Japan

Article 1 of the Japanese 'Design Law' states: "This law was designed to protect and utilize designs and to encourage
creation of designs in order to contribute to industrial development". The protection period in Japan is 15 years from the day
of registration.

Japan boasts the world's largest number of patent applications, with 420,000 applications filed annually.
To survive fierce international competition in the increasingly globalizing economy, Japan needs to fully exercise its scientific and
technological strengths. To this end, it is essential to have in place a mechanism that creates high-quality technologies, to properly
protect and utilize the resulting technological output to the maximum, and to see that profits are allocated to future research and
development activities, thus establishing an "intellectual creation cycle" and building an economy that autonomously drives this
cycle.
Since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi mentioned the importance of intellectual property in his policy statement in February
2002, the whole Government has been making concerted efforts to rapidly and dynamically strengthen international
competitiveness through the creation, protection and utilization of intellectual property, seeking to make Japan an "intellectual
property based nation" that will open the way to the future. The Japan Patent Office is involved in both designing systems for, and
managing intellectual property rights, and in collaboration with the Office of Intellectual Property Policy in the Economic and
Industrial Policy Bureau and the Office of Intellectual Property Protection in the Manufacturing Industries Bureau, it is pushing
forward multi-level measures. 
 

>

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 The intellectual property system is designed to protect the rights of all people engaged in a wide
range of intellectual creation activities. The specific fruits of intellectual creation activities are
original ideas in the form of inventions and devices, unique designs, and works such as music,
novels and paintings, all of which are protected by patent law, utility model law, design law or
copyright law. There are also various business notations such as trade names and trademarks used
to indicate a company's products or services (often referred to as "brands"). These are protected
by the Commercial Code and the Trademark Law, respectively. Collectively, patent rights, utility
model rights, design rights and trademarks are called "industrial property rights." The industrial
property rights system is the driving force of the intellectual creation cycle. For example, patent
rights offer strong protection of outstanding research results by securing rights, provide great
incentives for additional R&D. Moreover, this system enables companies to utilize industrial
property rights to recoup R&D costs and to reinvest in advanced technology. As above, the
industrial property rights system acts as a powerful engine to drive the expansion of the
intellectual creation cycle.

Intellectual creation cycle

Click here to enlarge. >>

>
 
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>
 
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>
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it
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g
 The expansion of trade conducted by Japanese companies
throughout Asia, while bringing profit to Japan, is giving rise to
the extremely serious problem of counterfeit products flooding
the region. The market for counterfeit products sold in China
amounts to as much as 3 trillion yen. This flood of counterfeit
products is damaging Japanese companies through, for example,
the loss of potential markets, deterioration of brand image in the
eyes of consumers, and an increase in disputes over liability for
manufactured goods. All these problems need to be addressed as
soon as possible. The Patent Office is requiring the governments
of the infringing countries to impose stricter control over such
infringements at Japan-Korea Patent Office Commissioner
Meetings or in FTA/EPA negotiations while cooperating in
human resource development efforts for control officials in the Areas where counterfeit products are manufactured (multiple replies)
Asian region. Click here to enlarge. >>
 It is also very important that consumers are firmly determined not to buy counterfeit
products to stem the damage to Japanese businesses by the inflow of such goods. To this
end, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, National Police Agency and Cultural
Affairs Agency, the Patent Office launched a "War against Counterfeit Products and
Pirated Copies" late last year.
As part of these efforts, the JPO conducted TV and poster PR campaigns to discourage
Japanese consumers from thoughtlessly buying counterfeits and pirated copies. 

Poster campaign on eliminating counterfeits

and pirated copies

>
 
A
n
in
v
e
nt
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n
re
s
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ti
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g
fr
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&
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c
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ct
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d
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as
p
ar
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k
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al
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n
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in
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lt
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at
th
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t's
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as
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al
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ul
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g
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p
pr
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(e
m
pl
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'
in
v
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nt
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n
s)

>
 
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ra
n
d
s
ar
e
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