IP Info– category –

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has published its Status Report 2025. In this article, we provide a brief overview of trends in Japanese IP filings by region, based on data from the report. All graphs referenced below are taken directly fr...

On March 3, 2025, Japan’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in favor of Dwango Co., Ltd. in a patent infringement lawsuit against FC2, Inc. and Homepage System Co., Ltd. The ruling clarifies the extraterritorial reach of Japanese pa...

We provide information on recent IPR trends in Japan. The following materials contain information about unintentional criteria, amended IP laws (mainly effective from Apr. 1, 2024), IP statistics report 2024 issued from the JPO, and the ...

This article briefly describes the reduction of official fees (examination fees and patent maintenance fees) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Startups, and sole proprietors in Japanese patent applications. Firstly, if an ap...

To help you better understand the Japanese utility model system, we provide basic information about the Japanese utility model system. The Japanese utility model system is designed to protect devices and tools with a lower threshold of i...

The JPO has issued the Japanese IP Statistics Report 2024. We would like to briefly introduce the latest trends in Japanese IPR filings in line with the Report. It should be noted that the following figures are extracted from the Report....

We are pleased to announce that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) will begin issuing the following documents including certificates of patents, registered trademarks, design patents, and registered utility models electronically on or after A...

Happy New Year! As of January 1, 2024, we are celebrating the first anniversary of our firm opening. We will make every effort to support your IP activities this year.

We would like to briefly introduce the requirements for amendments under the Japanese patent practice. Firstly, the timing requirements for amendments are shown in the following figure. Amendment-Requirement-IPStart-1ダウンロード The Bas...

In this article, we would like to briefly introduce the basic flow of determining inventive step under Art. 29(2) of the Japanese Patent Law. We hope this information will be helpful in considering a response to a lack of inventive step ...

This article is intended for those who have some knowledge of Japanese patent applications (especially, foreign patent attorneys). Through this article, we hope that you will become familiar with the important practical points of Japanes...

The Intellectual Property (IP) High Court of Japan has issued an important grand panel decision on a patent infringement case (Dwango vs. FC2 Case No. 10046 (Ne) 2021) on May 26, 2023. The case is well known as the Japanese version of th...