Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

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.

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 Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10056 [Women's clothing] (Presiding Judge Moritomi) *Inventive step recognized. The configuration of the invention in Exhibit Ko 1 (an old sports bra), in which breast-support flaps overfit breast-engaging pockets, is intended to solve the problem of that invention (preventing pain from breast movement during exercise such as jogging), which differs from the problem of the invention at issue (accommodating various bus

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Tokyo District Court, Case No. 2023 (Wa) 70402 [Siphonic rain gutter system] (Presiding Judge Nakajima) *Inventive step recognized. The inventions in Exhibits Otsu A25 and Otsu A26 lack motivation for combination because their technical approaches are opposites (the former generates turbulence; the latter prevents it). The invention in Exhibit Otsu A21 (ordinary drainage) and that in Exhibit Otsu A25 (siphonic drainage) differ in technical

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10027 [Hinge] (Presiding Judge Hasegawa) *Inventive step recognized A configuration for solving the problem of the primary cited invention cannot be changed without a particular reason. (What constitutes a particular reason?) (Excerpts from the judgment — translated) Given that the configuration of the invention in Exhibit Ko 3, namely the arrangement of arm support projections 16 and 17 outside the first cam portion

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10049 [Passenger conveyor] (Presiding Judge Nakahira) The plaintiff argued that "the cited invention … has already solved the problem by means for solving the problem that differ from those of the claimed invention." However, this judgment held that "whether it has already been solved by another, different means of solution is unrelated to the existence of motivation." (The quotations above are translations.) ⇒ Invent

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Tokyo District Court, Case No. 2024 (Wa) 70478 [Monitoring system] (Presiding Judge Takahashi) Inventive step denied, with "GPS BoT," the plaintiff's own publicly worked invention, as the primary reference. (Translation of the quoted judgment) "The invention in Exhibit Otsu 38 (GPS BoT) is one in which a terminal carried by a person being monitored transmits location information at timings corresponding to interval information and transmits

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む http://www.jpo.go.jp/shiryou/toushin/shingikai/new_shinsakijyun03_gijiyousi.htm Industrial Structure Council, Intellectual Property Committee, Patent System Subcommittee Summary of the Proceedings of the Third Meeting of the Working Group on the Patent Examination Standards Expert Committee The issues are as follows. How to Consider the Various Viewpoints Concerning Motivation State in the Examination Guidelines that motivation to apply a s