The Japanese Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) has been promoting fair and effective protection of Intellectual Property Rights for over 70 years. It’s one of the largest private IP organisations in Japan, most of its 1300 members are from leading Japanese companies. Patent applications filed by JIPA members account for more than 80% of all patent applications filed in Japan and around 20% of all patent applications filed globally, so the group are considered very influential. JIPA are keen to foster international competitiveness through innovation and work alongside IP Offices such as JPO, USPTO, EPO and WIPO in order to promote harmonisation across patent systems internationally in order to facilitate this.
In addition to its commitment to promoting global co-operation JIPA offers its members a unique personal training system and regularly holds a wide range of seminars and workshops. This includes a bi-annual two week European seminar, which provides members with the opportunity to visit the UK and Germany to learn about the legal and practical aspects of working with the EPC (European Patent Convention) and EPO (European Patent Office).
Mewburn Ellis have close links to JIPA having worked with them for over 10 years.
In October this year we were proud to welcome 19 Japanese Patent Attorneys from various Japanese companies as we once again co-hosted the London week of this worthy seminar. Several of our partners and fee earners gave lectures on UK and European patent practice. We also took the group to visit the UKIPO (United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office) and Supreme Court as part of our cultural and educational exchange.
