Patent Infringement

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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Gazette 18 months subsequent to a filing. The typical time period in which a patent is pending in Japan is 72 months.11 During the pending period, the technological innovation is not protected.12 Thus, competitors are provided with an opportunity to become well acquainted with a new technology, and to incorporate it into their operations. The Japanese intent, of course, is to promote industrial cooperation and technology sharing. Japanese patent law does require an applicant for a patent to disclose any known existing technology or prior art related to the technology for which a patent is sought. This provision is seldom enforced in Japan, however, and abuses are frequent.13 When the differences are considered between American and Japanese industrial philosophies, and between American and Japanese patent law, it is readily apparent that what may appear to an American to be a patent infringement may appear to a Japanese to be normal business practice. Judged on the basis of American patent law, most of the patent disputes between American patent holders and Japanese firms would be regarded as infringement actions.14 Considered in the light of Japanese patent law, however, infringement would not be judged in most of th
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Approximate Word count = 1990
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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