* Additional commentary: Taro Yaguchi has written up a blog post highlighting some of the issues that came to light in this case, separately available here. YouTube’s copyright policies are fairly strict on infringers of intellectual property, enabling a reporter…
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December 2021 Newsflash After deliberation in the background, Japan’s government is making more moves to enshrine secrecy measures for some intellectual property filed with the JPO and deemed dangerous from a military or other security perspective. Since the last announcement,…
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The Japan Patent Office, along with much of Japanese bureaucracy, has long held onto the custom of requiring official seals on documents. In 2020, partly in view of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, it moved to abolish requirements for these…
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The litigation by Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Honjo Tasuku (professor at Kyoto University) against Ono Pharmaceuticals, which used his co-researched patent in the cancer drug Opdivo, reached a settlement on November 12, 2021. A third party IP specialist thinks this…
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Almost precisely one year ago, the JPO announced that it had registered the first graphic design Design patent–special illumination to surround a motorcycle and increase visibility and communication with other travelers.[1] This became possible under the Japan Design Act revisions…
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On October 12, 2021, Mitsubishi Electric went public with Open Technology Bank, a patent licensing clearinghouse for many of its patents. This “Open Technology Bank” (OTB) of Mitsubishi Electric touts various technologies the company is willing to license to others…
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The recent IP chatter in Japan has shifted to Japan’s steel titan Nippon Steel’s suing Automaker titan Toyota. Nippon Steel announced on October 14 that it is suing Toyota, a business partner, and Chinese steel rival Baosteel, for infringing a…
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As reported back in May, the Japan Diet passed revisions to the Japan Patent Act that made remote video participation in some patent proceedings legal. Some of the changes started to go into effect from this October 2021, and on…
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We reported less than half a year ago that UNIQLO’s non-viual scanning kiosks were judged patent-infringing by the IP High Court in Tokyo. The victor, IT company Asterisk Inc., was pleased, but wary of a drawn-out IP battle. Indeed, although…
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Japan’s Patent Act Article 93 allows for enforced licensing of a patent for the public interest, but it has never been successfully used. However, that may change. Takahashi Masayo (Ph.D.) was the first to successfully transplant retinal cells generated through…
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