On October 4, 2018, Chief Judge Makiko Takabe of the IP High Court participated in the International Symposium 2018－Patent Litigations in Japan and Germany, held at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office in Munich, Germany.
The Symposium is co-hosted by the German-Japanese Association of Jurists, German Patent and Trade Mark Office, Japan Patent Office, Japan Intellectual Property Association, Japan Patent Attorneys Association, International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property of Japan (AIPPI Japan), Japan Federation of Bar Associations, and IP Lawyers Network Japan, and alternately held in Japan and Germany every other year. The symposium attracted 380 participants this year.
Chief Judge Takabe delivered a speech titled “Claim Construction and Doctrine of Equivalents in Japan”(PDF1055KB) at the session on “Claim construction and doctrine of equivalence in Japan and Germany after Maxacalcitol and Pemetrexed - Principles, case law and comparative case study.” Chief Judge Takabe then participated, together with Judge Klaus Grabinski of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany, in a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Christian Lederer, and made comparisons between Japan and Germany based on case studies. An active discussion and exchange of opinions followed including questions which were asked by audience members on topics such as proceedings for patent litigations in Japan and the methodology for making a judgment on the first requirement for the doctrine of equivalents to be applied.