1. Japanese Supreme Court Decision on Inventive Step in the Chemical Field (Toru Washio)
In this article, I would like to introduce Supreme Court Case No. 2018(Gyo-hi)69, in which the Supreme Court rendered a decision on an appeal from the Intellectual Property High Court (“IPHC”) ... Read more >>>
2. Procedures under New Fee Reduction Program for Small & Medium Enterprises (Koji Tanaka)
The Japan Patent Office (“JPO”) revised its fee reduction program on April 1, 2019, to expand the scope of small and medium-sized entities (“SMEs”) that are eligible to apply for a fee reduction ...Read more >>>
3. Trends Toward Revision of the Design Act - Part 1 Contents of Revision of the Design Act (Rikiya Sato, Miwa Hayashi, Koji Akanegakubo)
On May 7, 2019, a bill to revise the Design Act was enacted in the Diet. Starting from this article, we will provide a series of articles specializing on the present revision of the Design Act. ... Read more >>>
4. First Case Involving a Successful Rebuttal of the Presumption of Similarity between "Goods" and "Retail Services for Such Goods" (Shunji Sato)
The Tokyo District Court denied the trademark infringement claim of the Plaintiff, finding that the services “retail services or wholesale services for processed food” and the goods “plum/blueberry jam” ... Read more >>>
5. About TMI
Since our establishment on October 1, 1990, TMI Associates has grown rapidly to become a full-service law firm that offers valuable and comprehensive legal services ... Read more >>>