Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

A compilation work = one “that is creative by reason of the selection or arrangement of its materials” (Article 12(1) of the Copyright Act). Author of a compilation work = a person who was creatively and substantively involved in the selection or arrangement of the materials. A p

The number of patent applications in Japan is recovering: 306,855 applications. Appeals against examiners’ decisions of refusal: 20,000. Requests for invalidation trials doubled to 186 (one person filed more than 50). Operation of suspension of examination of divisional applicati

Immediate appeal against a decision dismissing an application to restrict inspection and similar access. A settlement including a nondisclosure clause was reached in patent infringement litigation. ⇒ The defendant applied to restrict inspection of the settlement terms and portion

Immediate appeal against a decision dismissing an application for an order to disclose sender information. A Taiwanese provider supplied services within Japan. ⇒ Japanese courts have jurisdiction!! (The first-instance court had held that jurisdiction could not be found. Reversed!

* The defendant simultaneously sold an “electric straight-pipe bender,” a “bender shoe,” and a “bender guide.” Assembling the three infringed the patent. ⇒ Held to constitute direct infringement!! * The estoppel objection under the fifth requirement was rejected, and equivalence

* Article 3(2) applied to the three-dimensional trademark for a Shin Godzilla figurine. (Excerpts from the decision) The three-dimensional shape of Shin Godzilla differs in overall proportions from earlier Godzilla characters: the head is smaller, the thinness of the forelimbs (a

Claim: “… a display unit displaying images (excluding images captured by a camera) …” “In the cited invention, … capturing images with a camera is not an essential feature. …” ⇒ Inventive step: denied. (The tactic of excluding an essential feature of the cited invention through a

Unlike the first-instance judgment, the court found that the appellee had prepared and administered a drug containing components ①, ②, and ③ simultaneously. ⇒ Claim limitations satisfied: the patentee won on reversal. * The closely watched issue of whether separate administration

⇒ In both, the injunction runs until the patent’s expiration date (these are not partial claims). * Could this reduce the value of the subject matter of the action and save filing-stamp fees!? IP High Court, 2014 (Ne) 10082 — Method for Producing 4H-Type Single-Crystal Silicon Ca

(Issued around the same time as Tokyo District Court, 2024 (Yo) 30029 (Nakashima, Civil Division 40).) ⇒ Without deciding whether there was patent infringement, the court, in light of the circumstances, began with “negation of unlawfulness as a lawful act.” It adopted a framework