Intellectual Property

Intellectual property, such as ideas, know-how, and brands created by human intellectual activity, is a source of a company's strength, or competitiveness in the marketplace, and protecting it is essential for the continued development of a company.

Some intellectual property is protected as a legally defined right or right pertaining to legally protected interests, such as patent rights, utility model rights, trademark rights, design rights, copyrights, and prevention of unfair competition, and these are referred to as intellectual property rights.

We have handled a wide variety of intellectual property matters, and we use this experience to conduct appropriate preventive legal services and dispute resolution activities according to the needs of our clients.

In addition, some intellectual property matters require the involvement of patent attorneys who have respective expertise in the fields. We work closely with such patent attorneys, and thereby provide legal services which are most suitable to specific cases.

Preventive Legal Services

  • Providing advice on transactions involving intellectual property rights, such as joint research and development agreements and license agreements.
  • Drafting and reviewing contracts for such transactions and participating in contract negotiations.
  • Checking and providing advice on new businesses, products, and so on from the viewpoint of intellectual property infringement.

Handling of disputes

  • Counseling on disputes concerning infringement of patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, trademark rights, copyrights, and so on, as well as violations of the Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Law
  • Issuance of infringement warning letters and voluntary negotiations in relation to such disputes.
  • Litigation and provisional injunction cases relating to such disputes.
  • Handling various cases of invalidation trials and lawsuits for revocation of trial decisions of intellectual property rights.