Today we had the pleasure of hosting Ms. Jiang Ling and Ms. Vivian Yang from the firm of King & Wood Mallesons (China). We discussed several recent trends in China IP, among them examination standards with respect to similarity of trademarks, recent success rates for oppositions and cancellation actions, things to consider when filing under third-party names, etc. They also provided us with useful information about how the legal environment is improving and how rights that may not necessarily be protected by trademark registration may still be protected via other avenues such as the Unfair Competition Act or even Copyright Laws.

Today Mr. Kohji Suzuki and Mrs. Jamie-Lynn Kraft from the Canadian firm of Smart & Biggar visited us here in Tokyo. They provided us with the most recent numbers on examination wait times, which CIPO has been working to improve. They also provided us with more information about the recent revision to the Charter of the French Language policy implemented in Quebec, particularly on how that relates to translation requirements for trademarks and product packaging.

Mr. Joan Salvà, a managing director with the Spanish IP firm PONTI& PARTNERS visited us this week. He was kind enough to update us on some recent changes involving non-use cancellations and nullity actions in Spain, as well as giving us a brief presentation on recent cases of note within the EU. We also discussed Japan’s recent adoption of a letter-of-consent system, a well as how our two patent offices tend to differ with respect to the registrability of single and two-letter trademarks.

Mr. Ning Yue and Mr. Jialai Yuan from the Fairsky Law Office (China) were kind enough to visit our firm last week. Along with sharing updates on our respective firms, they also discussed a recent decision in the TATA Wooden Door Case.

Ms. Meng Wang and Ms. Luqi Wang from the Seijo-issin IP agency (China) were kind enough to visit our firm. Their firm recently had a big Tenth Anniversary celebration here in Tokyo. They provided us with some insight into recent Chinese Law revisions as well as advice on how to avoid or overcome Office Actions relating to (misleading) descriptions of goods as well as points to consider when filing anonymous cancelation actions.