Problems of American Patent Holders in Japan

Fusion Systems (United States) charges Mitsubishi (Japan) with patent infringement.1 Motorola (United States) sued by Hitachi (Japan) for patent infringement.2 These two cases, in which both an American and a Japanese firm sue a Japanese and an American firm for patent infringement illustrate the complicated character of the patent protection issue involving the United States and Japan. At the heart of the matter are significantly different approaches to the conduct of industrial business in the two countries, which, in turn, has resulted in patent laws in the two countries which are not compatible in most instances.3 Thus, an American patent holder anticipating Americanstyle intellectual property protection in Japan is usually in for a disillusioning surprise, while Japanese firms become more than a little annoyed when American patent holders refuse to settle infringement challenges in line with traditional Japanese business practice.

This research examines the patent protection issue involving the United States and Japan by addressing two questions. First, do Japanese firms honor American patents? Second, if Japanese firms do not, according to American business practices, honor American patents, what strategies do they follow to maintain the legality of their actions?Do Japanese Firms Honor American Patents?

The answer to the above question depends largely upon the perspective of the examiner. If the question is

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g the sharing of technology, Japanese patent law is designed to encourage the "rapid spread of technological knowhow among competitors in a manner that avoids litigation, encourages broadscale cooperation, and promotes Japanese industry as a whole."11 There are other important differences between Japanese and American patent law. Precedence in American patent law is based on the first to invent. By contrast, precedence in Japanese patent law is based on first to file.12 In conjunction with other provisions of the Japanese patent law, the first to file concept can be significant. Japanese patent law, unlike American patent law, permits the patent of technology which has long been in the public domain, if that technology has not been previously patented.13 Such action is prohibited under American patent law. Further, Japanese patent law permits the claim to patent on "very minor variations from existing technology."14 In the United States, only an essential technology is subject to patent. Thus, in Japan, a competitor may capitalize on another's innovation through the patent of some quite minor modification to the technology. In the United States, such an action would be regarded as an infringement of the original patent
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Patent Gazette, United Japan, Business Review, Japan Germany, Reagan Administration, Precedence American, Japan Japanese, Fusion Systems, Republic Germany, American Japanese, japanese patent, patent law, american patent, industrial policy, harvard business, business review, harvard business review, japanese patent law, japanese firms, 68 septemberoctober 1990, 68 septemberoctober, septemberoctober 1990, review 68, business review 68, american patent law,
Approximate Word count = 2909
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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