The Japanese Trademark Act has been revised as of May 30. The changes force all divisional trademark registration applications filed from June 9, 2018 to stem from a properly paid-for trademark registration application. Until this, the Trademark Act Article 10…
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The Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced on June 6 that it has begun to make available its multi-category classifications for patent inventions directed toward Internet of Things (IoT) technology in various sectors. This is to enable more precise searching and…
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Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received a proposal from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s Intellectual Property Strategy Investigation Committee on May 17. The Committee argued for an infrastructure that would enable universities’ research to reach and be invested in by…
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Over the past several months, a debate over a website hosting free (pirated) manga (Japanese comic) content, Mangamura (“Manga Village”) and similar sites. This debate moved from verbal arguments to pressures to close down the entire website, and after a…
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Japan’s Intellectual Property High Court’s seventh chief judge, Makiko Takabe, was installed on May 5, 2018. Her inaugural greeting is now available on the IP High Court’s website. She has had a long career in the justice system in Japan,…
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Takeda Pharmaceuticals, ranked in the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world in sales, is seeking to grow its technological base with a merger by a $64 billion purchase of Ireland’s Shire. Shire has until May 8 to answer Takeda’s…
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Kikkoman Corporation, a major producer of soy sauce in Japan, succeeded with its trademark application for its well-known sauce dispensing bottle. The JPO registered it as Trademark No. 6031041 on March 30, 2018. The dispenser is easily recognized by its…
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The JPO published its JPO Status Report 2018 recently, including reports on the JPO’s activities in promoting IP domestically and globally. Its “Facts and Events 2017” section highlights some of the standards in examination. (The report is written in English…
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JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers), as noted in “JASRAC Sues Establishments for Copyright Infringement” last year, began waging litigation against a barbershop in Sapporo, Hokkaido. The Sapporo District Court handed JASRAC a victory on March,…
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The Japan Platform for Patent Information (JPlat-Pat), the online search engine for Japanese and related intellectual property applications, is now refined to be able to perform more detailed Japanese searches of prior art. This is anticipated to enable inventors, applicants,…
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