The Japan Patent Office announced in July 2021 that it had been operating in the red since 2014 and was planning to raise the annuities (maintenance fees) for patents, registration and renewal fees for trademarks, and filing and other fees…
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Goldfish, bred for centuries in Japan, are a major business in Nara Prefecture’s Yamato-Koriyama city. Barely used telephone booths are common around Japan. Modern artist Yamamoto Nobuki combined the two to promote water protection in his work “Message” in 2000,…
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What is it worth to fight over patent infringement in Japan? Depending on the field and technology, apparently 3.3 billion yen (about US$ 30 million) in August 2021. Gaming company COLOPL, Inc. (headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo) developed a popular computer game,…
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How excited to you get about the grain you eat? Rice is central to traditional Japanese cuisine, and many Japanese farmers and famous rice-growing regions take great pride in their produce. One family company in Fukushima Prefecture, MIINE PRIMAL Co.,Ltd.,…
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Around the world, innovators are trying to find applications of present technologies to combat the trenchant spread of novel coronavirus COVID-19. Researchers in Fukushima Prefecture at Fukushima Medical University found hope in use of antibodies to help capture Covid viruses…
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The Japan Patent Office Annual Report (特許行政年次報告書) of 2021, with a wealth of data of intellectual property trends in Japan and worldwide, came out with much we can expect from Japan: fast examination results, continuing declines in patent filings domestically…
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Do you remember the Yahoo! portal? It was cool before Google disrupted the Internet industry . . . Actually, Yahoo! is alive and well in Japan. It has adapted to remain competitive, and now the Japanese parent organization Z Holdings…
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The Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act (PVPSA), revised at the end of 2020, was the downfall of a man who had been propagating and selling a variety of popular muscat grapes (“Shine Muscat”) that are registered and protected by…
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As reported in 2019, several leaders of the once-popular Manga-Mura (Manga comic village) portal of illegal manga data were arrested and tried. Finally, on June 2, 2021, Hoshino Romi was convicted for his role in uploading content passed along to…
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The Japan Patent Office (JPO), considered one of the top five patent offices in the world, published its revised Mission, Vision, and Values statement on June 15, 2021. The English version shared on the JPO website is as follows: ＜Mission＞…
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