Trademark and Unfair Competition Law and Policy in Japan

Port describes both the nature and process of protecting appellations of source in Japan and provides normative commentary on this protection. By focusing on the Japanese judiciary?s interpretation of two statutes ? he Trademark Law and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act ? some important lessons are learned. First, the Japanese judiciary treats trademark owners (both foreign and domestic) paternalistically. Japanese courts go to great extremes to avoid harsh results that seem possible under a strict reading of these two statutes. Second, Japanese trademark owners are extremely rights conscious and pursue litigation to the fullest in order to drive up the cost of market access by competitors. Third, the Japanese trademark right operates more like a true property right than it does in America. This has broad ramifications as judges treat the right with far more deference than their American counterparts.

Kenneth L. Port is a professor of law and the Director of Intellectual Property Law at William Mitchell College of Law.