Our office (Osaka Headquarters, Tokyo Headquarters, Hiroshima Office, and Nagoya Office) has established a free intellectual property consultation office. Please feel free to contact us regarding various matters related to intellectual property such as patents, utility models, designs, and trademarks!
Director of Intellectual Property Free Consultation Center Patent Attorney Makoto Nagao
Free consultation process
The process for a free consultation is as follows.
(1) Reservation by phone etc.
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(2) Deciding the date and time of your visit
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(3) Consultation in the reception room of our office
Free consultations are held in the reception room of our office.
First of all, please make a reservation by phone, email, or fax!
Please note that we do not accept consultations by phone, email, or fax.
◆We accept consultations at our Osaka headquarters, Tokyo headquarters, Hiroshima office, and Nagoya office.
◆As a general rule, each consultation will be within 30 minutes (60 minutes at the Hiroshima office).
◆Even if you are unable to come to our office due to distance, we can provide consultation regarding intellectual property (consultation via internet conference, etc.) depending on your circumstances. Please feel free to contact us.
◆Our office is obligated to maintain confidentiality regarding consultations, so please feel free to contact us.
Please note
(Please read carefully)
When making a reservation, please be sure to provide your name and contact information (phone number, address, etc.).
If you are using an online conference, we will send you a "consultation application form" to the email address you provided on the phone when making your reservation. Please fill it out and return it to our office. After confirming the contents of the "Consultation Application Form" at our office, we will accept your reservation. Please note that depending on the content, we may not be able to accept your request.
Please be careful when handling documents, templates, etc. that describe inventions and invention details. If you show your information to someone who has no obligation to keep it confidential, you may not be able to obtain a patent. In addition, if you bring the invention proposal, invention product, template, etc. mentioned above to our office or send them in advance before your consultation, please be sure to contact us by phone before bringing or sending them. We will explain the things to keep in mind when bringing or sending.
We may not accept consultations that our office deems inappropriate (for example, cases where the same person has consulted an unusual number of times).
Please note that due to the nature of the free consultation, the response will be based on a short review period and limited materials, and therefore we will not be held legally responsible for the content of the response.
Please note that due to the nature of free consultations, there is a limit to the range of answers that can be answered, and depending on the content of the consultation, we may not be able to answer for free. Additionally, in the case of consultations that cannot be answered for free but can be answered for a fee, it is of course possible to choose whether or not to respond.
If a free consultation develops into a request for an application, appraisal, investigation, etc., a fee will be charged for the request as a normal case. In this case, we will ask you to estimate the cost before officially accepting the appointment.
Others
Specific example of consultation
◆ Are such ideas, designs, and names eligible for patent, utility model registration, design registration, or trademark registration?
◆ I just came up with an idea in my head and haven't completed a concrete prototype yet. Can I still apply for a patent?
◆ This is the first time for our company to export products to a foreign country, but how much does it cost to apply for a patent or trademark registration to a foreign country?
About invention consultation
Consultations generally take 30 minutes (within 60 minutes at the Hiroshima office), but if you bring an "invention proposal" with a simple bulleted list of ① to ③ below, we can make the consultation even more fulfilling. (Of course, it is also possible to consult with only oral explanation without preparation).
① Explanation of conventional products (background)
② Explanation of problems occurring with conventional products
③ Explanation of the invention (reasons why the invention can solve the above problems)
For example, if the invention is a "pencil with a hexagonal cross section," the invention proposal can be briefly written as follows.
Conventional products: Pencils have traditionally been known as objects for writing on paper. This pencil has a circular cross section.
Problem: Pencils with circular cross sections tend to fall off desks.
Invention: By making the cross-section of a pencil hexagonal, it became less likely to fall off a desk.
Your invention proposal will be more favorable if you attach a drawing (a rough sketch is also acceptable). Also, if you are able to bring the actual item (or template), please do so.