Review Survey on Consistency with TRIPS Agreement of Intellectual Property Related Laws andRegulations in Respective Countries Fiscal 2017 (Summary)
I. Purpose of the Review Survey
The TRIPS Council established under the "Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights" (TRIPS Agreement) which came into force as one of the rules of theWorld Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 1995 is held about three times a year to discuss theissues included in the Agreement (the so-called "built-in agenda"), the review of the Agreement, theprogress of the maintenance of domestic legislation in each member country, the specific contents oftechnical cooperation to developing countries or the like.
With regard to the issues examined by the TRIPS Council, the result of the discussions has
major impacts on the international framework of intellectual property protection and economicactivities of the domestic industries. In addition, due to the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement,
the expansion of intellectual property protection in each member country is expected, while theproblems over institutional operations still exists, such as the manufacture and distribution or thelike of illegal goods and infringing articles due to insufficient protection of intellectual property.
Securing adequate protection of intellectual property in Japan's trading partner countries is importantfrom the viewpoint of improving the business environments of Japanese companies or the like.
Twenty years have passed since the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement, the wave oftechnology innovation and informatization greatly developed the trade and investment environment
in the world, and the importance of intellectual property in international trade and economy isincreasing more and more. While the TRIPS Agreement functions as the minimum standard forintellectual property protection rules, among various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) /Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs), there are movements that, by instituting intellectual property
chapters based on the TRIPS Agreement to establish intellectual property rules common among
many of countries, aim at further expansion of intellectual property protection. Also there issituations that at various international forums such as the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) or the like, discussions on intellectual property are conducted actively.
In the survey, it was aimed to ensure the effectiveness of protection of intellectual propertyof Japanese companies or the like through the involvement into various international forums andinternational negotiations or the like, by picking up such recent issues that were considered asimportant or influential in intellectual property activities of Japanese companies or the like,surveying, examining, and understanding the discussions and situations in detail thereof.
II. Contents of the Review Survey
1. Survey on the situations of EPA /FTA (chiefly intellectual property chapters)
With the agreement between Japan and Mongolia on economic cooperation (Agreement
between Japan and Mongolia for an Economic Partnership [EPA] [effective June 7, 2016]), it isexpected that liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment between Japan and Mongolia

1will be promoted as well as the reciprocal economic partnership will deepen in a wide range offields, and the economies of both countries will be further activated.
As laws and regulations related to intellectual property in Mongolia, there are Patent Law,
Law on Trade Marks and Geographical Indications, Law on Copyright and Related Rights, as wellas Custom Tariff Law, etc. and these have been actively revised in recent years. However, it iscurrently uncertain how effectively these intellectual property related laws are operated domesticallyin Mongolia.
Therefore, it was surveyed and analyzed how domestic laws of Mongolia were incorrespondence with the main elements of intellectual property chapter (Chapter 12) of JapanMongolia EPA in consideration of the recent revisions of related laws and regulations. Some experts
pointed out the importance of encouraging them to increase transparency as some uncertaintyremains regarding the operation of the revised laws and regulations.
Also, in past cases, the European Union(EU)'s efforts on the intellectual property chapter ofFTA often resulted into general provisions or simple provisions mainly of the obligation to join thetreaty. To the contrary, the FTAs concluded in recent years tend to have detailed provisions ascompared with the conventional FTAs, so it will be noticed how the EU proceed with FTAs in thefuture. In this regard, it is considered to be meaningful also for Japan to proceed with future tradenegotiations concerning intellectual property to compare and analyze disciplines in the FTAs that theEU has concluded in recent years with the Southeast Asian countries and with Eastern Europeancountries that Japan has not yet concluded EPA/FTA.
Therefore, the following among the EPAs/FTAs that the EU has already entered into weresurveyed and analyzed; those with Southeast Asian countries, i.e. the EU-Vietnam FTA and EUSingapore FTA: that with a Eastern European country, i.e. the EU-Ukraine FTA: as well as that withCentral and South American countries, i.e. the EU-Colombia-Peru FTA. Especially, it was comparedwith discipline in the TRIPS Agreement and analyzed what disciplines on geographical indicationand trademark are provided, taking into consideration of the wording of provisions on cooperation
subchapters (cooperation clauses) and working documents on the protection strategy of geographicalindication by the EU Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI).

