Udon (ooh-dohn), thick white wheat noodles, are a popular food in Western Japan, particularly in Kagawa Prefecture. There, firm udon noodles of the “Sanuki” area attract aficionados to “pilgrimages” of the famous udon shops. This relatively rural part of Japan…
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Name value and prestige is extremely important for people in Japan. A recent trademark registration application is upsetting some in higher education now. Designated National University Corporation Osaka University (“Osaka University”), one of the highest-ranked and national public universities of…
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Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced last year (see our article from that time) that it would be testing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based system to review and cull its massive patent portfolio, in the interest of cutting costs and simpler decision…
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Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) issued its annual report of the state of applications for patents related to artificial intelligence (AI; patent applications filed under categories corresponding to G06N in International Patent Classification, or applications in various…
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This past winter and spring, people in Japan took the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) threat in stride with the stock of surgical masks they would have worn anyway. Then supplies ran extremely low and queues formed outside of drug stores. In…
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A recent article in the economic paper Nikkei Shimbun started with a disappointed statement: “Inventions made in Japanese universities are not leading to revenue. The value of a Japanese university’s patent is 22 times less than one from an American…
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The Japanese government’s Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is involved in satellite launches, missions to the International Space Station, and more. It recently clarified its intellectual property stance by issuing an Intellectual Property Policy on June 12, 2020, taken up…
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The Japan Patent Office (JPO) reopened its doors to the public with limitations and precautions on June 1, 2020. It further announced on its website (update June 10) that it is allowing oral examination proceedings, with a long list of…
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Dr. Honjo Tasuku, a winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for his research on cancer-fighting technologies, is making good on his threats to fight Ono Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of the treatment drug Opdivo, which signed a contract to use his…
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The Japan Patent Office published its annual Status Report in April. Here are a few of the things we noted. Patent Prosecution in Japan -Steady decline in domestic and international patent filings (under 345,000 in 2010 and nearly 308,000 in…
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