March [General] Newsletter

US Patent Acquisition Ranking

The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) has released a ranking of patent acquisitions by companies for 2024.

According to the IPO, 324,042 patents are expected to be issued in 2024 (4% increase from the previous year).

In the ranking, Samsung Electronics continued to top the list with 9,304 patents, as it did last year. In second place was LG with 5,156 patents, and in third place was TSMC with 4,010 patents, making the top three companies based in Asia.

Among US companies, Qualcomm (4th place), Apple (6th place), IBM (7th place), and Alphabet (Google's parent company) (8th place) are ranked in the top 10.

Among Japanese companies, in addition to Canon (9th), Toyota (10th), and Sony (11th), Panasonic (19th), Hitachi (23rd), NTT (24th), and Fujifilm (25th) are also ranked high.

Outcomes of the Trilateral Patent Offices Directors and Users Meeting International Symposium

On January 30, 2025, the JPO, in collaboration with Tokyo University of Science, held the "Trilateral Patent Office Heads and Users Meeting International Symposium: Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer: Building a Growing Innovation Ecosystem" in Tokyo.

This symposium was sponsored by the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as user organizations from Japan, the United States and Europe: the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the American Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Business Europe (BE).

Panelists included WIPO Deputy Director General Jorgensen (representing WIPO), EPO President Campinos (representing Europe's intellectual property offices), JIPA Vice President Wakashiro (representing the Japanese private sector), AIPLA's Anastasi (representing the United States' patent attorneys), and Commissioner Ono (representing Japan's intellectual property offices).

The purpose of this symposium was to discuss the actual state of diverse intellectual property management in the process of transferring technologies developed at universities to industry, from the respective perspectives of Japan, the United States, Europe, industry, government and academia.

Meeting with the Director General of WIPO

On February 13, Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), visited the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and met with Minister Muto.

During the meeting, Minister Muto welcomed Director-General Tan's participation in the Osaka, Kansai Expo to be held this year, and the two ministers agreed to further cooperate with WIPO and Japan towards holding an international forum on promoting the use of intellectual property to solve social issues.

On the same day, Secretary-General Tang met with Commissioner Ono of the Japan Patent Office at the Japan Patent Office. During the meeting, they shared their views on contributing to the promotion of WIPO GREEN utilization through holding an international forum at the Expo and on awarding IP-utilizing companies. They also exchanged views on further expanding WIPO GREEN's efforts through the Japan Fund and cooperation with the WIPO GREEN Ambassador Program. Regarding the WIPO GREEN Ambassador Program, Secretary-General Tang met with Mr. Yamamoto, Executive Managing Director of Daikin Industries, Ltd., who has been appointed as the WIPO GREEN Japan Ambassador, in the presence of the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and the Japan Patent Office.

UPC Long-arm jurisdiction

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) decision UPC_CFI_355/2023 (Fujifilm Corporation v. Kodak Holdings Inc., Kodak Inc., and Kodak Graphic Communications Inc.) issued on January 28, 2025 is currently attracting attention.

According to this judgment, the Unified Patent Court has jurisdiction to hear infringement actions relating to the UK part of the patent at issue if the defendant resides in a contracting state (Germany in this case). This also applies if the defendant has filed a counterclaim for revocation of the German part of the patent at issue. Even in this case, the Unified Patent Court has jurisdiction to hear infringement actions relating to the UK. Although the UK is a member state of the EPC, it has left the EU due to Brexit, and is naturally not a member state of the UPC Agreement.

Newsletter translated into English

US Patent Acquisition Ranking

The US Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) has released its 2024 ranking of companies by number of patents acquired.

According to the IPO, 324,042 patents were issued in 2024 (a 4% increase over the previous year).

The top three companies in the ranking are based in Asia, with Samsung Electronics taking the top spot with 9,304 patents, followed by LG with 5,156 and TSMC with 4,010.

US companies ranked in the top 10 are Qualcomm (4th), Apple (6th), IBM (7th), and Alphabet (Google's parent company) (8th).

In addition to Canon (9th), Toyota (10th), and Sony (11th), other top-ranked Japanese companies include Panasonic (19th), Hitachi (23rd), NTT (24th), and Fujifilm (25th).

Results of the Trilateral Patent Office Director and Users Meeting International Symposium

On January 30, 2025, the JPO together with Tokyo University of Science hosted the “Trilateral Patent Office Director and Users Meeting International Symposium – IP and Technology Transfer: Building a Growing Innovation Ecosystem” in Tokyo.

The symposium was sponsored by the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the American Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Business Europe (BE), which are user organizations in the United States, Japan and Europe.

WIPO Deputy Director General Jorgensen (representing WIPO), EPO President Campinos (representing Europe and its IP Office), JIPA Vice President Wakashiro (representing the Japanese private sector), AIPLA First Vice President Anastasi (representing the US and patent complaints), and Commissioner Ono (representing Japan and its IP Office) served as panelists.

This symposium was held with the aim of discussing the actual situation of various kinds of IP management in the process of technology transfer of university-generated technology to industry, from the respective stances of Japan, the US, Europe, industry, government, and academia.

Meeting with WIPO Director General

On February 13, Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), visited the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and met with Minister Muto.

During the meeting, Minister Muto welcomed Director General Tang's participation in the Osaka-Kansai Expo that will be held this year, and agreed that WIPO and Japan would further cooperate with each other to hold an international forum on the promotion of IP utilization to solve social issues.

On the same day, Director General Tang also visited the Japan Patent Office and met with JPO Commissioner Ono. During the meeting, they shared their recognition of the contribution made to the promotion of WIPO GREEN utilization by holding an international forum at the Expo and awarding prizes to companies that utilized intellectual property. They also exchanged opinions on the further expansion of WIPO GREEN initiatives through the Japan Fund and cooperation in the WIPO GREEN Ambassador Program. The WIPO GREEN Ambassador Program was also discussed at a meeting between Director General Tang and the appointed WIPO GREEN Ambassador for Japan, Mr. Yamamoto (Managing Executive Officer of Daikin Industries, Ltd.) in the presence of the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and the JPO.

UPC Long-arm jurisdiction

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) decision UPC_CFI_355/2023, issued on January 28, 2025 (FUJIFILM Corporation v. Kodak Holding GmbH, Kodak GmbH and Kodak Graphic Communications GmbH) has been generating discussion.

According to this ruling, the Unified Patent Court has jurisdiction to hear infringement actions with respect to the English portion of a disputed patent if the defendant is domiciled in a contracting state (in this case, Germany). This also applies if the defendant has filed a counterclaim for revocation with respect to the German part of the disputed patent. Even in such a case, the Unified Patent Court has jurisdiction to hear the case with respect to infringement actions relating to the United Kingdom. left the EU as a result of Brexit and is, of course, not a signatory to the UPC Agreement.