From time to time, I receive inquiries from clients who want to sell their trademarks. A common case is that they have registered a trademark before, but never had a chance to use it, so they want to monetize it by selling or licensing it. I understand that they want to sell your trademark because […]

Vanarama, a British car leasing company, has created a concept design for the Apple Car based on Apple’s car-related patents. I don’t know if Apple will actually build such a car, but it is very interesting. The Apple Car – Vanarama Instead of just saying this is interesting, why don’t you seriously consider this kind […]

Hashtags are often used on social networking sites. On the Japanese flea market app “Mercari”, a person was selling his/her own products on his/her own sales site with a hashtag that uses another company’s brand name (trademark) as its keyword. The use of such a hashtag is an infringement of trademark rights, a court ruled […]

While the coronavirus infection is spreading again, the Tokyo Olympics are begining. For this Olympics, there has been no shortage of topics in the media, including problems and scandals related to its hosting and operation. In this Olympics, most of the competitions will be held in spectator-free venues due to concerns about the risk of […]

We are delighted to announce the partnership with The PCT Network to introduce to Japanese IP firms the foreign filing network of patent and trademark. The PCT Network is the largest foreign network of IP professionals in the world for foreign filing, and connects international associates in order to provide the best IP filing services […]

Japanese retail company Ryohin Keikaku, which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods under the name of MUJI (Mujirushi Ryohin), lost a trademark infringement case in China. Reportedly, on December 11 2019, the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court ordered Ryohin Keikaku to pay CNY 600,000 (USD 85,336) in damages to a Chinese company.  […]

Happy New Year! In 2019, there is a big event in Japan. The current crown prince ascends to the throne on May 1. In conjunction with that, Japan’s era name is also changed. Reportedly, the new name will be announced on April 1, one month prior to the enthronement, to ease the transition including necessary […]

As most people know, Japan’s market is controlled by the heavy hand of government. To make it easier for companies to start new businesses, the government prepared the ”Gray Area Resolution System” in 2014. This system allows business operators to make inquiries about whether or not some regulation is applied to a new business they […]