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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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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Saitama Prefecture is humanly and materially blessed. Just north of Tokyo Prefecture, it is home to over 7 million and close to 2,000 people per square kilometer (5,000/sq. mile), and many businesses. [3] Yet its smaller companies, like those in…
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The Japanese government’s Subcommittee on the Patent Act System has been working on revisions to the patent litigation system in Japan since October last year. The Japanese patent system does not have a requirement like the United States power of…
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On January 17, 2019, the Japanese Patent Attorney’s Association held a press conference in which presenter Seiji Matsuda pointed out the impact of the now-effective modified Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement (often called TPP-11) on intellectual property. The major changes…
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Japanese chemical giant Toray announced on December 19, 2018 that it is striking out at two competitors that it claims are violating its extended medical use patent for an anti-itch product, Remitch®. The Japanese business paper Nikkei Shimbun took up…
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Amid all the intrigue about the trade war between China (PRC) and the United States, this time not Huawei in the West but Apple in China has been dealt a blow. However the setback (if it proves to be that)…
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In spring 2018, Japan implemented a Revision to Unfair Competition Prevention Act that includes a change to the disclosure grace period (exception to lack of novelty of invention period) for filers of Japanese patent, utility model, or industrial design applications….
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Keisen Associates generally files an information disclosure (similar to the Information Disclosure Statement, or IDS, in United States patent applications) of known related prior art for Japan patent applications. This is not necessarily what all Japanese patent law firms practice,…
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Kawasaki City, an industrial core for the Tokyo metropolitan area, has been promoting wider licensing and use of patents released by big corporate owners, by small and medium-sized companies in Kawasaki. The municipal effort has gained national attention for connecting…
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