On November 18, 2016, Chief Judge Ryuichi Shitara of the IP High Court, and others participated in the Symposium on Patent Litigation in Europe and Japan 2016 held and co-hosted by the JPO, German-Japanese Lawyers’ Association, Japan Federation of Bar Associations, IP Lawyers Network Japan, Japan Patent Attorneys Association, and others. At the symposium, on the theme of “Infringement and Validity Issues for Enforcement Strategy”, practitioners from Europe, mainly Germany, including Presiding Judge Prof. Dr. Peter Meier-Beck and Judge Dr. Klaus Grabinski of the German Federal Court of Justice and President Ms. Beate Schmidt of the German Federal Patent Court as well as practitioners from Japan took the rostrum, discussed the dispute settlement concerning intellectual properties, and got a better understanding.

At the symposium, Chief Judge Ryuichi Shitara of the IP High Court gave a keynote speech entitled “Infringement and Validity in Japan - Looking into Future” and participated in the panel discussion entitled “Patent Infringement Litigation -Latest Grand Panel Case of IP High Court on Doctrine of Equivalents-” together with Presiding Judge Yasuhito Okinaka of the Tokyo District Court IP Division. Further, Presiding Judge Tamotsu Shoji of the Tokyo District Court IP Division participated in the UPC Mock Trial as a commentator and Presiding Judge Misao Shimizu of the IP High Court participated in the panel discussion entitled “Case Study on Validity Issues.”

The following matters were made at the symposium; a discussion on Japan-Germany comparison about the relationship between the patent infringement litigations and the defense of invalidity or ruling for invalidity, mock trial in anticipation of a concrete case at the UPC, introduction of Grand Panel judgments of the IP High Court on doctrine of equivalents and the recent judgments of the German Federal Court of Justice on doctrine of equivalents, an exchange of opinions about those judgements and comparative review of them, and an exchange of opinions about the judgment of validity of patents in Japan and Germany . Many people such as legal experts from Japan and Germany including IP High Court judges, judges of IP Division of the Tokyo District Court and the Osaka District Court, legal scholars and company officials attended the symposium.