Osaka District Court, Reiwa 4 (Wa) 11025 [Porous air-permeable bag containing food for mites]
Updated: Oct 9
Article information
Article type: Case note
Categories: Patents
Topics: Claim interpretation / Proof of infringement
First published on this website: 2026-10-07
Display and classification checked: 2026-10-07
Osaka District Court, Reiwa 4 (Wa) 11025 [Porous air-permeable bag containing food for mites]
* The invention has a structure capable of retaining the attractant inside.
⇒ In the defendant's product, the mite attractant is merely sandwiched between two superposed nonwoven sheets, gauze, etc., and can spill out around their periphery. The claim element was therefore not satisfied.
* ... Is the defendant's product really like that? Should experiments or other evidence have been used to prove that the attractant does not spill out?
(Excerpt from the judgment, translated)
According to the specification, the invention aims to provide a high capacity to capture mites. Its means are to attract mites over a wide area by diffusing a mite attractant from a woven sheet impregnated with it, and then to place inside the mat adhesive tape for capturing mites and porous air-permeable bags containing food for mites, attached to the tape in a staggered arrangement. This causes the attracted mites to enter further into the interior from both the front and back surfaces of the mat, contact the adhesive tape, and be captured there. The configuration impregnates the woven sheet with “fragrance” as a substance for attracting mites and places porous air-permeable bags containing “food” on both the front and back surfaces of the double-sided adhesive tape, thereby luring the mites inside the porous air-permeable cover and causing them to contact the unmixed adhesive layer and be captured. Thus, in the invention, the “porous air-permeable bag” is envisaged as having the function of keeping the food in the same location without reducing the adhesive strength of the adhesive layer. In addition, the structure of the bag allows a single bag to accomplish these functions and reduces the number of constituent materials.
In light of the foregoing, both the dictionary meaning and the specification make it appropriate to construe the “porous air-permeable bag” in claim element A-3 as requiring at least a structure capable of retaining its contents inside and preventing their dispersion. In the defendant's product sold, however, the mite attractant is merely sandwiched between two superposed nonwoven sheets, gauze, etc., and can spill out around their periphery. It therefore cannot be found to have a structure capable of retaining the attractant inside.
https://lnkd.in/gdV38XWc
Original article (2025-11-21):
https://lnkd.in/gkTWiecG
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Update history
Content changes and display maintenance are recorded separately.
2026-10-07: First published from the original LinkedIn post; categories, article information, and consultation navigation added.
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