On April 4 and 5, 2013 (local time), the 21st Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law & Policy was held at the Fordham University School of Law in New York City, USA. Judge Shinji Oda of IP High Court participated in this conference.

This international conference on intellectual property (IP) hosted by the Fordham University School of Law celebrated its 21st anniversary this year. It attracted several hundred participants from several dozen countries, including judges, government officials from patent offices and other organizations, lawyers, and university professors. These participants, all of whom are IP specialists, gave presentations and took part in panel discussions on various topics.

The Annual Conference was comprised of a Plenary Session in which all participants took part, and a number of Concurrent Sessions on various topics held simultaneously.
Judge Oda participated in the Plenary Session entitled “Views from the Judges” as a panelist, in which he explained that the expeditious and stable handling of IP cases by Japanese courts has made Japan an attractive forum for transnational disputes. He also attended a concurrent session entitled “Smartphones: FRAND, Injunction and Other Issues” as a speaker and panelist, and delivered a report entitled “Recent Japanese Cases Regarding Standard Essential Patents and FRAND Licensing Declaration,” in which he explained recent court decisions and trends in legal arguments in Japan.