Back in 2017, a number of music schools in Japan banded together to file a case against the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) for demanding that they pay royalties for songs music teachers demonstrated to…
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On January 30, 2020, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)’s Kashiwase Asuka reported based on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) data that Japan-based applicants are not increasing their output of patent applications, whereas China has taken the world by…
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The Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Matsunaga Akira, gave the annual New Year’s greeting online. In it, he presents a pressing (if in some ways, late) call for Japan to press into more information-based innovation and how the…
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Holiday greetings from Keisen Associates! Happiness and sorrow visited Japan in 2019. The imperial dynasty was handed down to the present Emperor Naruhito on May 1, bringing in the new imperial calendar age of Reiwa. Major typhoons damaged much of…
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The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan has been concerned about abuse of power relationships by large corporations of smaller research partners such as startup companies, as being investigated by the Fair Trade Commission of Japan. It…
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Those accused of conspiracy in the Mangamura digital pirated manga website are being brought to justice (at least for many, it seems so) under the Copyright Act of Japan (see a recent related article here), one by one. Adachi Wataru,…
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* December 3, 2021 update: the JPO and INPI are extending their PPH trial through November 30, 2026, as December 2, 2021 update to JPO page on PPH with Brazil states. The Japan Patent Office (JPO) continues to open up…
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Japanese beef cows (wagyu) are world-renowned for the care that goes into the nurture of the animals as they head for the table. Massages, beer drinking, and other practices make the meat exceptionally tender and widely favored. However, after a…
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The Japan Patent Office welcomed a delegation from the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) in October 2019, leading to signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between Japan and Saudi Arabia’s patent offices. Included is an agreement to begin…
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The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019 recently and reports on the numeric state of affairs in intellectual property worldwide in 2018. Many trends are predictable. Asia’s activity is ever more noticeable. WIPO proclaims,…
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