On May 27, 2025, the Intellectual Property High Court of Japan ruled in favor of Toray Industries, Inc. in a landmark patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 2021 (Ne) 10037) concerning the extended…
On May 30, 2024, the JPO announced that the request for a decision of granting a compulsory non-exclusive license based on public interest under Article 93 of the Patent Act, which was filed by…
On November 28, 2023, the Tokyo District Court issued a preliminary injunction order against Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Sawai”) to suspend the manufacture and sale of Sawai’s pharmaceutical…
On January 26, 2023, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., who sought to invalidate Amgen Inc.’s Japanese patent (JP5705288) covering an isolated monoclonal antibody used as cholesterol medication, won an…
On July 20, 2022, the Japan Intellectual Property High Court (“IP High Court”) rendered the first-ever decision allowing enforcement of Japanese patent rights against infringing acts partially…
On June 3, 2022, the Japanese government announced its Intellectual Property Strategic Program 2022. The Intellectual Property Strategic Program sets out the government’s policies and future actions…
Every year the Japan Patent Office (JPO) publishes a status report in spring, and this year’s report (the “Status Report 2022”) was published on March 30, 2022. The Status Report 2022 contains…
The “patent linkage system” is in general a system wherein market approval of generic drugs is linked with the status of the originator drug’s patents, for the purpose of early resolution of patent…
The hurdle for being a co-inventor in a medicine field in Japan might be a little higher than what is expected from precedents. The IP High Court affirmed, in its judgement of 17th March 2021 (2020 (…
In Japanese patent litigation, calling expert witnesses is very rare and the parties usually try to prove common technical knowledge (CGK) by submitting documentary evidence, such as publications…
