Acquisition of intellectual property rights
Prior to filing an application, Kyowa consults with the client to obtain a full understanding of the client’s business strategy in order to be able to provide a foresighted, cost-effective patent strategy in support of establishing business-efficient intellectual property rights.
To help our clients build efficient and powerful networks of intellectual property rights, we have established a system in which not only our patent attorneys but also our attorneys at law and research staff work together to provide support and insight at the invention stage.
For better visibility of the contact person, a team leader is assigned to each client. The team-based model also helps with both sharing and centralizing information in accordance with the circumstances of each case. Through cross-departmental cooperation and collaboration as needed in each case, we are able to accommodate increasingly complex and diverse technical cases.
Offered Services
- Filing of applications for patents, utility model registrations, design registrations and trademark registrations with the Japan Patent Office and overseas patent and intellectual property agencies, application intermediate processing including examination and trial procedures, and registration services
- Acquisition of intellectual property rights in leading-edge technologies such as AI, quantum computers, blockchain, mining, robotics, biotechnology/nanotechnology, and fine ceramics
- Procedures for the acquisition of breeders' rights through the registration of plant varieties under the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act in Japan and similar plant variety protection systems in foreign countries
Contract and Dispute Services
Thanks to our attorneys at law who have the technical knowledge to accurately understand the technologies involved, Kyowa provides various services in cases of litigation, disputes, and negotiations involving patents related to advanced technologies.
In addition to specific cases such as warning negotiations, infringement litigation, opposition claims, invalidation trials, appeals against trial decisions, and contract negotiations related to patents and other intellectual property, our attorneys at law who possess both technical and legal knowledge work together with our patent attorneys specialized in the technology relevant to the case, with an eye toward the efficient exploitation of the intellectual property, and risk management. The services they provide include consulting, expert opinions, intellectual property research, infringing product investigations, and the appraisal of intellectual property, to deliver more effective responses to cases.
Offered Services
- Litigation related to intellectual property rights such as infringement litigation, opposition claims, invalidation trials, and appeals against trial decisions, contract services, and various procedures with the Patent Office and the courts
- Consultation, research, and expert opinion relating to the effectiveness of intellectual property rights, appraisal of the value of intellectual property rights associated with corporate M&As, risk management
- Support in patent licensing agreements, license negotiations, and all manner of intellectual property-related disputes, including disputes between companies and in overseas jurisdictions
Global Intellectual Property Consulting Services
Based on the strong global network of more than 400 firms which we have built up over the years, Kyowa collaborates with reliable overseas firms which are able to provide quality work at reasonable costs, to provide comprehensive legal services, including the acquisition and enforcement of rights in overseas jurisdictions, which satisfy our clients' needs.
In license negotiations and infringement cases overseas, our United States-qualified Japanese attorney at law can provide clients with prompt advice before they engage an oversees representative.
In our Chinese Market section, which exclusively handles intellectual property matters in China, our Chinese attorney at law provides legal services in Japanese, including countermeasures against counterfeit and pirated goods, infringement litigation, and license negotiations in China, as well as the various procedures with Chinese administrative authorities.
Various Intellectual Property Services
Kyowa provides various services for our clients such as identifying patents that may become impediments to our clients, conducting intellectual property research (technical trends research, clearance research, research of evidence for invalidations, etc.) with the aim of invalidating those impeding patents. We also assist our clients in building a portfolio of patents which will help strengthen their business.
We obtain intellectual property information that is useful for our clients, such as revisions to Japanese and overseas laws and rules, and various judicial precedents. Our sources of information include media releases and international intellectual property conferences attended by our patent attorneys and attorneys at law.