On October 14 and 15, 2015, the 2015 International IP Court Conference was held at the Patent Court of Korea in Daejeon, Korea. Chief Judge Ryuichi Shitara, Judge Asayo Ohyori, Judge Takaaki Shintani, and Judge Masaya Tanaka from the IP High Court participated in the conference.

The conference was hosted by the Patent Court of Korea, and 25 persons including judges who engage in IP cases from Korea, the United States, Germany, China, and Japan and executive officers in charge of intellectual property rights working in global companies participated as panelists. The conference was held for two days, and sessions were held on seven themes, i.e., “Harmonization and Cooperation in Patent Cases”, ”Now and Future of the Unified Patent Court”, “Claim Construction and Procedural Rule”, “Issues in Patent Invalidity Proceedings”, “Patent Litigation from the View of Patent Holders”, “Judges and Technology”, and “Issues in Patent Infringement Proceedings.” The panelists introduced the current status of IP litigation in each country and exchanged opinions with other panelists. About 230 persons, mainly legal professionals such as judges and lawyers in Korea, observed the sessions.

Chief Judge Shitara participated in the “Harmonization and Cooperation in Patent Cases” session with Chief Judge Youngho Kang of the Patent Court of Korea, Chief Judge Rubén Castillo of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois,and President Beate Schmidt of the Federal Patent Court of Germany. Chief Judge Shitara gave a speech on the role of the IP High Court in the IP litigation system in Japan, the Apple vs. Samsung case heard by the Grand Panel of the IP High Court as an example of IP litigation on a global scale, and furthermore, on the international communications of the IP High Court and the dissemination of the information abroad through the IP judgments database, providing English translations of the Japanese judgments, available on the IP High Court’s website.

Judge Ohyori participated in the “Claim Construction and Procedural Rule” session and the “Judges and Technology” session, Judge Shintani participated in the “Issues in Patent Invalidity Proceedings” session, and Judge Tanaka participated in the “Issues in Patent Infringement Proceedings” session as panelists. At each of the sessions, Judge Ohyori, Judge Shintani, and Judge Tanaka introduced matters such as characteristics of and response to issues in IP litigation proceedings in Japan, and exchanged opinions with other panelists.