• From July 25 to 27, 2023, the Indo-Pacific Judicial Colloquium on Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Technology was held at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Chief Judge HONDA Tomonari of the Intellectual Property High Court and Presiding Judge KOKUBU Takafumi of the Tokyo District Court participated in the colloquium.
  This colloquium aims to allow judges and other participants from the United States and other Indo-Pacific countries to gather with legal academics, intellectual property experts, litigators, and other intellectual property and international trade stakeholders in the United States, and hold discussions and share experiences regarding issues on intellectual property and international trade as well as other relevant issues. About 80 participants, including judges and patent office personnel, attended the colloquium from the United States and other countries, such as Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
  Chief Judge HONDA participated as a panelist in the session titled “Intellectual Property and International Trade Matters: Is There a Need for Specialized Courts?” In this session, the panelists explained the situations of specialized courts of their countries and held a discussion. Chief Judge HONDA talked about the history of Japanese courts that have become specialized in handling intellectual property litigation, and explained that the Intellectual Property High Court and the intellectual property divisions of the Tokyo District Court and the Osaka District Court handle patent cases and other intellectual property cases, striving to make highly reliable judgments while using expert knowledge of judicial research officials and technical advisors.
  Presiding Judge KOKUBU participated as a panelist in the session titled “Challenges and Issues in Industrial Design and Patent Litigation.” In this session, the panelists explained the situations in their countries and held a discussion regarding topics such as evidence collection procedures and litigation funding in litigation proceedings on patents and other intellectual property rights. Presiding Judge KOKUBU talked about the awareness of problems with the discovery system, as well as the investigation procedure and the proceedings for calling for third-party opinions, which have recently been introduced in Japan, and discussed these matters with other panelists.