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Report on the 14th JIPA IP Symposium
On February 24, 2015, the 14th JIPA IP Symposium, titled "Focus on the IP Vision, IP system that enables 'Competition' and 'Collaboration' --- Future Examination & Judicial System, and Corporate IP Strategies ---," was held at the Tokyo International Forum. This year, more than 900 IP experts participated in the symposium, in which two keynote speeches and three panel discussions were held.
In the keynote speech sections, Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, made a speech on the desirable roles of intellectual property and WIPO's activities from a global viewpoint. Mr. Hitoshi Ito, JPO Commissioner, made a presentation on the measures taken by the JPO to support companies such as "enhancement of examination speed and quality" and "globalization."
In the special panel session, in which Mr. Gurry and Mr. Ito participated as commentators, Mr. Takeshi Ueno served as the coordinator and facilitated discussions on the issue of "JIPA’s Activities for IP Globalization" with focus on patent system harmonization, WIPO GREEN's initiative in tackling environmental problems from the perspective of intellectual property, and the challenges and enhancement of the IP systems in emerging countries. From JIPA, Mr. Takashi Suzuki (Hitachi), International Policy PJ, and Mr. Hiroyuki Bessho (Honda), Asia Strategy PJ, participated in the discussions.
In Panel Discussion I, which was coordinated by Mr. Fumihiko Moriya (Sony), Mr. Toshiaki Iimura (former chief judge of the IP High Court) explained the current state of IP-related lawsuits in Japan with focus on disclosure orders, damages, attempts of settlement, etc. Mr. David Kappos (Former Director General, the USPTO) described the situations after the revision of the America Invents Act and explained USPTO decisions and court judgments for software-related cases, etc. Mr. Randall Rader (Former Chief Judge, the CAFC) explained the current state of IP-related lawsuits in the U.S. Also, Mr. Kenichi Nagasawa (Canon) explained what roles companies expect the judicial and IP systems to play. These panelists had deep discussions about the "Judicial System for Facilitating Predictability and Future Practice for Settling Patent Disputes."
In Panel Discussion II, which was coordinated by Ms. Naoko Nakatsukasa (Chuo Sogo Law Office), the panelists, namely Mr. Hideo Kumagai (Toshiba), Mr. Masahisa Yamaguchi (Chugai Pharmaceutical), Mr. Tadayuki Hanamoto (Komatsu), and Mr. Ikuo Jitsuhara (Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal), explained actual cases in which their respective companies were involved. The panelists went beyond the boundaries of the technical fields of their respective companies and discussed various issues such as the issue of how to devise a strategy to balance "competition" and "collaboration" to adapt to the current world where each company needs to strengthen not only its competitiveness but also its collaboration and cooperation with other companies.
In the poster session, people from companies that are considering sending employees to be members of expert committees had a lively chat with former committee members. In the traditional poster competition, the 1st prize went to the Follow-up study group of companies with a small or midsize IP department, the 2nd prize went to the Management Committee, and 3rd prize went to the 1st License Committee. The Chairman’s Award went to the Copyright Committee.
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[Update 2015-04-03 ]
