Practice Areas of Ashitaba International Patent Office

At Ashitaba International Patent Office, our patent attorneys and staff, each with their own expertise, handle a wide range of tasks.

We provide one-stop support from protecting intellectual property and avoiding infringement risks to formulating intellectual property strategies and utilizing intellectual property.

Also, one of the major features of our office is that five patent attorneys carefully handle all cases.

Person in Charge

Sakata: Organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, metals, petroleum refining, water treatment, machinery, design, trademarks
Shibuya: Chemistry (organic, inorganic, polymers), metals, petroleum refining, environmental technology, food, machinery, civil engineering
Akatsuka: Machinery, civil engineering, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry
Ishikawa: Machinery (structure, control), biotechnology, design, trademarks
Shibata: Physics, chemistry (metals, materials, inorganic), structure, control, business models, etc., design, trademarks

Member

Patents

A patent right is a right to protect an invention. By acquiring a patent right, you can exclude third parties.

Our office supports both offensive intellectual property strategies such as prior art searches/analysis, domestic and overseas patent applications/rights acquisition, and intellectual property strategies utilizing patents, as well as defensive intellectual property strategies such as blocking other companies’ rights acquisition, securing prior use rights, and acquiring licenses.

In addition, patent attorneys with specialized knowledge and extensive experience will assist in extracting and discovering inventions that the person in charge may not have noticed.

Designs

A design right is an exclusive right. Right holders can exclusively use industrial designs, such as goods, buildings, images, etc. (The right period is up to 25 years from the application date (for applications before March 31, 2020, it is up to 20 years from registration).)

In recent years, when product design greatly affects sales, the importance of acquiring design rights is increasing.

Our office provides support from advice on appropriately protecting created designs, to application procedures for acquiring design rights such as identifying goods and drawings, responding to various notifications from the Patent Office, and managing payment deadlines for registration fees and design registration annuities.

Trademarks

A trademark right is an exclusive right granted for a trademark used for goods or services.

Something that is easy to imagine is that the product name or service name corresponds to a trademark and can be protected by applying for it.

Also, although it is not widely known, if another company registers your company name as a trademark, you may not be able to use it within that company, so it is a good idea to check prior registered trademarks and file a trademark registration application for your company name, etc.

Our office also provides support in this trademark area.

In-house training and seminars on domestic and international patents, trademarks, designs, and other intellectual property

Ashitaba International Patent Office also conducts in-house training and seminars on domestic and international patents, trademarks, designs, and other intellectual property based on our extensive experience.

We conduct a wide range of training, such as training by level and job title, company-wide training, and seminars.

For example, as intellectual property strategy training for developers and development teams, we provide concrete examples of intellectual property application strategies tailored to the business.

For development managers and intellectual property departments, we provide concrete examples of invention discovery and methods of monitoring other companies’ patents.

In addition, for employees, especially for sales staff who have a lot of contact with outside parties, we provide training on what points to keep in mind. If necessary, we can collaborate with other professionals and respond to requests for training related not only to intellectual property but also to trade secrets.

Please feel free to contact us even if you are not a client who has requested applications from our office for training and seminars.

Merits of Consulting or Requesting Ashitaba International Patent Office

The type of intellectual property right to be acquired varies depending on the type of intellectual property, etc. Therefore, in order to appropriately protect ideas generated within the company, it is necessary to determine which right should be acquired. In addition, even with one idea or one product, multiple rights can be acquired and protected in combination (intellectual property mix strategy), so it is necessary to use intellectual property strategically.

On the other hand, since patents are disclosed, there are some cases where it is better to choose to keep them confidential rather than applying for them. There may also be cases where the number of applications that can be filed is limited from a financial perspective.

Our office provides our extensive experience to support you from the formulation of such overall intellectual property strategies.

Please feel free to contact us.