IP High Court, Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10054

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Article information

Article type: Case note

Display and classification checked: 2026-09-30

Categories: Patents

Topics: Inventive step / Numerical limitations and parameters

Published on this website: 2026-09-29

IP High Court, Case No. 2025 (Gyo-ke) 10054

[Use of DPPIV inhibitors] (Presiding Judge Hasegawa)

Exhibit Ko 1 stated that "in the case of the oral route, the range is preferably 1–100 mg, administered 1–4 times per day."

Further, in light of common general knowledge:

"A person skilled in the art who encounters the Exhibit Ko 1 publication is found to use the lower limits of the above numerical ranges (1 mg, administered once daily) as a reference for the initial dose and determine the final dose through the above procedure. The dose of '5 mg' 'administered once daily' specified by Invention 1 at issue is naturally included among the several doses that a person skilled in the art could ultimately select as a result of following that procedure."

(The quotations above are translations.)

⇒ Inventive step denied

*Even if the dose were gradually increased, there was no reason to stop at "5 mg," but it was held readily conceivable so long as it was included among the several doses that a person skilled in the art could ultimately select.

https://lnkd.in/gK8RRwje

https://lnkd.in/gGYCXRTw

hanrei-pdf-95513.pdf — courts.go.jp

Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7509881955006619648/

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Shared topic: Inventive step — [Article / Patents] Examining the patentability of impurity claims (Toru Matsuoka, Patent, July 2024)

Shared topic: Inventive step — I Gave a Lecture on Inventive Step and Disclosure Requirements for Numerically Limited (Parameter) Inventions (March 12, 2015)

Shared topic: Numerical limitations and parameters — Osaka District Court, Case No. 2024 (Wa) 2606

Updates and corrections

This log starts on 30 September 2026. Display and classification checks are distinct from a review of the legal analysis.

2026-09-30 — Presentation update: added the article type, this change log and a link to consultation options. The existing article text was preserved.

2026-10-01 | Name notation: replaced verified Japanese-script personal names with Roman-letter forms in this English article and its navigation. Legal analysis and original publication date unchanged.

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