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November
2007
METI Eyes Secret Patents To
Protect Sensitive Technologies
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to call for the
introduction of a secret patent system that would keep technologies with
military applications from going public, The Nikkei learned Sunday. The
idea is one of several proposals for new legislation designed to prevent
the leakage of important technology in order to protect Japan's national
security and industrial competitiveness. The ministry has set up a study
group consisting of academics and major corporations to discuss ways to
better protect information held by the government, companies and
universities. It hopes to submit a bill to the Diet in 2009. Currently,
the contents of a patent in Japan must be made public 18 months after
filing an application. This is to prevent overlapping work. The
information, even for patents that use advanced materials with possible
military applications, can easily be accessed by making use of the
Industrial Property Digital Library, for example. Other nations such as
the U.S., Britain, France and Germany have secret patent frameworks that
keep technologies from the public eye if there are national security
concerns. In the U.S., the head of the Patent and Trademark Office
determines whether a technology should be made secret after a patent
application is filed. In such cases, the government provides monetary
compensation to patent holders in lieu of licensing fees that they would
otherwise receive by letting others use the patents. Japan used to have a
similar setup before World War II, but this was abolished in 1948. METI
believes that such a system is now necessary, where the Japan Patent
Office would consult with the Defense Ministry to decide which
technologies should be kept secret. METI also hopes to create criminal
penalties for obtaining and leaking protected information because
currently such acts are only punishable for theft of paper and personal
computers. In addition, the ministry is considering making secret the
results of research that the government outsources to the private sector
if it contains sensitive information. Another proposal is to allow some
criminal trials to be held behind closed doors because some companies that
have suffered leaks of trade secrets are reluctant to go to court due to
concerns that more information would become public.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, November 26, 2007)
August
2007
Seized Fake Brand Goods Hits
Highest In January-June In Japan
The number of counterfeit brand-name goods seized by police in the
January-June period in Japan came to 331,136 items, a record high for a
half-year period, a report compiled by the National Police Agency showed
Thursday. The figure for the six-month period already exceeded that of all
last year, which held the one-year record high, according to the agency.
According to the report, 98.9 percent of fake brand goods, such as bags
and watches, were manufactured overseas, with 45.7 percent brought in from
China, 37.2 percent from South Korea and 16.0 percent from Hong Kong. Of
all counterfeit goods, 67.9 percent were brought into Japan as maritime
cargo and 28.2 percent by air. Meanwhile, the number of pirated DVDs and
other pirated goods detected by authorities also hit a record high of
135,901 in the first half of this year, the agency said, adding 252 cases
have been charged for violation of intellectual property rights. Of the
foreign nationals selling fake brand goods on the streets and charged by
police, Israelis accounted for 66.6 percent, the agency said. (Kyodo News,
August 23, 2007)
Japan, U.S. To Seek 15% Cut
In Intl Patent Filing Fee
Japan and the U.S. plan to jointly submit a proposal to the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) by the end of this month that
calls for a 15% reduction in the basic fee for international patent
applications, starting in January, it was learned Thursday. Under the
international patent application system, inventions can be protected in
all 137 signatories of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) simply by
filing an application in a member country. The U.S. and Japan, ranked No.
1 and No. 2, respectively, in the number of international patent
applications filed since 2003, seek a cut in the application fee to 1,190
Swiss francs, or about 116,000 yen, from the current 1,400 Swiss francs,
or about 137,000 yen. If realized, it would be the first reduction in four
years. Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands and
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the two firms that filed the most
international patent applications in 2006, could each save about 50
million yen annually on the proposed basic charge. Most PCT signatories,
however, are developing countries, which are likely to oppose the proposal
at WIPO's general meeting slated for September because WIPO's patent
application revenues are used to fund their economic development and they
want the patent body to prioritize this aid over the fee cuts. (The Nihon
Keizai Shimbun, August 09, 2007)
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