Manabu Miyajima is the managing partner and head of litigation department at Kyowa Patent and Law Office.
He regularly handles infringement lawsuits related to intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, and unfair competition, lawsuits to cancel trial decisions, warning negotiations, contract-related work, expert opinions, and various consultations, as well as many other general corporate law matters. As a patent infringement litigator, he has experience in handling patent infringement lawsuits claiming for damages in the range of 10 billion yen. His experience in trademark prosecution allows him to provide seamless strategies for acquiring, maintaining, and enforcing trademark rights.
One of his 2023 litigation cases, a group action involving Chinese and Japanese electronics patent holders, required a multisided strategy anticipating the opponent’s moves and counterattacking to better serve the interests of the client.
Professional accreditations
- Patent attorney – Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA, 2001)
- Attorney at law – Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association (2001)
- Attorney at law – State Bar of California (2009)
Education
- BE – Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo
- LLM in trade regulation – School of Law (Fulbright Scholar), New York University
- LLM in IP and competition law – Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre
Expertise
- Litigations in relation to international portfolio management, such as patent infringement, other IP infringement and administrative lawsuits regarding the validity of IP rights
- Advising on infringement and validity issues, in particular providing freedom-to-operate searches and opinions
- Appraisal of the value of IP rights in relation to corporate M&As
- IP risk management
- Patent licensing agreements and negotiations
Publications
- Case law study – Enablement Requirements: Gist of the Invention Certification and the Lipase Supreme Court Decision – AIPPI
- Chapter 7 of Copyright Practice Guidelines (co-author) – JPAA
- Narrow Interpretation of Claims to Avoid Violating Requirements of Divisional Patent Application – AIPPI
Year Joined Firm: 2001
Education/Alumni: Graduate of the University of Tokyo (1998) and the New York University (2008)
Network Memberships: INTA, AIPPI, APAA
