Japanese design law

Japanese Design Law is determined by the Design Act (意匠法, Ishō-hō). Under this Act, only registered designs are legally protected, and it stipulates the procedure for obtaining a design registration in the Japan Patent Office. The protection for unregistered design is provided by the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (不正競争防止法, Fusei kyōsō bōshi-hō).

English translation

An official English-language translation of the law does not exist, but the Japanese Ministry of Justice's website, under the Japanese Law Translation section^[1] provides users with Japanese laws and their unofficial English translation. IP laws such as the Patent Act, Copyright Act, Trademark Act, Design Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act are included there.

In addition, the Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL)^[2] offers the public access to IP Gazettes of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) free of charge through the internet.

Reliable information on Japanese IP law in English is also provided by the websites of the Intellectual Property High Court,^[3] Japan Patent Office,^[4] Transparency of Japanese Law Project,^[5] European Patent Office,^[6] and the Institute of Intellectual Property (IIP) of Japan.^[7]

See also

• Japanese patent law
• Japanese copyright law
• Japanese trademark law
• Japanese law

References

External links

• Japanese Law Translation - The website of the Ministry of Justice Japan, in which you can search for Japanese laws and their English translation. Intellectual Property laws such as Patent Act, Copyright Act, Trademark Act, Design Act, Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc. are included.
• Intellectual Property High Court
  • Jurisdiction
  • Statistics
  • Summary of Cases - You can search for English summaries of IP cases in all the instances.
  • Publications - Presentation and theses on IP in English by Japanese judges.
• Japan Patent Office - Handling not only patent and utility models but also designs and trademarks. The website contains the information on procedures for obtaining those IP rights.
• Industrial Property Digital Library (IPDL) - Offering the public access to IP Gazettes of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) free of charge.
• Japanese Copyright Law and Japanese Patent Law - As part of the Transparency of Japanese Law Project, provides overviews and explanations of Japanese copyrights and patents. The website also contains information on corporate law, contract law, finance law, insolvency law, arbitration law and civil litigation law in Japan.
• Institute of Intellectual Property (IIP) of Japan
  • Translated Books - Free access to English-translated Japanese literature regarding Japanese Patent Law and Trademark Law.
• Patent information from Japan - On the European Patent Office web site.