Old shopping checkouts are vanishing in UNIQLO, which is famous in Japan and now outside of it for its casual apparel retailing. In recent years it gained attention for its automated checkout scanning systems, where the customer can place the…
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On May 13, 2021, a bill for further expanding information technologies in Japanese intellectual property, passed the Upper House (House of Councillors) unanimously. This is one of a wave of bills being passed for reforms to digitize Japanese life, symbolized…
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Due to the “fourth wave” of novel coronavirus cases in Japan, Tokyo as well as some western prefectures of Japan were declared under yet another State of Emergency from April 25 to May 11. The relatively rigorous following of warnings…
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While debates on moratorium on intellectual property related to novel coronavirus vaccines continue, Hitachi ABB Power Grids Ltd. (a joint venture) and General Electric (GE) were able to agree to cooperative sharing of intellectual property in another field. These companies…
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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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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 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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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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The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) reported recently that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) will become the world’s first Patent Prosecution Highway (pilot) program partner with France from January 1, 2021, ahead of any other country. The…
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Honda announced back in July (reported here) how it had seen good results from its AI-supported patent portfolio experiment. Now, it and Japanese robotic process automation (RPA) leader RPA Holdings have announced they are offering a similar program to others….
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