Tokyo District Court, Reiwa 1 (Wa) 32779 [Clothing] <Presiding Judge Kokubu>
Updated: 3 days ago
Article information
Article type: Case note
Category: Patents
Topics: Inventive step, Motivation and teaching away, Claim interpretation, Patent corrections
First published on this website: October 2, 2026
Case number (as stated in the source): Tokyo District Court, Reiwa 1 (Wa) 32779
Display and classification checked: October 2, 2026 (not a re-review of the legal analysis)
Tokyo District Court, Reiwa 1 (Wa) 32779 [Clothing] <Presiding Judge Kokubu>
1. Satisfaction of claim elements
Under the claim wording, the “lifeline passage portion” need only have one end joined to the reverse side of the clothing fabric and be tubular. The manner of joining (cylindrical, at an edge, etc.) is not further limited.
⇒ Claim elements satisfied.
2. Validity (inventive step)
In the sample, one end of the lifeline passage is joined to the front side of the fabric, whereas the claimed invention joins it to the reverse side.
⇒ The invention concerns clothing for a special use, addressing air leakage and similar problems. There is no motivation to apply techniques for ordinary clothing pockets and the like.
⇒ Inventive step affirmed.
Original article: https://lnkd.in/epZM2_ke
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Update and correction history
Substantive corrections and supplements are recorded separately from classification, related-article, and display maintenance.
October 2, 2026: First publication of the author's LinkedIn text. Article type, classification, issue tags, source, and consultation guide were added.
Consultation and inquiries
October 2, 2026: Updated topic tags.
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