ABOUT THE FIRM

IPStart Intellectual Property Law Firm (hereinafter referred to as IPStart) is located in Greater Tokyo, Japan, and mainly handles domestic and foreign intellectual property matters (applications, oppositions, appeals, expert opinions, litigation, consulting), including patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks.

IPStart’s mission is to provide powerful assistance to our clients in advancing their business and increasing their corporate value by properly protecting their innovative ideas and brands through intellectual property rights. In addition, IPStart helps clients leverage their intellectual property as a strategic weapon.

We focus on IP support for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that exist globally.

We are dedicated to providing total IP support from domestic patent applications to foreign patent applications by leveraging its worldwide network of patent attorneys. In particular, we are committed to both reducing the costs of foreign patent applications and obtaining high-quality foreign patents.

Preparing and Prosecuting Domestic and Foreign Patent and Utility Model Applications to Grant

• We handle all procedures for patent and utility model applications before the Japan Patent Office.
• We handle various procedures for foreign patent and utility model applications, including PCT applications.

Preparing and Prosecuting Domestic and Foreign Trademark Applications to Grant

• We handle all procedures for trademark applications before the Japanese Patent Office.
• We handle various procedures for foreign trademark applications, including Madrid Protocol applications (Madrid e-Filing).

Preparing and Prosecuting Domestic and Foreign Design Patent Applications to Grant

• We handle all procedures for design patent applications before the Japanese Patent Office.
• We handle various procedures for foreign design patent applications, including international design patent applications based on Hague agreement (Hague e-Filing).

Opposition, Trial Proceedings, and Third Party Observation

• We represent clients in a series of opposition proceedings for patent and trademark.
• We represent clients in a series of appeal proceedings against the examiner’s decision of rejection.
• We represent clients in a series of proceedings for invalidation trial and correction trial.
• We represent clients in a series of proceedings for cancellation trial of trademark registration, including cancellation trial for non-use of registered trademark.
• We represent clients for third-party observation to attack the patentability of another patent application.

Expert Opinion Services

• We provide expert opinions on whether or not your products infringe patents owned by others, or whether or not products of others infringe your patents.
• We provide expert opinions on whether or not a subject patent is invalid.

Prior Art Searches/Prior Trademark and design Searches/Invalidity Searches

• We conduct document searches to identify potential references related to patentability of your invention before filing.
• We conduct searches for registrability of trademark and design applications before filing.
• We conduct document searches for supporting strong arguments to invalidate a patent in dispute.

Patent Asset Monetization Consulting

• In collaboration with a company which develops cutting-edge AI technology for infringement detection, we visualize the value of your patent assets and support the monetization of your patent assets.

Infringement litigations and Litigations against Trial Decisions

• We represent clients in administrative lawsuits to revoke trial decisions made by the Japan Patent Office.
• We handle patent infringement litigations in collaboration with our affiliated attorneys at law.
• We support pre-litigation negotiations (preparing infringement/validity opinions and warning letters).

Foreign Litigation/invalidation trial Support

• We provide support for foreign patent infringement lawsuits and invalidation proceedings such as Inter Partes Review (IPR) in cooperation with foreign patent attorneys.

IP Consulting

• We provide consulting services related to intellectual property, including license agreements.
• We provide regular advisory services for clients.

Features of our IP services

IPStart provides comprehensive support for the protection and utilization of domestic and foreign intellectual property in cooperation with Japanese attorneys at law, foreign patent attorneys, and foreign attorneys at law (i.e., total IP support for protection/utilization x domestic/foreign). Our main IP service is directed toward domestic patent prosecution service, which is the starting point for a series of IP activities.

For basic information on patents, utility models, design patents, and trademarks, please see the following pages.