Intellectual Property High Court

Building of the court

35°38′30″N 139°42′11″E / 35.641651°N 139.703047°E / 35.641651; 139.703047The Intellectual Property High Court (知的財産高等裁判所, Chiteki-zaisan kōtō-saiban-sho), sometimes abbreviated IPHC, is a special branch of Tokyo High Court in the judicial system of Japan. It is based in Nakameguro, a district in Meguro Ward in Tokyo, Japan.[1]

The Intellectual Property (IP) High Court was established on 1 April 2005,[2] in order to accelerate and reduce the costs of patent litigation in Japan.[3] The IP High Court hears appeals from district courts in Japan on patent actions and suits against appeal/trial decisions made by the Japan Patent Office (JPO).[2] The IP High Court is also the exclusive court of appeals on issues such as: the rights of authors of a computer program, utility model rights, and integrated circuit layout design protection.[4]

Chief judges of the IP High Court
1. Katsumi Shinohara (April 2005 – April 2007).[5]
2. Tomokatsu Tsukahara (May 2007 – ca. August 2010).[5]
3. Tetsuhiro Nakano (August 2010 – March 2012)[6][7]
4. Toshiaki Iimura (March 2012 – June 2014).[citation needed]
5. Ryuichi Shitara (June 2014 – January 2017).[citation needed]
6. Misao Shimizu (January 2017 – May 2018).[citation needed]
7. Makiko Takabe (May 2018 – ).[8]
  1. ^ "ACCESS". Intellectual Property High Court. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b IP High Court web site, History Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, consulted on 12 January 2008.
  3. ^ Tsutomu Shibata, Hirotaka Takeuchi, Japan, Moving Toward a More Advanced Knowledge Economy, World Bank Publications, 2006, ISBN 0-8213-6672-6, p. 140.
  4. ^ "Courts in Japan" (PDF). Supreme Court of Japan. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b IP High Court web site, Chief Judge of the IP High Court Tomokatsu Tsukahara, consulted on 12 January 2008.
  6. ^ "Head of Japans IP High Court retires", Managing Intellectual Property, 20 August 2010.
  7. ^ Peter Ollier, "Inventor wins in PlayStation patent dispute", Managing Intellectual Property, 31 August 2010.
  8. ^ IP High Court web site, [1].