Part One of a Three-Part Series
Since 2002, when then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated he intended to transform Japan into a “nation that is built on the platform of intellectual properties,” the Japanese government has shifted its focus on intellectual property (“IP”), bringing about numerous policy changes empowering Japanese firms to actively pursue both defensive and offensive corporate strategies to further discover the inherent value of their intellectual capital. These changes included not only new laws and agencies, but also the establishment of an Intellectual Property High Court (“IPHC”) that handles only IP-related cases. For the United States, this signals that Japan is determined to become more competitive in both domestic and international markets using IP.
