Albert Einstein said “Man is an animal that makes mistakes,” Even a genius makes mistakes, and, of course, that includes Patent Attorneys. After a long period of divergence from foreign Patent Offices, the JPO is easing reinstatement of rights procedures.

Each country’s civil law regulates the lives of its people, each country’s constitution protects the human rights of its citizens, and prescribes and maintains its governing structures. International IPO patent examination cooperation is advancing – this is vitally important and welcome within the realm of territoriality.

In 2014, I had occasion, together with a client, to visit a US patent firm regarding the question of enforcing a patent issued in the US. The patent was a so-called business method invention, and had been also granted in Japan. We must address global differences in business method invention treatment.

Based on the utility model registration of a Japanese company in China, we filed an injunction request with the administrative agency of a certain local city in China. This case study explains two solutions to overcoming local patent protectionism in China.

If a patent application (latter application) is filed with the claimed invention being identical to the description in the specification of a former patent application, the application may be rejected when the former patent application is laid open to the public after the filing of the latter patent application. Understanding secret prior art in Japanese and global patent law is important.

The JPO is conducting comparatively high-level and detailed examinations. Design registration hurdles in Japan compared to other countries should be considered.

In PTO cases, a problem is evaluating the evidence value of private documents for patent invalidation or opposition in Patent litigation.

Always register IP under the company name, even when it is supported or created by the president’s technical capabilities.

n patent infringement cases, the “infringement discussion” (whether or not the alleged infringing product actually infringes the patent right) is the first hurdle in the courts in any country.

The JPO has issued its decision dismissing the appeal against the decision of refusal in the examination of the Christian Louboutin “Red Sole High Heels trademark” case.

As a Japanese patent attorney, I’ve handled, and I’m aware that there are a large number of applications to Asian countries, especially China and South Korea.

Loosing novelty regarding patents is a vital issue globally. It should be well understood in order to avoid the potential business and value loss than it can entail.

A new Kimura client consulted with us that “I was listing on a well-known E-Commerce Site but I was notified that I would have to stop listing because there was a possibility of infringement of design rights.

This mini case shows the practical use of Patent Portfolios to leverage the value of inventions. Specially, by adding new Patents that build on a core technological innovation and ensuring long-term protection and greater commercial success

This mini case is a practical example of using Divisional Patent Applications as a means of building invention protection in Japan. For greater background detail, please see “Understanding Japan’s Divisional Application System” published August 21, 2021.

In Part 2, I described the philosophy and current status of the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty), especially from the perspective of the international search system. Here, I will address the importance of the “patent harmonization” discussion that has had to gradually converge, due to various circumstances and while being discussed heatedly for a long time […]

In Japan, the patent attorney profession is not as well known as those of attorneys – at – law and certified accountants. It is important to understand the differences between Attorneys-at-law and Patent Attorneys in Japan. For SMEs, the business can be at stake. The Basic Situation and Difference The basic occupation of patent attorneys […]

In Parts 1 and 2 I introduced the usefulness of Japan’s utility model system, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s). I believe that there is broad misunderstanding and underestimation of the value of the Japanese Utility Model. In this Part 3, I will explain and answer the question: “why can a company’s market can […]

In a previous article, I touched on “the usefulness of the Japanese Utility Model System” in Japan. The utility model system is a strong ally when Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) try to protect “technical ideas” in Japan. Thus the usefulness of the utility model system will be more fully described below. The essential characteristic […]