Category: blog

Episode 26 The Design Act stipulates that, as a requirement for design registration, “Anyone who creates a design capable of industrial application… may obtain a design registration for that design.” (Article 3, Paragraph 1, Heading). This means that a design must be capable of industrial mass production. The need for such design protection arose due…

Episode 25 In Episode 24, we discussed the appeal (Intellectual Property High Court, Reiwa 3 (Ne) No. 10037, Judgment May 27, 2025) of the lawsuit against Sawai Pharmaceutical and Fuso Pharmaceutical for damages for infringement of Toray’s use patent for an oral antipruritic agent (Patent No. 3531170, extended registration term expires in November 2022, hereinafter…

Episode 24 Toray filed a lawsuit against Sawai Pharmaceutical and Fuso Pharmaceutical for damages for infringement of the generic drug patent based on the use patent for an oral antipruritic agent (Patent No. 3531170, extension registration: Patent Application No. 2017-700154, Patent Application No. 2017-700310, hereinafter “the Patent Right”, expiring in November 2022). In the appeal…

Episode 23 Supreme Court rulings on the doctrine of equivalents include the Ball Spline case (Supreme Court ruling of February 24, 1998) and the Maxacalcitol case (Supreme Court ruling of March 24, 2017). The doctrine of equivalents presented in the Ball Spline case typically assumes relief for patent holders when a new material with the…

Episode 22 When a company is trying to build a brand image, it may be considered effective to be able to protect the background pattern on the surface of the product or the background pattern on the wrapping paper as a right. Regarding this, the Trademark Examination Guidelines of the Japan Patent Office, regarding the…

Episode 21 When a company formulates a brand strategy, the trade name and trademark are at the heart of it. A company’s name is its trade name (Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act). A trademark is a character, figure, symbol, etc. that is used in connection with goods or services (Article 2, Paragraph…

Episode 20 In recent years, the number of AI-related patent applications has increased, and the rate of patent grants has also risen (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/patent/gaiyo/sesaku/ai/document/ai_shutsugan_chosa/hokoku.pdf).The Japan Patent Office has published a total of 25 AI-related cases in Annexes A and B of the Patent and Utility Model Examination Handbook (https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/guideline/patent/document/ai_jirei/jirei.pdf).By the way, AI-related inventions are one type…

Episode 19 A request for examination of a patent application can be made within three years from the filing date (Patent Law, Article 48-3, Paragraph 1), and if no request for examination is made within that period, the patent application is deemed to be withdrawn (Patent Law, Article 4, Paragraph 4). When one year and…

Episode 18 It is possible to apply for design registration for three-dimensional shapes, and it is also possible to apply for registration as a three-dimensional trademark. Since design rights are creations resulting from human mental activity, registration requires novelty and creatability, and the term of the right is limited (25 years from the application date).…

Episode 17 Intangible property rights (intellectual property rights) include rights to creations that are the result of human mental activity and rights to goodwill (Basic Jurisprudence 3: Property, p. 281, “Intangible Property Rights” by Nakayama Nobuhiro). Creations that are the result of human mental activity include patent rights, utility model rights, and design rights. Rights to…