Japan

Firm overview

SUGIMURA, formerly known as SUGIMRUA International Patent and Trademark Attorneys is a leading intellectual property law firm in Japan which was founded in 1923. SUGIMURA has earned an international reputation for quality in Japanese IP prosecution and is repeatedly ranked among the top Japanese patent and trademark firms. As of March 1, 2017, SUGIMURA has re-launched as SUGIMURA & Partners, to reflect continued expansion of its services to newly formed legal division, which extends the quality and reputation from IP prosecution practice to IP litigation and dispute resolution practices.

SUGIMURA delivers results-oriented solutions and offers customized services tailored to clients’ needs. The firm ensures close collaboration among its practice groups in order to provide clients with comprehensive multidisciplinary patent and trademark protection across industry sectors. Their attorneys combine legal insight, technical expertise, and business acumen to deliver practical solutions and strategies for intellectual property protection in Japan.

Firm overview

Kilpatrick is trusted counsel to the world’s most innovative companies. To serve our groundbreaking clients, we are at the forefront of client service, a leader in DE&I, and on the cutting edge of law and technology. With recognized strength in the technology sector and a full range of service offerings, we deliver practical, business-centric solutions built upon strong and enduring connections.

Kilpatrick Townsend IP Law Office opened in 2006 as the firm’s first office in Asia. Led by special counsel Hitoshi Akiba, a Japanese patent attorney and member of the New York Bar, the Tokyo office is heavily utilized by Kilpatrick Townsend attorneys advising Asia-based and U.S. clients with interests in Japan and throughout Asia. The Tokyo office focuses on patent counseling for clients in a broad range of industries, working for U.S. businesses entering Japan and other Asian markets and for Japanese clients with intellectual property issues in the U.S.

The Tokyo office brings the latest developments in U.S. intellectual property law to Japan via annual briefings for Japanese businesses. Through educational sessions featuring Kilpatrick Townsend attorneys, the firm’s programs provide intellectual property professionals in Japan with critical information and the tools necessary to navigate the complex U.S. system for patent protection.

Firm overview

Firm Profile

Kyowa Patent and Law Office was established on September 1, 1908, and is a full-service IP firm with more than 110 years of history.

Organization

Kyowa’s 60 patent attorneys, including five attorneys at law and one Chinese registered foreign lawyer, harmoniously cooperate to provide services tailored to each of its clients. Kyowa has six departments (see distribution of attorneys, some concurrently serving):

• Electrical (20)
• Mechanical (18)
• Chemical (20)
• Designs and Trademarks (12)
• Litigations (5)
• Chinese Market (4)

Highly qualified attorneys

Kyowa’s attorneys are graduates from high-ranking universities and specialists with rich knowledge in their field. Most of them have previous experience working in the R&D or patent section of major Japanese companies. Some have served as examiners for the JPO. Their wide range of technical expertise enables the firm to elaborate the best strategy for the protection of its clients’ innovations in view of Japanese patent practice.

Kyowa’s managing partner, Manabu MIYAJIMA, is an attorney at law admitted to both the State Bar of California and the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar. Ruoling DU, partner, is a Chinese-licensed lawyer who speedily and efficiently communicates with our Chinese clients with deeper understanding of Chinese society and culture.

Litigation

Kyowa provides various services in cases of litigation, disputes, and negotiations involving advanced technologies. While it is uncommon in Japan for attorneys at law to have technical background, most of Kyowa’s attorneys at law have master’s or bachelor’s degrees in engineering, pharmaceutics or other sciences. In the case of services such as infringement litigation, opposition, appeals against trial decisions, and contract negotiations related to patents and other intellectual property, our technical-background attorneys at law work together with our patent attorneys specialized in the technology relevant to the case. Their deep understanding of the technology allows them to make persuasive arguments in patent disputes which has proven beneficial in numerous litigations.

Firm overview

Nakamura & Partners is an international patent and law firm which provides a wide range of services in the field of intellectual property inside and outside Japan.

The history of Nakamura & Partners commenced on July 1, 1914 (the 3rd year of the Taisho era) when Morio NAKAMATSU, an attorney-at-law and patent attorney, opened Nakamatsu Patent & Law firm in the former Mitsubishi Building 21 famous for its red brick facade, on whose site the Shin Tokyo Building now stands, after serving as the 9th Commissioner of the former Japan Patent Bureau (currently the Japan Patent Office). Later the firm’s name was changed to Nakamura and Partners when Minoru NAKAMURA (an attorney-at-law and patent attorney), who is also famous as a poet, began to act as a representative partner. Since then, the firm has been known as Nakamura & Partners. Shinichiro TANAKA (an attorney-at-law and patent attorney), Hiroyuki SUDA (a patent attorney) and Kazuhiko YOSHIDA (an attorney-at-law and patent attorney) are currently acting as representative partners.

At Nakamura & Partners, approximately 180 staff members, including about 60 patent attorneys and about 20 attorneys-at-law, work to provide various legal services. About 40 partners are involved in managing and supervising the firm.

Our services are mainly provided by the patent (including design) section, the trademark section, the legal section, and the administration group which supports the three sections. At our firm, partners in charge manage and supervise these sections to enhance the quality of our services and to achieve standardized quality in accordance with the fundamental purpose of "provide the highest level services and develop a very trustworthy relation with our clients."

Services provided by our patent attorneys include: agency services for actions such as applications and appeals/trials before the Japan Patent Office and overseas patent offices concerning industrial property rights such as patent rights (inventions), utility model rights (devices), design rights, trademark rights (trademarks and brand names); and related research and expert opinion. Our services further include agency services for actions such as applications for registration of new varieties of plant to be filed with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries under the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act.

Services provided by our attorneys-at-law mainly cover counseling, expert opinion, litigations on infringement and the like in the field of intellectual property in a broad sense, such as industrial property rights, unfair competition prevention laws and copyrights, inside and outside Japan. Our services further cover: legal services related to international trade and transactions, such as license agreements and agreements on joint research and development; and legal services related to corporate laws in general.

One of the distinguishing features of our firm is that our patent attorneys and attorneys-at-law can simultaneously provide in a highly professional manner a variety of legal services through seamless and close cooperation with each other.


Network Memberships: INTA, AIPPI, APAA, AIPLA, JTA

Last updated 4th April 2019