Japanese Design Law And Practice

Max Planck Series on Asian Intellectual Property Law Volume 18 Indisputably, Japan is today a major hub of product design, and designs made in Japan play an influential role in the world across a wide range of industries. This is the first and only book in English to provide a detailed overview and discussion of product design protection and practice under Japanese law. In addition to expert analysis of the application of design law by Japanese courts and the Japan Patent Office (including the far-reaching 2020 amendments), the book features seven contributions by Japanese product designers from specific industries who describe the product design process in their industry and its legal ramifications worldwide. With in-depth description and analysis and many detailed explanatory figures and tables, the contributors cover such issues and topics as the following: ownership of design rights; requirements for design protection; application process for design registration; examination procedure; appeals and invalidity trials; design infringement and scope of protection; overlap of design and other intellectual property rights; design protection and competition law; international jurisdiction and governing law; and design rights and commercial transactions. Industry-specific chapters cover the application of design law in furniture, home appliances, cell phones, cars, advertising, product packaging, web design, and typeface design. The book concludes with a chapter highlighting differences in design law in Japan and the European Union. Given that Japanese design experts often note a lack of understanding of Japanese design law and practice by foreign companies, this book will appeal to law firm practitioners and in-house counsel involved in global design right portfolio management and design protection in Japan. It will also appeal to intellectual property scholars and product designers with an interest in Japanese design practice and law.

For the first time, this book provides an up-to-date history of product design and product design law covering 17 countries — Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), Russia, the United States, Brazil and Australia — selected for their innovative or influential approach to design or design protection. Each country is the subject of two chapters — one on the history of design and the other on the history of design law — authored by experts in design and intellectual property (IP) law. This unique interdisciplinary approach explains why and how various national design protection systems (that can include design, copyright, trade mark, competition and civil laws) developed, making it an ideal book for students, researchers and lawyers. The book also serves as an international survey of different national policy and legal responses to historical developments and specific design and legal issues allowing readers to consider their advantages and disadvantages — and so is also recommended for policy and law makers, as well as organizations that administer IP rights. Topics include the subject matter of design protection; procedural and substantive requirements; design registration; infringement; and the overlap of design rights and other IP rights. The chapters on design history provide further context to the historical development of these legal concepts by considering major design movements, key designers and iconic designs and the current state of design. The chapters highlight the connected and often complementary relationship between the two histories, not only for each country, but at the regional and international level, often as a result of government policies, trade, colonialism, immigration and globalisation. Design and design practice continue to become more global and evolve with developments in technology. At the same time, design laws are not internationally harmonized and continue to develop at the national level, with a number of significant changes occurring in recent years. This timely book shows how the lessons of the past continue to inform the future direction of design and the legal systems developed to protect it.

Produced with the support of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and the Berkeley Judicial Institute, this Guide highlights the progress achieved in patent case management in ten patent-heavy jurisdictions. The Guide offers an overview of the patent system in each jurisdiction, including the role of patent offices in evaluating and deciding on patent validity, and the judicial structures responsible for resolving patent disputes. Thereafter chapters are structured on the different stages of patent litigation in civil infringement cases. Readers can create their own custom guide by selecting any combination of jurisdictions and topics covered in the Guide. Please see the Custom guide link: https://www.wipo.int/about-patent-judicial-guide/en

This book is a revised and updated edition of a major work first published in 2001 under the auspices of the Intellectual Property Committee of the International Bar Association. As a comparative cross-jurisdictional analysis of the practice, theory, scope, and types of design protection, it will continue to be of immeasurable value to lawyers and others involved in industrial design. Industrial designs are particularly interesting because the laws in many countries attempt in different ways to find a balance between protection for the artistic creation and the freedom to use the purely functional, and between the proprietary rights of the creator and the public domain rights of the competitor. The third edition is comprised of twenty-five country reports, each written by one or more prominent intellectual property lawyer(s) in the country covered. To facilitate cross-jurisdictional comparison, each report is structured according to the following sequence of topics: new developments in each jurisdiction; conventions and legislation; definition of what constitutes a protectable design; originality /novelty; duration of protection; infringement; defences to infringement; procedures for filing application for registration; and expunging, cancelling, or varying registration. Prominent new developments covered in the third edition include new chapters from South Korea, Russia and Turkey as well as continuing coverage of the impact of the European Community Design Directive, the adoption of the Hague Agreement with corresponding major changes to US and Canadian design law and practice, the newly revised Japanese Design Law, and China’s revised Guidelines for Examination. Each jurisdiction’s currently applicable legislation, regulation, and case law is summarized and analysed.

Architects throughout the world hold Japan's best architecture in high regard, considering the country's buildings among the world's most carefully crafted and innovative. While many books, magazines, and exhibitions have focused on the results of architectural practice in Japan, this book is the first to explain the reasons for Japan's remarkable structures. Architecture does not occur in isolation; Japan's architects are able to collaborate with a wide variety of people from professional consultants to constructors. Dana Buntrock discusses architecture as a part of the construction community, moving from historical precedents that predate the emergence of the architectural profession in Japan through to contemporary practices.