ABSTRACT

The establishment of the Intellectual Property Division of the Tokyo High Court and Tokyo District Court occurred in 1950 and 1961 respectively, while in Osaka the Osaka District Court was established in 1964 and the Osaka High Court in 1990. However, it was after the collapse of the ‘bubble-economy’ in 1990 that the promotion of IP and patenting was viewed as an essential measure to revitalize the Japanese economy. This led in June 2001 to the Justice System Reform Council publishing their recommendations in Strengthening of a Comprehensive Response to Cases Related to Intellectual Property Rights, which proposed that IPR is one of the most important subjects within the context of civil justice reform, coupled with increased professionalism in IP case resolution.