IP Licensing

Here again, Japan follows its own rules. If a Japanese licensor wants to amend his patent, he has to get the consent of his Japanese licensee before making amendments. Neglecting to do so can ultimately cost you your patent. Warning letters, as usually sent out after the discovery of suspected infringement of an exclusive license, must be translated into Japanese and sent from within Japan as “content-certified-mail” to have legal standing. If you send the warning letter in English, not only will it be rejected, it may be used against you. This leads immediately to the next obstacle: Japanese and English laws use legal terminology differently from each other, and a straightforward Japanese translation of an English licensing contract may not have legal bearing under Japanese law. These are just some of the uncountable traps a licensor can fall in.

A team of Japanese and Western IP professionals, as nipponCompass can give you the best porssible support in your communication with your Japanese business partners. nipponCompass helps you maintaining, enforcing or defending your right in the field of Licensing patents, trademarks and copyrights, by offering the following services:

• Drafting separate licenses for different fields of use
• Identifying potential licensees
• Conducting field investigations for trademark owners to see who might be infringing and who might be a potential licensee
• Negotiating licenses
• Counseling on litigation settlements involving licensing
• Enforcing license agreements
• Counseling on license contracts
• Translation of license contracts