Organisation: Shiseido

The Japan Patent Office received its highest number of trademark applications in 10 years during 2016, according to the agency’s latest annual report. Of the top 10 registrants last year, nine were Japanese entities (the exception being South Korea’s LG Electronics).

07 April 2017

Japan’s Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry has called for measures to combat the activities of ‘IP trolls’, including trademark squatting – an issue that is attracting increased attention in the country.

30 September 2016

The most recent edition of the JPO’s annual Status Report indicates that 2015 was a bumper year for trademark filings in Japan. The JPO received 147,283 applications during the year, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.4%. Trademark registrations themselves, on the other hand, were slightly down, from 99,896 in 2014 to 98,085 in 2015.

01 July 2016

Troubled or competing companies often make attractive targets for foreign acquirers looking to break into a new market. For those eyeing the purchase of Chinese brands, the recent experience of US-based beauty products group Coty provides a cautionary tale about the difficulty of cracking the country's market through local brand acquisition.

23 September 2015

It would seem that where China has legions of trademark squatters, Japan may have one very determined individual sweeping up trademarks. In yesterday’s ‘Regional Update: China, Japan and Korea’ session, Nagomi Tsuchida of Hitachi presented a list of the leading trademark applicants over the past three years. And in that time, it seems, the country’s foremost brands – Kao, Sanrio, Shiseido – have been displaced at the top of the table quite decisively by one Ikuhiro Ueda.

06 May 2015

The Japan Patent Office has begun accepting applications for a range of non-traditional trademarks, nearly a year after the new options were announced in revisions to the country’s IP laws. The new rights include colours and sounds, as well as position marks, moving marks and holograms. According to the JPO website, the office received 471 applications on the first day of availability, April 1.

15 April 2015