Region: Japan

The Japanese government has submitted to the National Diet (the Japanese legislature) bills modifying the Unfair Competition Prevention Law and the Tariff Law in order to strengthen protection of well-known and famous indications and designs. Among other things, the bills provide criminal penalties for the use of another person's famous indication.

11 March 2005

The Supreme Court of Japan has ruled that when an applicant applies to register another party's name as a trademark, it must have obtained permission from that party to use his or her name at the time the Japan Patent Office examines the trademark.

08 October 2004

The House of Councillors, Japan's upper chamber, has passed a law that provides for the creation of an IP high court. It is also considering amendments to the country's IP laws that will give courts the power to depart from normal court proceedings in certain circumstances. The new act and the amendments, if approved, will come into force on April 1 2005.

01 July 2004

As part of the government's campaign against counterfeiting launched lastyear, the Ministry of Finance has submitted a bill amending the Customs TariffLaw that will help IP owners take immediate action against infringers by allowingcustoms to reveal the identity of the importers of suspected counterfeit goods.

22 March 2004

The Tokyo District Court has ruled that System KJ, a Tokyo developer of equipment for personal computers and communication devices, may use its 'mp3.co.jp' domain name despite a claim against it by MP3.com Inc, an online music distributor based in California. The court ruled that System KJ obtained the name without bad faith.

10 September 2002

Japan's country-code top-level domain is to be operated by ICANN. The owner of '.jp' is only the second to agree to recognize ICANN's authority as internet policymaker since country-code owners voted in June 2001 to withdraw from ICANN.

28 March 2002

For the first time ever, a Japanese court has awarded damages in a domainname dispute. Whether the precedent in the <i>J-PHONE Case</i> will be followedin future is questionable, however, as Japanese law is based on the civil lawsystem.

03 July 2001