On July 29, 2014, IP High Court Chief Judge Ryuichi Shitara visited the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Washington D.C., and had a meeting with Ms. Alexandra Reeve Givens, the Senior Counsel for Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

Ms. Givens provided information on the Leahy bill that had been laid before the Senate as anti-patent troll legislation and the future prospect of this bill. Chief Judge Shitara explained the institutional causes as to why patent troll issues are not so prominent in Japan.