The Japan Patent Office published its annual Status Report in March. (You can see our review of previous reports for 2017, 2018, and 2020.) Here are a few of the things we noted. Patent Prosecution in Japan -Steady decline in…
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As noted before, the JPO has been making some progress in modernizing its remote connections with teleconferencing capabilities in the COVID-19 era. Yet users were complaining that they could not reach examiners and other personnel in charge of intellectual property…
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A pilot program for the Patent Prosecution Highway between Morocco and Japan goes into effect today, April 1, 2021. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) reported on March 25, 2021 that the Moroccan Office of Industrial and…
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The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) has been engaged in battles to enforce copyright of works it manages against use for free by music schools around Japan. This battle has been ongoing since 2017, and…
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Every year the Ministry of Finance of Japan (MOF) reports on confiscated intellectual property-infringing items imported into Japan (you can review our report on the results of 2017). Customs catches certainly are not comprehensive, but the results continue to concern….
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The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan reported on March 2 that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Suga had approved various proposals to amend intellectual property laws in Japan. The main aims of the revisions would be to…
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Japanese sometimes see China and Korea as the great infringers of intellectual property, but the Japan Patent Office sees the buying and selling of counterfeit and other infringing items in Japan as a problem that cannot be ignored. Fearing increases…
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Further provisions to Japan’s revised Copyright Act went into effect January 1, 2021, tightening restrictions on the users of copyright-infringing materials online. In addition to modifications to procedures for registering and examining copyrighted materials, the noteworthy revision is making it…
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In spite of novel coronavirus difficulties, we have moved our Tokyo office! As of February 8, 2021, we are now in Koji-maji (Nibancho), Chiyoda Ward, in the heart of Tokyo, in an ideal location to reach the Japan Patent Office…
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As countries struggle over intellectual property in this world rocked by novel coronavirus COVID-19, Intellectual property institutions need to forge ahead. The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has been conducting committee meetings aiming to improve its intellectual property environment, and issued…
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