IP High Court, Reiwa 6 (Gyo-Ke) 10012 [Enzyme-treated milk product] <Judge Hibiku Shimizu>
Updated: 3 days ago
Article information
Article type: Case note
Category: Patents
Topics: Inventive step, Motivation and teaching away
First published on this website: October 6, 2026
Case information: Reiwa 6 (Gyo-Ke) 10012 [Enzyme-treated milk product] <Judge Hibiku Shimizu>
Display/classification checked: October 6, 2026
IP High Court, Reiwa 6 (Gyo-Ke) 10012 [Enzyme-treated milk product] <Judge Hibiku Shimizu>
* Inventive step denied for the use of bovine “normal milk.”
[Difference between the principal cited reference and the invention]
Regarding “bovine milk,” the amended invention specifies “milk derived from cows (excluding bovine colostrum (milk secreted by a mother cow through the tenth day after calving)),” whereas the Ko 1 invention uses “bovine colostrum (secreted during the first several days after calving).”
(This judgment)
According to literature published before the priority date, the difference in Gc-globulin concentration between colostrum and normal milk is not so large after approximately one week following calving, and cannot be said always to be at least fortyfold.
Bovine normal milk is distributed in overwhelmingly larger quantities and is easier to obtain than colostrum, providing sufficient motivation to use it as a source of Gc-globulin.
The experimental results in Exhibit Ko 10 do not clarify when the comparator “bovine colostrum” was milked or whether the macrophages used in the experiment had the same responsiveness. Nor was statistical significance verified. These results therefore cannot be accepted as evidence supporting a remarkable effect.
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October 6, 2026: First published on this website from the LinkedIn original; article information, classification, topics, source, and consultation guide were added.
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