2. Survey on the situation of protection of intellectual property rights in respective countries
Under the situation that companies activities are more and more globally expanded,management of sensitive technical information or the like such as trade secrets is also important forcompanies activities. In this regard, it cannot be said that the actual state of protection of trade secretin such countries as China, ASEAN countries and India, etc. are well known in Japan, where thetransfer or new establishment of production and business activities of Japanese companies isexpected also in the future, so that the latest information on these may be a very important source forthe overseas deployment of Japanese companies.

2Therefore, the legal institutions and operations thereof on trade secret protection in China,ASEAN countries and India were surveyed, including information on court practices.
Furthermore, as a new trend over protection of intellectual property rights, a trend ofprotection of medicines in the intellectual property systems of China and Indonesia were examined,
such as the policy proposal by State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of China and therevised Patent Law of Indonesia. In addition, the contribution of Japanese new pharmaceuticals
manufacturers to access to medicine was also examined.
In relation thereto, the latest situation on health and safety damage caused by a deluge ofcounterfeit drugs or the like in developing countries or the like was surveyed from a higher
perspective.
3. Survey on international discussion of intellectual property system
There is the situation that discussions based on procedures for international disputesettlement related to intellectual property and cases thereof as well as discussions on data utilizationsuch as AI, big data, IOT or the like according to development of information and communication
technology are also becoming internationally active.
Therefore, as a survey on the international discussions of the intellectual property system,
survey and analysis were conducted on the situation of international discussions on data utilizationsuch as AI, big data, IOT or the like. Also, from the viewpoint of utilization of big data andcompetition law, recent trends of the EU competition law was analyzed, including analysis of casesof business combination in the EU.
On the other hand, as an case of international dispute settlement related to intellectualproperty, the arbitral award of Eli Lilly v. Canada was examined, and issues or the like in cases
where disputes related to intellectual property rights are dealt with in investment arbitration werediscussed. In addition, discussions on concept of Common Heritage of Mankind (CHM) andintellectual property, as well as patent eligibility of research results using biological resources orgenetic information and human rights were examined from the viewpoint of human rights andintellectual property.
Furthermore, efforts related to capacity building toward developing countries such as thetraining by patent examiners dispatched or the like by the Japan Patent Office, as well as crossborder enforcement of intellectual property infringing goods and international cooperation by thecustoms were also discussed.
4. Discussions at the WIPO, the WTO/TRIPS Council and other forums
In recent years, discussions at the WIPO, the WTO/TRIPS Council and other forums havebeen made for developing countries to weaken intellectual property protection based on publichealth, global environment, biodiversity, human rights or the like. Under the circumstances, with theaim of paying close attention to policy discussion and the positions of respective countries on theeffectiveness of intellectual property protection, understanding the current situation and proceeding3with the necessary examination, the situation of discussion at the Intergovernmental Committee(IGC) on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources of WIPO and recent trends related tocopyright at the WIPO.
Trends of discussion at the TRIPS Council and cases of disputes related to the TRIPS
Agreement as well as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) were also organized andanalyzed.
III. Summary
With respect to survey on the situation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) / Free
Trade Agreement (FTA) (mainly Intellectual property chapter), survey on the status of protection ofintellectual property rights in respective countries, and survey on international discussion of
intellectual property system, as well as the situation or the like of the discussion at the WIPO, theWTO/TRIPS Council and other forums, examination were conducted at the study group comprisedof practitioners, academic experts and the like, taking into account the presentations of other experts.
In recent years, as the globalization of the economy and the progress of the informationsociety are remarkable and the importance of international protection of intellectual property rights
has become increasing, it is necessary to constantly gather information and continue consideration
on not only multilateral treaties including the TRIPS Agreement and bilateral economic partnershipagreements, but also the trend of the legal systems of respective countries, the new frameworks ofinternational dispute resolution procedures and the appropriate execution of intellectual property lawsystem. It is expected to conduct continuously surveys on the international aspects of the intellectual
property system.

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