On September 5, 2016, Chief Judge Ryuichi Shitara, Presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka, and Judges Katsushige Onishi, Masaki Sugiura, Motoyuki Nakashima, Toshihiko Terada, and Shingo Okada from the IP High Court visited the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) of Kyoto University and participated in the explanatory session concerning iPS cells.

At CiRA, after receiving a greeting from Director of CiRA Shinya Yamanaka, Chief Judge Shitara and the other judges received detailed explanations from Deputy Director Koji Eto (professor) on the characteristics of iPS cells, generation of iPS cells, the possibility of medical application of iPS cells, details of the world’s first surgery using iPS cells, and future of regenerative medicine for blood disease, in addition to the outline of CiRA. Then, Manager of the Intellectual Property Head Office Mina Asano (professor) gave a concrete explanation titled “iPS Cell Related Technology and Patents” about the state of results of research on iPS cells, number of applications filed by and patents granted to CiRA, actual condition of patent competition for iPS cells, outline of iPS cell basic patent already established, difference in the scope of rights pertaining to iPS cells between Japan and the U.S., and roles of the University for iPS cell patents, in addition to the outline of CiRA Intellectual Property Management Office.

In a Q&A session held later, Chief Judge Shitara and the other judges asked questions about the common features and differences of structure and characteristics between iPS cells and ES cells based on the Supreme Court judgment on the product-by-process claim, the technical scope of iPS cell basic patent based on this judgment, scope and extent of pluripotency of iPS cells, whether it is technically possible for same-sex couples to have a child and the ethical problems, how iPS cells grow into steric structure, potential of regenerative medicine for blood disease, and other matters, and received detailed technical explanations on these questions. Further, Chief Judge Shitara and the other judges got better understandings of CiRA and iPS cells by touring laboratories within CiRA and actually viewing iPS cells using a microscope.