• On September 16, 2022, a discussion session was held online between the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and judges of the IP High Court and the intellectual property divisions of the Tokyo District Court. Established in 1897, AIPLA is an organization consisting mainly of legal professionals who practice IP law. This was the 32nd session between Japanese courts and AIPLA. Sessions between the two had been held on an annual basis upon visits to Japan by delegations from AIPLA. However, this year, just like last year, the session was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  At the beginning, Mr. Patrick J. Coyne, Attorney at law and the then President of AIPLA, and the Chief Judge OTAKA Ichiro of the IP High Court delivered opening remarks, followed by the discussion session.
  In the discussion session, the following two speakers from AIPLA gave presentations: Mr. Paul Ragusa, Attorney at law under the title of “Anti-suit-injunctions (ASI) in the United States,” focusing on the ASI from the perspectives of its development, criteria of issuing, recent situations regarding decisions on IP cases and legislation, etc. in the U.S.; and Mr. Patrick J. Coyne, under the title of “Recent Developments in US Intellectual Property Law,” focusing on recent situations of importance concerning IP law in general in the U.S. including important issues regarding patent prosecution practice and patent cases as well as copyright and trademark, etc.
  From Japanese courts, two speakers gave presentations, namely Judge ASAI Ken of the IP High Court, under the title of “Patent Invalidation Proceedings in Japan,” in which he provided an outline of the so-called double-track system in Japan and the role of the IP High Court therein, and Judge SUGIURA Masaki of the Tokyo District Court, under the title of “IP Conciliation Proceedings,” in which he talked about the features of IP conciliation proceedings and its implementation, etc.
  Subsequently, the Japanese judges and the AIPLA participants actively exchanged opinions on the contents of these presentations.
  At the end of the session, Chief Judge OTAKA Ichiro and Mr. Mark Guetlich, Attorney at law and the Secretary of AIPLA, made closing remarks, in which they confirmed to deepen the mutual exchange through the next and subsequent sessions.