The Cabinet of Japan has approved the Bill for the Act of Partial Revision of the Patent Act

The digital revolution has removed barriers between industries and has been promoting open innovation in Japan. This trend expands opportunities for SMEs and venture businesses to make a leap forward taking advantage of their own outstanding technologies. At the same time, having superiority in customer experiences with products/services becomes increasingly important for businesses to improve their competitiveness.

In light of such changes in business environments, the JPO decided: to improve the litigation systems involving industrial property rights in order to fully protect the important technologies and other strong points of Japanese companies under the patent rights and other intellectual property rights in case of legal disputes; and to enhance the design system for protecting designs using digital technologies and encouraging right holders to establish new brands.

Outline of the bill on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) website