Japan’s efforts to bolster the legal system for protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs) reached a major milestone with the establishment of the Intellectual Property High Court on April 1, 2005, the Japan Times reported.
The new court, which is housed in the same building as the Tokyo High Court, will handle a broad range of disputes involving IPRs, including patents, utility models, trademarks, and copyrights. |
The IP High Court will hear appeals of rulings delivered by the Tokyo and Osaka district courts on patent and other disputes. Cases involving a range of technical fields will be handled by a "grand panel" attended by the chief judges of four specialized divisions. This is expected to increase the speed and improve the quality of proceedings.
The new court, with a total of 18 judges, is expected to handle more than 700 IP cases a year.