Patent Case Law and Intellectual Property Practice Blog

日本語原文 / Japanese original Article information Article type: Reports and activities Category: Patents Topics: Inventive step, Examination and appeal practice, Motivation and teaching away First published on this website: 2026-11-01 Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026 Originally published on Ameblo: 2025-07-20 (Japan time). Full English translation. https://ameblo.jp/hideki-takaishi/entry-12917659886.html <Trial and Appeal Practitioners Study Group Report 2024>

Deletion of all claims is permitted in the JPO’s Q&A. I should therefore keep it in mind as a last resort for satisfying the requirement of restriction of claims in the parent-child-grandchild divisional-application problem. https://www.jpo.go.jp/faq/yokuaru/shinpan/document/inde

The Supreme Court’s January 24, 1980 judgment in the “Food Packaging Container” case held that, because judges do not possess knowledge equivalent to that of a person skilled in the art, new allegations and proof of publicly known technology are permissible to establish the commo

Applied-for trademark: “AONO” Does not fall under Article 3(1)(iv). The surname “Aono” (青野) ranks 797th or 849th, with 20,000 people and 6,000 households. ⇒ Nationwide, the number cannot be regarded as particularly large. https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/laws/rule/guideline/trademark

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

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Article information Article type: Reports and activities Categories: Patents Topics: Inventive step, Numerical limitations and parameters, Examination and appeal practice First published on this website: 2026-10-16 Display and classification checked: 2026-10-17 Trial and Appeal Practitioners Study Group Report 2024 — Theme 2 (Chemistry 1) [Inventive step in parameter and numerically limited inventions] When can a numerical range not express

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Article information Article type: Case note Categories: Patents Topics: Examination and appeal practice First published on this website: 2026-10-16 Display and classification checked: 2026-10-17 Case information: Heisei 10 (Gyo-Ke) No. 82 Tokyo High Court, Heisei 10 (Gyo-Ke) No. 82 — Semiconductor device (Judge Shinohara) TI v. Fujitsu *The court recognized “identity” under Article 39(1) and held the patent invalid. (Excerpts from the judgm

Read the Japanese version / 日本語版を読む Article information Article type: Case note Categories: Patents Topics: Examination and appeal practice First published on this website: 2026-10-16 Display and classification checked: 2026-10-17 Case information: Heisei 6 (Gyo-Ke) No. 243 Tokyo High Court, Heisei 6 (Gyo-Ke) No. 243 — Buddhist altar (Judge Minoru Takeda) *For applications filed on the same day (Article 39(2)), it is not enough that the other invention is identical when viewe

日本語版 Article information Article type: Reports and activities Category: Designs Topics: Similarity of designs, Examination and appeal practice First published on this site: 2026-10-11 Display/classification checked: 2026-10-11 Trial and Appeal Practitioners Study Group Report 2024 — Theme 5 (Designs) [Similarity of designs: the person whose perspective governs] Identifying the relevant person takes account of the nature, purpose and manner of use of the article embodying the

日本語版 Article information Article type: Reports and activities Category: Patents Topics: Patent eligibility, Examination and appeal practice First published on this site: 2026-10-11 Display/classification checked: 2026-10-11 Trial and Appeal Practitioners Study Group Report 2024 — Theme 4 (Electrical 1) [Eligibility as an invention: human mental activities and artificial arrangements] Whether something “as a whole” constitutes a creation of technical ideas utilizing the laws o