Saitama Prefecture is humanly and materially blessed. Just north of Tokyo Prefecture, it is home to over 7 million and close to 2,000 people per square kilometer (5,000/sq. mile), and many businesses. [3] Yet its smaller companies, like those in…
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The Japanese government’s Subcommittee on the Patent Act System has been working on revisions to the patent litigation system in Japan since October last year. The Japanese patent system does not have a requirement like the United States power of…
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On January 17, 2019, the Japanese Patent Attorney’s Association held a press conference in which presenter Seiji Matsuda pointed out the impact of the now-effective modified Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement (often called TPP-11) on intellectual property. The major changes…
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Japanese chemical giant Toray announced on December 19, 2018 that it is striking out at two competitors that it claims are violating its extended medical use patent for an anti-itch product, Remitch®. The Japanese business paper Nikkei Shimbun took up…
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Plant variety registration laws do not feature frequently in intellectual property news feeds, but a recent conflict has arisen in Korean Jeju Island where farmers acquired new varieties of Japanese mikan tangerines without formal licenses. Now that the varieties have…
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In spring 2018, Japan implemented a Revision to Unfair Competition Prevention Act that includes a change to the disclosure grace period (exception to lack of novelty of invention period) for filers of Japanese patent, utility model, or industrial design applications….
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Mangamura, the large online manga comic sharing website that was closed earlier this year for piracy of copyrighted manga, is now facing deeper scrutiny. Vast records from its online server company (an American company, Cloudflare) have been served up to…
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Kawasaki City, an industrial core for the Tokyo metropolitan area, has been promoting wider licensing and use of patents released by big corporate owners, by small and medium-sized companies in Kawasaki. The municipal effort has gained national attention for connecting…
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If you are reading this, you probably are one of the many people blessed with little or no visual impairment. However, there are many people who are visually disabled or impaired. For them, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to…
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Japan is not an easy place to drive a car, but Mari Mobility Development Inc. has built a popular tourist-oriented business partly on its “MariCAR” go-cart tours. The “MariCAR” tours offer superhero outfits, including for Nintendo Co.’s classic video game…
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