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December 2018

To our friends and clients: All of us at Sonoda & Kobayashi
wish you peace and happiness this holiday season andthroughout the New Year!

News about Sonoda & Kobayashi
Webinar - 'Patents: employee inventions - overview of legal systems and recenttrends'
17 December 2018

In collaboration with the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk and Murgitroyd's MunichOce, Sonoda & Kobayashi is excited to announce our next joint webinar, titled 'Patents:

employee inventions - overview of legal systems and recent trends.' Speakers Dr.sc. Richard
Börner and Dr. Akira Fujii will shed light on what companies with R&D in Europe and Japanneed to know in regard to the di ering legal systems on employee remuneration. We are
grateful to our partners for collaborating with us once again, and invite you to listen in.

The Webinar is scheduled for Monday, 17th December 2018 at 10:00 AM CET (18:00 JST).
Please follow the link below to register before Sunday, 16th December 2018. We look forward to
your presence online!

Click here to read more about the webinar and register to attend.

Welcoming our new patent attorneys and engineers!

Sonoda & Kobayashi is pleased to announce that we welcomed three new attorneys and two
new engineers into ourrm this year, expanding our Electronics, Machinery & Software andour Chemistry, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals departments! Please allow us to introduce
our new colleagues:

Makoto Tamura
After graduating from university, Mr. Tamura worked at an automobile component maker,
where he developed a new type of car air-conditioning system. He then entered the intellectualproperty

eld in 2001 and handled patent applications in various technicalelds, fromspeci cation drafting to acquiring patent rights, for both domestic and international clients.
He joined Sonoda & Kobayashi in 2018, and is in charge of patent applications in mechanicaland electrical elds.
See Mr. Tamura's full bio.

Takashi Tokito
Mr. Tokito studied organic chemistry at graduate school before moving on to work in local
government. He then worked at the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA),
where he was involved with work such as the approval process for new drugs. He joined ouroce in July 2018.

See Mr. Tokito's full bio.

Sarvajit Patil
Mr. Patil attended Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Computer Science andEconomics before attending Vanderbilt University Law School in the United States. Before
joining Sonoda & Kobayashi in 2018, Mr. Patil worked as a patent attorney in the United States,
where he also gained trial experience as a prosecutor.
See Mr. Patil's full bio.

Krystel Renard, Ph.D.
After receiving her Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) for her researchconcerning the mechanical properties of TWIP (twinning-induced plasticity) steels, Dr. Renard
pursued research on the thermoelectric properties of FeVAl alloys as a JSPS Fellow at theNagoya Institute of Technology. After work at a patent law rm in Tokyo, Dr. Renard joined ouroce in April 2018.

See Dr. Renard's full bio.

Wataru Nishii, Ph.D.
Dr. Nishii majored in agricultural chemistry at the University of Tokyo, and in biophysics andbiochemistry at the Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo. After working as AssistantProfessor at the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, and as Research Scientist at

RIKEN, he became Visiting Senior Scientist at RIKEN. He has extensive experience in life
science research with a focus on protein science and drug discovery science. He joined our rmin April 2018.
See Dr. Nishii's full bio.

We recently refurbished our oces in Shinjuku - here's a glimpse of our new conferenceroom!

Latest IP News in JapanJPO dispute resolution revisions unveil tension between big business and SMEs
26 November 2018, IPPro Patents

The JPO held a meeting on November 21st, 2018 to hear opinions about potential revisions ofJapan's intellectual property dispute resolution system. Amongst those who gave presentations
to the JPO were: a partner at TMI Associates; Keidnaren, representing big business; and The
Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), representing the voice of SMEs. The
proposed revisions could lessen the disadvantage of SMEs in litigation, and has thus become adivisive issue for smaller versus larger companies. Both the US and German inspection systems
were referenced as potential models to follow and the government will continue to discuss andresearch the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Read the full article here.

Fourth ID5 Annual Meeting Held
21 November 2018, Japan Patent O ce (JPO)The ID5 held its fourth Annual Meeting on November 5th and 6th, 2018 in Seoul, Republic ofKorea. The ID5 is a forum ofve of the world's major Industrial Design oces, consisting ofthe JPO, the EUIPO, the USPTO, the CNIPA and the KIPO, with the JPO delegation being headed
by Director-General Sawai on this occasion. One of the outcomes of the Annual Meeting wasthe "ID5 Joint Statement", which declared a joint aim to consolidate the protection of newtechnological designs against the backdrop of the fourth industrial revolution. The ID5 also
made further agreements to adopt new cooperation projects for greater international
coordination of the design protection system. The 2019 Annual Meeting will be held in Japan,
with the JPO serving as the secretariat. The JPO has stated its intention to continue developing
an environment where designs are appropriately protected and utilised worldwide.

