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IP Policy Expert Names Barriers to Improved Japanese IP Litigation Environment

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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Japan Considering Specialist Entry and Search as Last Resort for Disclosure in Patent Infringement Litigation

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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Small Japanese Contractors Reporting Forced Technology Sharing; Japanese Fair Trade Commission Taking Steps

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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Japan Patent Office Simplifies “Small Entity” Discount Procedure

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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