Building on
the success of the 2013 IP Conference series, ALB held its inaugural Japan IP
Conference on April 15, 2014, attracting more than 100 of Japan’s leading
senior counsel, brand protection experts, IP managers and litigators to the
heart of Tokyo’s Akasaka business district. Supported by Thomson Reuters IP
& Science, Baker & McKenzie, UBIC, the Asia-Pacific IP Association, the
Roppongi Bar Association, the Japan In-House Counsel Network and the American
Chamber of Commerce Japan, the event conveyed ALB’s continued presence in Japan
as an international media and knowledge platform bridging local, regional
and global expertise.
Aligned with
the Japan Patent Office’s (JPO) objective of “achieving the world’s fastest and
highest quality IP system,” Commissioner Hideo Hato opened the conference
explaining how international IP harmonization initiatives are embedded into the
government’s Japan Revitalizations Strategy and the subsequent strengthening of
the Design, Trademark and the Patent Attorney Acts.
The stretch
of government keynotes continued with a presentation from one of ALB’s most
loyal supporters, Director-General Peter Cheung of the HK IP Department. Cheung
gave an update on the IP exchange initiative, reiterating the important
collaboration efforts with government and industry leaders in Hong Kong, Japan,
Korea and across the region. He surprised delegates by concluding his speech
with an impromptu song on IP monetization, hinting on his next career move
after his impending retirement from the public sector this month.
The World IP
Organization’s (WIPO) Japan representative Masaki Okamoto offered delegates an
insight into Japan’s significant contribution to WIPO’s global
services such as the free patent search system PATENTSCOPE or the CASE
initiative, enabling the safe exchange of search and examination documentation
related to patent applications. With the launch of the GREEN and Research
projects, WIPO is also pioneering IP management as a means to sustainability
and healthcare development.
WIPO’s
inter-governmental guidelines were well complemented by the subsequent industry
case studies. Toyotaka Abe showed that
Microsoft, as an owner of a large pool of patent rights, is the perfect example
of how market leadership can be sustained in the technology field with the
creation of clear IP transaction guidelines covering IP licensing, purchase and
sale as well as the transfer of IP rights.
Another
interesting group of sessions followed featuring government, industry and
academic standpoints surrounding Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and Fair,
Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing. Professor Shuya Hayashi of
Nagoya University pointed out the anti-competitive impact of patent hold-ups
and royalty stacking using the Apple vs. Samsung case and advised against
injunctive relief in case of FRAND litigation. Qualcomm’s vice-president of
Patents, George Whitten, in turn, provided an overview of the ICT industry,
arguing that while the issue exists, there is no substantial empirical evidence
of the aforementioned patent infringements, neither of their adverse economic
effects.
Commissioner
Hiroyuki Odagiri of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has gave a detailed
rundown on JFTC`s extensive work in reconciling reasonable IP monetization and
innovation with fair competition practices. JFTC has pioneered the standardization
of patent pool arrangements, guarding the fragile benefits of standard-setting
including quicker product commercialization and customer convenience, while
acting on antitrust concerns, the type of issues voiced by Whitten and Hayashi.
This has been evidenced by JFTC’s numerous enforcement actions including the
cases of the Pachinko Manufacturing Patent Pool’s, Hokkaido Shimbun Press’,
Microsoft’s and Qualcomm’s monopolistic activities as well as the IP merger of
the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group and the Osaka Stock Exchange.
Following a
morning dominated by discussions surrounding hard IP, the afternoon focused on
soft IP matters with an overarching theme of brand protection and
anti-counterfeiting. In the digital piracy panel discussion, KT Ang of IFPI
Asia gave an overview of the challenges faced by the global entertainment
industry and the various counter piracy methods available to including
advertising, litigation and website blocking. Joe Welch of 21st Century Fox
took this one step further, arguing that the obsolete “notice and take-down”
approach should be strengthened with the blocking of “overseas egregious rogue
(pirate) sites” and downgrading and delisting penalties imposed by search
engines. Using the examples of the EU and the cases of The Pirate Bay and Grooves
hark, both Ang and Welch agreed that right holders should be able to apply for
injunctive relief, essentially requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to
take blocking action without exposing them to liability to infringement. Yoichiro Hata of the Recording Industry
Association of Japan showed an even higher standard adopted by Japan with the
Amended Copyright Law, which effectively criminalizes
the act of downloading music and/or motion pictures with knowledge of the
illegal nature of the source and legal pay-for
alternatives.
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