Expert Opinions

When a company is considering filing a lawsuit against a suspected infringer or when a company wishes to know whether their own products would have the potential of infringing, it is often wise for the company first to seek the advice of a professional. What is required of the professional adviser in order to form a proper opinion is, as always in the patent field, advanced technical expertise in the relevant field, combined with extensive legal experience. However, proper legal advice must first be based on the client's questions, and no matter how much experience an attorney has, that experience is useless if he is unable to achieve proper communication with the client. He must be able to understand what the client considers to be the problem. Then, he must also have the ability to clearly express his own opinion back to the client. That is, a smooth flow of ideas must be maintained between the attorney and client.

The attorneys of Sonoda & Kobayashi have technical backgrounds in physics and chemistry, and are assisted by experts in related fields such as electronics, computer science and biology. They also have extensive experience in the intellectual property field, and have comprehensive knowledge of the Japanese legal system. Moreover, since our attorneys consider proper communication and promptness of reaction to be the key to offering good legal opinions, they are always ready to discuss matters with the client, whether by facsimile, email or over the telephone.