The Patent 1000 focuses exclusively on patent practice and has firmly established itself as the definitive 'go-to' resource for those seeking world-class legal patent expertise.
Silver - Individuals: prosecution
For more than 100 years Kyowa Patent & Law Office has been providing reliable, comprehensive IP services, often to market-leading clients. The team of 55 technically minded patent experts deftly handles all kinds of matters in complex areas, such as AI, robotics, nanomaterials or biotechnology, and is especially adept at patent rights acquisitions. On the contentious front, managing partner and cosmopolitan engineer Manabu Miyajima leads both domestic and foreign patrons to victory in courtrooms. He is admitted in both Japan and California and has a deep knowledge of the Chinese IP market. He is also former Fulbright Scholar. A former plant engineer at Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions, Takeshi Sekine now uses his strong technical acumen to achieve fantastic results on the non-contentious front. He specialises in computers, semiconductors, control engineering and electrotechnology, and has experience working on automotive patent specifications. Leveraging his pharmacy degree and five years of pharma R&D experience – two of which were spent as a combinatorial chemistry researcher in the United States – Hiroshi Sorimachi now excels in obtaining, maintaining, protecting and commercialising IP rights in the areas of foods, biochemistry and pharmacy. He is in charge of patent application administration for both domestic and foreign clientele.
Takeshi Sekine is a partner and head of electrical patents at Kyowa Patent and Law Office. Mr Sekine became a patent attorney in 1995.
After graduating from Keio University (Engineering Department) in 1990, Mr Sekine briefly worked for Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions Corporation as a plant engineer. He then started drafting specifications for mechanical inventions, such as motorcycles and automobiles, at a patent firm for four years.
In 1996, he joined Kyowa and became a partner in 2015. At Kyowa, his duties mainly cover the acquiring and maintaining of intellectual property rights in Japan and abroad in electrical engineering and control systems, as well as consulting.
Mr Sekine has been lecturing on the basics of patents at the Japan Intellectual Property Association from 2007 and taught on industrial property law correction to patent attorney examination candidates from 1995 to 1998.
His Publications include:
- Intellectual Property in Electronics and Software: A Global Guide to Rights and Their Applications, Second Edition, p393-p418, 2019 – Globe Law and Business;
- Basic Knowledge of Intellectual Property Rights – Sanno University (co-author, 2006);
- Patent Attorney Paper Seminar on Patent Law and Utility Model Law – Hougakushoin (co-author, 1998); and
- Business Support, Invention and Patent Counselling Room – Tokyo Shoko Research, Ltd., p62 (December 1997)
Kyowa Patent & Law Office is a full-service IP firm with more than 110 years of history.
Kyowa – a term that means ‘harmony’ and ‘balance’ – was established on 1 September 1908 by Tatsujiro Uchimura. Faithful to the firm’s name, Kyowa’s 60 patent attorneys, attorneys at law, and one Chinese registered foreign lawyer, harmoniously cooperate to provide services tailored to each of our clients.
Organization
Kyowa is operating as a partnership, with Manabu Miyajima representing the firm as its sole managing partner. It has six dedicated departments: Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Designs and Trademarks, Litigation and Chinese IP. The partners head each department and our patent attorneys and attorneys at law range from highly experienced senior attorneys to motivated young attorneys.
Highly qualified attorneys
Kyowa’s attorneys are graduates of high-ranking universities and specialists with rich knowledge in their field. Most of them have previous experience working in the R&D or patent section of major Japanese companies. Some have worked as examiners for the JPO. With a wide range of technical backgrounds, we propose the best strategy for the protection of our clients’ innovations in view of the Japanese patent practice.
One of our attorneys at law, Manabu Miyajima, is admitted to both the State Bar of California and Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar. One of our partners, Ruoling Du, is a Chinese-licensed lawyer speedily and efficiently communicates with our Chinese clients.
Century-long history and large scale
Ranging from large, global corporations to small, local businesses, our clients are equally motivated to create cutting-edge technologies in various fields. The know-how that the firm has accumulated over more than a century of cases consistently translates into high-quality services.
The large scale of the firm enables Kyowa to retain a balanced team of senior, mid-career and young attorneys. Our senior attorneys contribute their wisdom and experience, while our younger attorneys bring their knowledge and understanding of the latest technology and IP law. This cycle makes Kyowa both a contemporary and a historic firm.
Collaboration between specialized departments
While Kyowa has efficiently accumulated know-how and experience in each IP field by establishing specialized departments, the firm’s culture encourages departments to collaborate actively when it is desirable to do so for our clients. Such collaboration is fundamental to Kyowa’s ability to act successfully as a one-stop shop for IP services such as:
- advising on effective patent applications in interdisciplinary technologies;
- strategizing before applying for patents; and
- responding to office actions in view of intended manner of exercising future rights.
Original team system
Our team system is an original client management system. A team is formed for each client and the most capable attorney among the team is assigned as the team leader. The team leader checks and manages the quality of the team’s output while ensuring that the clients’ requests are disseminated to all team members. As a result, our clients invariably receive high-quality services. Similarly, litigation cases are handled by dedicated temporary teams of patent attorneys, for their technical expertise, headed by an attorney at law. This structure allows the teams to provide performant comprehensive services thanks to efficient communication and cost-conscious teamwork.
Litigation
Kyowa provides various services in cases of litigation, disputes, and negotiations involving advanced technologies. While it is uncommon in Japan for attorneys at law to have technical background, most of Kyowa’s attorneys at law have master’s or bachelor’s degrees in engineering, pharmaceutics or other sciences. In the case of services such as infringement litigation, opposition, appeals against trial decisions, and contract negotiations related to patents and other intellectual property, our technical-background attorneys at law work together with our patent attorneys specialized in the technology relevant to the case. Their deep understanding of the technology allows them to make persuasive arguments in patent disputes which has proven beneficial in numerous litigations.
Kyowa’s goal
Over its 115 years history, Kyowa has been providing superior, customized services in a wide range of technical fields. Having introduced the partnership management in 2015, we will continue to challenge ourselves for the benefit of our clients, while providing consistent, dependable legal services for the protection and utilization of their IP rights well after acquisition.