such data has been fraudulently acquired or used for […]

Copyright registration on blockchain
Copyright registration on blockchain

Recently, I found a misleading website which provides registration service for intellectual property. It provides a global registry for patents, designs and trademarks on the blockchain network. It says you can register an intellectual property in minutes at a cost of less than $15. This website should add more explanation. The registration on the blockchain […]

Foreign language patent system to be considered in Japan
Foreign language patent

Do you think Japanese patents are difficult to use? I visited Chinese IT companies early this month. A person in charge of licensing said Japanese patents are difficult to use, as well as Korean patents. Because the specification, claims and other documents for Japanese patents are written in Japanese language, he is not sure if […]