Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

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.

Falls under Trademark Act Article 3(1)(iii) → Refusal “Health and productivity management” (健康経営) is a dictionary-listed compound meaning “a management approach that maintains and improves the health of people working in a company and enhances organizational soundness.” (Translation of the quoted definition.)

Invalidation not established (Trademark Act Article 4(1)(x), (xv)) Well-known status of the cited “SCANTEC” mark: Not established (1) Domestic market share

1. Interpreting “confusion in the broad sense” Item (i) includes both narrow confusion (mistaken belief in identical source) and broad confusion (mistaken belief in a relationship between sources). Since item (ii) was created, regulation of dilution/free riding without confusion should be left to item (ii), while confusion under item (i) should be assessed concretely and substantively.

1. Direct infringement (35 U.S.C. § 271(a)) (1) System inventions (NTP) Even if some components (servers, etc.) are outside the United States, use is considered domestic if the system is “controlled and beneficially used” in the United States, with its benefits enjoyed there.

Chinese Supreme Court, (2019) 最高法行申 No. 12487 1. Case outline The application was rejected for lack of novelty (self-collision) based on earlier application 134.

The Supreme Court did not regard students’ performances as being under the music school’s control, for these reasons: (1) Purpose: Students seek to “acquire and improve performance skills”; playing assigned pieces is merely a “means” to that end. (2) Autonomy: Students play of their own volition; teachers’ instruction merely “assists” them (it is not compulsion).

Korean courts tend to interpret territoriality flexibly, assessing infringement primarily by whether acts of working the patent occur in Korea, regardless of the location of servers or assembly. 1. Servers located abroad (1) Seoul Central District Court, 2007, 2006 Gahap 73442

[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.

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む [Article / Unfair competition law] Remedies for Indications Misleading as to Quality, etc.—Including a Comparison with Similar Provisions in the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations and the Antimonopoly Act (足立勝, Patent Supplement, October 2023) 1. Comparison with the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations and the Antimonopoly Act (1) Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading R