Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

Explore articles on claim interpretation, the doctrine of equivalents and product-by-process claims. Consult the individual articles and their sources for the facts and discussion of each case.

Explore existing articles on AI and intellectual property, including rights relating to voice and IP strategy in the AI era.

Explore existing articles on inventive step, design choices, motivation and teaching away. The collection includes case notes, reviews of publications and lecture materials. See each article for its discussion and sources.

Explore articles on damages, injunctions and proof of infringement. The relevant considerations differ across legal fields and cases; consult the individual articles and their sources.

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [IP Practice Online] “20 inventive-step issues, 3 min each” (Authors; supervisor: Hideki Takaishi) [Summary; case discussions omitted] 1. Motivation to combine and design choice are independent. Weak correlation with problem-solving favors design choice. 2. Cited-invention eligibility: No comment. 3. Identification of cited inventions is crucial in revocation litigation. Examine challenges to JPO generalization. 4. Configurations correlated

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Tokyo District Court, Reiwa 7 (Wa) 70141, “Inactivated vaccine preparation” (Presiding Judge 中島) Failure to meet the support requirement (+ lack of inventive step) “Lactococcus garvieae of a serotype that is neither KG− nor KG+” also includes type III Lactococcus garvieae, observed from 2021 onward. The specification contains no disclosure whatsoever of a vaccine preparation against streptococcosis caused by type III bacteria, and an inacti

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [Patents / Damages] IP High Court Grand Panel, Reiwa 5 (Ne) 10040, “Breast augmentation composition” The court held that consumption tax is not added to damages under Article 102(3). = Tokyo District Court, Reiwa 6 (Wa) 70333 ≠ Reiwa 3 (Ne) 10037, “Remitch” Excerpt from the holding (translation) (3) Amount equivalent to consumption tax “As stated in (1)(d) above, when calculating damages under Article 102(3) of the Act, comprehensively cons

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [Article / Patents] Same patent and reference, but different novelty findings in IP High Court judgments by the same division on the same day (a trial-decision revocation action and an infringement action), with a correction-based rejoinder dismissed as untimely (Hideki Takaishi, Patent, March 2024) The trial decision rejecting invalidation identified a difference: the invention’s “information provision apparatus” was a single apparatus, wh

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [Article / Patents] A study of design choices in inventive-step assessment (鈴木守, 長嶺浩之, Patent, September 2024) The criteria for finding a “design choice,” particularly when inventive step can be denied without direct evidence (a secondary reference), were studied through device/system cases. Cases recognizing design choices without evidence fall into three types: (1) Numerical ranges: The specification gives no basis or technical significan

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [Article / Patents] Double standards in inventive-step assessment (Hideki Takaishi, Patent, June 2024) The dividing line for a “design choice” Whether the configuration constituting the difference correlates with the “problem addressed by the invention,” and whether its technical significance is disclosed in the specification, is the decisive boundary separating obviousness from non-obviousness. For numerical-limit and parameter inventions,