Mr. Franck Soutoul, founder of INLEX-Management Europe and Africa (Mauritius/France) visited our firm today. He was kind enough to give us an update on the general trademark examination trends, explain the importance of obtaining IP protection around the African continent and providing us with some strategies for doing so. We also discussed some recent examination decisions of the EUIPO concerning distinctiveness.

Mrs. Jennifer Colantoni (Spoor & Fisher Jersey) and Mr. Paul Ramara (Spoor & Fisher South Africa) were kind enough to visit us here in Tokyo. They provided us with a detailed presentation on the current status of IP affairs in many of the countries in Africa, from applications and examination to current anti-counterfeiting endeavors. Their pictures and personal experiences gave us a glimpse into the various countries and systems around the African continent.

Today we were happy to meet with Mr. Ea-Roo Kang, Mr. In-Hyuk Kang and Ms. Eun-Hee Kang from the firm of KANG&KANG International Patent & Law Office (Korea). After receiving a presentation about their firm, we discussed the current state of IP affairs, comparing statistics involving applications and lawsuits in both Korea and Japan.

Today we were happy to host Mr. Simone Bongiovanni, Ms. Elisa Tricerri, and Ms. Kumiko Kunichika from the Italian firm Studio Torta. They were kind enough to provide us with a presentation on anti-counterfeiting measures in Italy and the EU, as well as factors taken in to account when assessing similarity of both trademarks and their relative goods and services. We also discussed how to respond to particular opposition and office action situations.

Ms. Zhao, Mr. Yuan and Ms. Tu from FairSky Law Office (Beijing, China) were kind enough to visit our firm and provide us with a presentation on the current proposals regarding the 5th Revision of the Trademark Law in China. Topics included the increased enforcement of usage requirements and the prohibition of duplicate registrations, as well as penalties under the existing laws.