ABSTRACT
Various measures to increase the efficiency of patenting in Japan began in earnest with former Prime Minister Koizumi, since he established the concept of a nation built on IP in his policy speech to the 154th session of the Diet. He was the first incumbent prime minister to do so and Japanese IP practices have been changing rapidly ever since. One of the newest innovations is the concept of a cross-border IP highway, which has been aided by the streamlining of patent applications or the fasttracking of them during the patent examination system and through the courts. Such changes have allowed some of the very innovative smallscale biotech sectors in Japan to create new competitive products and patent them quickly to protect them from their rivals, especially in the case of the use of newly found plants with medicinal values. Japan, unlike in the past, is also being affected by newly developing, legally binding global agreements that will set the standard for how all drug-based IP will be protected. The IP highway is not the only cross-border IP activity the Japanese have been developing in recent years, but cross-border infringement litigation, especially with its closest East Asian neighbours, is becoming more aggressive and frequent.
