Osaka District Court, Reiwa 4 (Wa) No. 11025 — Mite-trapping mat (Judge Matsuami)
更新日：4 日前
Article information
Type: Case note
Category: Patents
Topics: Claim construction、Doctrine of equivalents
First published on this site: 2026-10-09
Case / source information: Osaka District Court, Reiwa 4 (Wa) No. 11025
Display and classification checked: 2026-10-09
Osaka District Court, Reiwa 4 (Wa) No. 11025 — Mite-trapping mat (Judge Matsuami)
*A “porous air-permeable bag” must have a structure that retains its contents inside and prevents their dispersal.
→ Claim limitation not met.
(Excerpt from the judgment, translated)
<No literal infringement>
Both the dictionary meaning and the specification support construing the “porous air-permeable bag” in limitation A-3 as requiring, at a minimum, a structure capable of retaining its contents inside and preventing their dispersal. In the accused products sold by the defendants, however, the mite attractant is merely sandwiched between two layers of nonwoven fabric, gauze or similar material and can spill out around their edges. The structure therefore cannot be found capable of retaining the attractant inside.
<No infringement under the doctrine of equivalents>
By storing mite bait in a “porous air-permeable bag” that holds it without spillage, the invention achieves both high adhesive strength of the adhesive tape and a reduction in the number of constituent materials. A bag structure is therefore an essential element. The accused products instead sandwich the mite attractant between two sheets of nonwoven fabric or gauze from which it can spill. Their difference from the invention is not merely in a non-essential part, nor can the substituted structure be said to produce the same function and effect.
Original article (2025-09-27):
Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7513753328133189632/
Related articles
Update history
This history records publication, display, and classification changes actually made on this site.
2026-10-09: First published on this site from the LinkedIn original, with classification, article information, and consultation navigation.
2026-10-13: aligned canonical, hreflang, and search-index URLs with the published URLs. The original article text was not changed.
