American Patent Holders & Japan

Fusion Systems (United States) charges Mitsubishi (Japan) with patent infringement. Motorola (United States) sued by Hitachi (Japan) for patent infringement. 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. Thus, an American patent holder anticipating American-style 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 co

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ture. When industrial policy is translated into patent law in Japan, the result is quite different from American patent law. The objective of American patent law is ôto protect and reward individual entrepreneurs and innovative businesses, to encourage innovation and the advancement of knowledge.ö By contrast, the objective of Japanese patent law is to promote the sharing of technology. Sharing technology implies that innovation will not be protected, as such protection is understood in the United States. Beyond the objective of assuring the sharing of technology, Japanese patent law is designed to encourage the ôrapid spread of technological know-how among competitors in a manner that avoids litigation, encourages broad-scale cooperation, and promotes Japanese industry as a whole.ö 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. 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 pub
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Approximate Word count = 2674
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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