SONODA & KOBAYASHI was selected as “Intellectual Property Firm of the Year in Japan” in Global 100-2019 by KMH Media Group.

Sonoda & Kobayashi was selected “Intellectual Property Firm of the Year — Japan” in Global 100 Magazine, a leading magazine ranking 100 of the World’s leading firms and individuals.

The firm’s profile was published in Global 100 Magazine. Read the full profile by clicking on the link.

News from Sonoda & Kobayashi Intellectual Property Law – We Remain Fully Functioning

As the news media has reported, the Japanese government has declared a “state of emergency” today (April 7, 2020) for 7 designated prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka and their neighboring prefectures in view of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the “state of emergency”, the government strongly requests that people stay at home unless for essential tasks such as shopping for food, medical care, or work.  The request is not accompanied with enforcement procedures such as fines against violators.  In addition to the government’s declaration, the city of Tokyo has requested that companies shift to teleworking and that people are to stay away from overcrowded and poorly ventilated spaces where people speak or sing.  We expect that people will take these requests seriously and refrain from going out unless it is really necessary.

Although going out to work is exempted from the government’s requests, our firm started shifting towards teleworking at the beginning of March to reduce the exposure of our people to risky environments and has been trying to solve the inconveniences people encounter in teleworking.  As a result of this process, we have decided to shift to teleworking completely (except for rare situations where working in the office is necessary such as the filing of paper documents in court) and maintain the firm’s functions as usual on that basis.  There will be only a few people in our offices from this week.  However, please be assured that our members are reachable by email as before and our firm is fully functioning despite the “state of emergency.”

Seminar-Exploring new IP landscapes and trends in the EU and Japan

On October 28th, Sonoda & Kobayashi will be co-hosting a seminar together with the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk and IAM Media, which will explore new IP landscapes and trends in the EU and Japan.

In particular, this seminar will explore trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by IP professionals, especially in in-house positions, when dealing with strategy-related topics about the IPRs they manage such as international patent filings in the EU and Japan, and the dynamics of corporate IP functions in light of the technological development.

For more details, please visit the website.

Translation service / German to Japanese, Chinese to Japanese

We handle German-Japanese and Chinese-Japanese translation, in addition to English-Japanese and Japanese-English, as we have staff experienced in each of these language pairings.

Webinar — What are important differences between the appeal proceedings at the EPO and JPO?

Sonoda & Kobayashi will hold its next webinar on September 27th, 2019, in collaboration with the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk and Murgitroyd Munich Office.

The webinar aims to shed lights on the following questions:

1.How do appeals work in both jurisdictions?

2.What should applicants know with respect to cost? The likelihood of success?

3.What are recent trends and what can be anticipated in the near future?

If you would to register to this webinar, please complete the webform (Registration deadline: 09/26/2019)

The official Sponsor of Tsukuba Conference 2019

Sonoda & Kobayashi is now the official sponsor of the Tsukuba Conference of 2019.

Tsukuba Conference is designed for young researchers, entrepreneurs and other young experts in various fields to share their ideas to enhance a deeper understanding of the future of science and technology, and on the wide range of challenges and solutions that science and technology can generate in relation to the global society.

By bringing together approximately five hundred future leaders from all over the globe to Tsukuba Science City, Tsukuba Conference will provide them a platform to discuss and debate issues, to put together action plans and proposals in the course of their discussions, and to reach out to the global community.

In particular, this year’s conference is aimed to enrich relevant discussion on “How do science, technology and innovation contribute to achieving Society 5.0 and SDGs”, concerning various topics on health, medical and social systems, as well as contribution by cutting-edge science and technology in the context of Society 5.0 and SDG.

The conference will be held from October 2rd to October 4th at
Tsukuba International Congress Center.

10th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference (CIPAC)

We will attend the 10th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference (CIPAC), from September 2nd to September 3rd in Hangzhou, China.

We are pleased to announce that we will have a booth and that Dr. Yoshitaka Sonoda will give a speech titled “Differences between JPO, CNIPA and EPO in Substantive Examination at Opposition/Appeal Stages”.

For more event details, please visit the website.

If you would like to arrange a meeting during the conference, please do not hesitate to contact us at IAD@patents.jp.

Webinar — Patents: Patentability of Software Inventions and AI – Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends

Sonoda & Kobayashi Intellectual Property Law Firm presents our latest webinar, titled ‘Patents: Patentability of Software Invention and AI-Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends in Germany, Japan and other European jurisdictions’, in collaboration with the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk and Murgitroyd’s Munich office.

In this webinar, we will cover:

— The patentability requirements and legal basis for software and AI related inventions in Japan and Europe

— The subject matter eligibility and examination guidelines for such inventions

— Case examples of AI-related inventions in Japan

— The protection of AI-related inventions in European Jurisdictions

Speakers: Dr.sc. Robert Börner (Murgitroyd) and Sarvajit Patil (Sonoda & Kobayashi) Moderator: Luca Escoffier (EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk)

Organiser: EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation – Brussels Office

This webinar was held on June 28th, 2018. You can see the video from the following the link here.

Webinar — Patents: Patentability of Software Inventions and AI – Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends

Sonoda & Kobayashi Intellectual Property Law Firm presents our latest webinar, titled ‘Patents: Patentability of Software Invention and AI-Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends in Germany, Japan and other European jurisdictions’, in collaboration with the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk and Murgitroyd’s Munich office.

In this webinar, we will cover:

— The patentability requirements and legal basis for software and AI related inventions in Japan and Europe

— The subject matter eligibility and examination guidelines for such inventions

— Case examples of AI-related inventions in Japan

— The protection of AI-related inventions in European Jurisdictions

Speakers: Dr.sc. Robert Börner (Murgitroyd) and Sarvajit Patil (Sonoda & Kobayashi) Moderator: Luca Escoffier (EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk)

Organiser: EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation – Brussels Office

This webinar was held on June 28th, 2018. You can see the video from the following the link here.

Webinar –“Patents: Patentability of Software Invention and AI-Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends”

Sonoda & Kobayashi is pleased to announce our next joint webinar between our firm and the European firm Murgitroyd about Patents: Patentability of Software Invention and AI-Overview of Legal Systems and Recent Trends in Germany, Japan and other European jurisdictions.

The Webinar is scheduled on June 28th, 2019, at 10:00 AM CET.

We would like to invite anyone who is interested in this topic to attend the webinar. Please register by Thursday, 27th June, 2019 by following the link here.

We look forward to your presence online on Friday, 28th June 2019.