The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has instituted new policies for Design applications. The changes apply to applications filed on or after May 1, 2019. These changes tend to simplify the procedures for applicants. Looser requirements for submission of design diagrams…
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The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) has announced plans to fund new integrated efforts to bring more revenue to Japan through protection and exploitation of Japan-registered varieties of plants in other countries. MAFF asserts that many…
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The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) issued patent no. 2,000,000 and trademark registration no. 1,000,000, which Republic of Korea (South Korea) President Moon Jae-in presented to the inventor and registrant, respectively, on September 19, 2019. Only six other nations’ had…
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Japan’s prolific manga comic industry has been charged with being sluggish to provide youth with digital manga materials, and some of those who entered the black market of pirated manga in response to the demand are now facing criminal charges….
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Earlier this year Professor Tasuku Honjo, Nobel Laureate, publicly criticized his development partner Ono Pharmaceuticals, claiming their renumeration (2.6 billion yen, about US$24 million) was far below what he and other researchers should receive, considering the value of the programmed…
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Following reports of a considered revision to the Japanese Patent Act to enable “discovery” of data on patent infringement earlier this year, the proposal has been officially made. A patent attorney’s informational meeting on July 23, 2019, gave explanation. The…
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In June of 2019, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (kousei torihiki iinkai, FTC) reported that in its survey results from about 16,000 small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing (the Commissioned surveyed 30,000), there were over 700 reported cases of larger client…
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Under the “Act to Revise a part of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (May 30, 2018 Article 33)”, the JPO has greatly simplified the existing procedure to reduce fees, for the purpose of helping small and micro entities. As previously,…
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Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE announced on June 13 that it is filing a Petition for a provisional injunction against a Japanese rival shop, BARCOS, for a handbag it claims is too similar in design to its own BAO BAO…
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Toyota Motor Corporation announced in Tokyo on April 8 that it would be releasing its patents related to hybrid vehicle (HV) technologies, totaling over 23,000 patents, for free use up to 2030. These patents relate to the motor, power control…
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