Read the full article here.

Japan-India PPH to start in 201930 October 2018, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)A METI press release con rms the start of the Japan-India Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)
following a Summit between the two countries' leaders on October 29th, 2018. The program
will commence on a pilot basis in certain elds of inventions, under which Japanese companies
can request expedited examinations in India based on claims deemed patentable in Japan. Thisagreement comes as a part of the JPO's continued e orts to ease the acquisition of overseas
patents for Japanese companies by supporting expanded PPH network as well as to increase
standardisation in IP oces worldwide.

Read the full article here.

Japan to make trademark registration of era names impossible
6 November 2018, The Japan Times

The Japanese government intends to revise its trademark application screening criteria toprevent the registration of any era names, thereby expanding the existing rule, which rejects
only the current era name, Heisei. If the revision is con rmed, it will come into e ect aroundFebruary next year, however exceptions would be made for existing well-known names andtrademarks such as Meiji Holding Co.

Read the full article here.

Japan's Upper House approves free trade pact with EU by majority vote
8 December 2018, The Japan Times

The Japanese Diet has approved an economic partnership agreement with the EU. The deal,
predicted to come into e ect on February 1st, 2018, will create a free trade bloc, under whichtari s will be removed for over 90% of trade items and will decline on a range of otherproducts. A Foreign Ministry executive asserted that the agreement will also introduce"comprehensive and advanced rules" to protect intellectual property.

Read the full article here.

World Intellectual Property Indicators: Filings for Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs
Reach New Records on Strength in China
3 December 2018, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

A WIPO press release stated that worldwide demand for IP tools reached record heights in 2017,
citing China as the force behind the 5.8% yearly increase. WIPO Director General Francis Gurryis quoted stating that "demand for IP protection is rising faster than the rate of global
economic growth, illustrating that IP-backed innovation is an increasingly critical componentof competition and commercial activity." The topve patent application oces accounted for84.5% of the world total, a group in which Japan features. However, Japan's total number ofpatent applications only saw a 0.03% increase, in contrast with its counterparts in China andthe US, whose growth was 14.2% and 4.5% respectively.

Read the full article here.

Osaka wins bid to host 2025 World Expo
24 November 2018, The Japan Times

Osaka beat rivals Yekaterinburg in Russia and Baku in Azerbaijan in winning the rights to hostthe 2025 World Expo, ocially titled the Osaka-Kansai Japan Expo. The event will return toOsaka 55 years after the 1970 Osaka Expo, which is considered to be one of the most successful
Expos held, having attracted 64 million visitors. The 2025 theme will be 'Designing Future
Society for Our Lives' and is expected to showcase advanced technologies such as AI andbiotechnology, while also aiming to contribute to the 2030 United Nations sustainable
development goals, particularly in ageing societies such as Japan. Construction costs on theman-made island of Yumeshima, where the Expo is planned to take place, have been estimatedat 125 billion JPY.

Read the full article here.

Japan and China pledge to move from 'competition to collaborator'
26 October 2018, Nikkei Asian Review

Prime minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed on a range of economic andsecurity initatives during therst visit to China for bilateral meetings by a Japanese leader inseven years. Many areas were covered during the talks, including an agreement to set up adiscussion framework for intellecutal property. The Nikkei Asian Review notes that Tokyo
hopes such an agreement will aid companies in securing protection from Beijing for their IPrights. This agreement comes in the wake of IP protection playing a focal role in the ongoing
US-China trade dispute.

Read the full article here.

Japan's industrial production surges in October
30 November 2018, Financial Times

The FT reports that Japan's industrial production rose 4.2% year on year in October, signaling astrong start to the fourth quarter after a 2.5% contraction in September. Analysts have however
blamed poor growth in the third quarter on natural disasters, including September's
earthquake in Hokkaido.

Read the full article here.

AboutContact

SONODA & KOBAYASHI is a law rm o ering

Shinjuku Mitsui Building suite 3401

dependable legal services for intellectual

2-1-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku,property. Our multinational teamTokyo, Japanof about 90 experts in technology, law,

〒163-0434

languages and international communication has
served companies worldwide and gained a

Main Line: +81-3-5339-1093

reputation for thoroughness and reliability.

International A airs: +81-3-5989-0934
newsletter@patents.jp

Copyright © 2018 Sonoda & Kobayashi Intellectual Property Law. All rights reserved.
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