Imabari City and the Imabari Towel Industrial Association (ITIA) of Ehime Prefecture in western Japan filed an opposition with the Chinese Trade Marks Bureau on May 25, 2018, after they found a Shanghai company had been allowed a trademark for…
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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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* This is based in part on our earlier article “Power of Attorney Submission in Japan.” “I was told by another Japanese patent law firm I don’t need to submit a POA … Why do you require one?” We are…
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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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The JPO is extending its Patent Prosecution Highway programs for accelerated examinations of patent applications allowed in the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) and Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), both into early 2021. The EAPO provides patent prosecution services…
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In the USPTO, the requirement that a design include an icon is not quite as strict as in the JPO. Computer-Generated Icons are eligible for design patent protection as long as the design patent applications comply with the “article of…
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