Aoyama & Partners

Managing Partner: Hiroshi Tamura, Norihito Yamao
Senior Partners: Hisatoshi Shinagawa, Hiroshi Okabe, Mayumi Kawamoto, Michiko Matsutani, Yoshiyuki Maehori
Number of partners: 27
Number of lawyers: 108
Languages:English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese

Firm Overview:
AOYAMA & PARTNERS ("AOYAMA") was founded in 1965 and is now one of the largest IP law firms in Japan, with approximately 300 professional staffs, including over 100 patent attorneys. From its early days, the firm has worked on many international cases, and has been involved in numerous IP lawsuits both inside and outside Japan. AOYAMA of today is a general patent attorneys’ firm whose members are specialists of patents in a broad range of technical areas, including life science, chemistry, mechanics, electronics and IT, as well as trademark and design rights. This enables the firm to provide the best resolution for each of the diverse needs of its clients.

PRACTICE AREAS
■ Intellectual Property
■ Filing & Prosecution for IP
■ IP Litigation & Arbitration
■ IP Contract

Main Areas of Practice:
■ All affairs related to filing, prosecution, and validation of rights of Patent, Utility Model, Design and Trademark
■ All activities for disputes and litigations related to Patent, Utility Model, Design, Trademark (including service mark) and Specified Unfair Competitions
■ Drafting and negotiating contracts related to IP rights
■ Consulting services on IP matters, deposits of microorganisms, variety registrations based on Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act, copyright registrations of computer program or the like, etc.

All affairs related to filing, prosecution, and validation of rights of Patent, Utility Model, Design and Trademark:

Patent & Utility Model:
AOYAMA covers all sectors ranging from life science, chemistry, mechanics, electronics and IT, and has a huge wealth of experience through its handling of patent applications in approximately 150 countries. Each attorney of AOYAMA who handles the prosecution of patent and utility model is highly experienced in particular technology and therefore AOYAMA can deal with any technology including cutting-edge biotech, AI and IT.

AOYAMA provides a hand-picked team for a large case or a particular project. Such a large case and a particular project may cross multiple technological fields. In these occasions, AOYAMA’s strength can make a big difference as it has the capability to form cross-disciplinary teams to handle such cases. Furthermore, AOYAMA always pays attention to prosecutions from the viewpoints of possible future disputes after grant, and applies the teaching from AOYAMA’s rich experiences of litigations, to the prosecution.

Design:
AOYAMA’s design attorneys have built up abundant experiences through many design applications and they have filed a great number of design applications not only in Japan, but around the world as well. In particular, they handle many Japanese design applications for the firm’s international clients. The firm’s design attorneys will advise their clients from a variety of perspectives for you to receive the very best protection of your designs throughout the world.

Trademark:
Trademark protection is essential anywhere your products may be distributed. That is why AOYAMA’s trademark related work can extend around the world. The firm’s trademark team is highly experienced in trademark prosecution and maintenance all over the world, including in Japan, Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Latin America, Africa, and in the Caribbean. AOYAMA can assist its clients with their trademark strategies and diligently address the variety of issues they face with a global perspective.

AOYAMA’s trademark team has over 10 attorneys, regularly having study meetings and always sharing helpful information and experience which have been obtained by each team member. They always step up the firm’s efforts in cooperation with each other to provide the clients with superior services.

All activities of disputes and litigation related to Patent, Utility Model, Design, Trademark (including service mark) and Specified Unfair Competitions:

Domestic Litigation:
Since AOYAMA was established, it has been engaged in several hundred domestic lawsuits including both infringement lawsuits and administrative lawsuits. The attorneys of AOYAMA carefully analyze all possible measures from legal standpoints, taking account into what should be protected by the IP right at dispute. Through in-depth communication with its clients, AOYAMA strives to obtain the best outcome.

Especially in patent infringement lawsuits, the patent attorneys of AOYAMA who are well experienced in litigation proceedings, collaborate with lawyers efficiently, and propose a variety of measures to facilitate dispute resolution and make best use of its client’s patent portfolio, such as filing post-grant-amendment trials and filing strategic divisional applications with a request for an accelerated examination.

International Litigation:
Since AOYAMA was established, the firm has been engaged in about one hundred foreign court proceedings, including infringement lawsuits, invalidation lawsuits, administrative lawsuits against decisions by the patent office, requests for preliminary injunctions and requests for preserving evidence before formal lawsuits. The attorneys of AOYAMA have worked in variety of jurisdictions including the United States of America, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, Taiwan, Korea, Australia and Brazil.

AOYAMA also has a lot of experience in multi-jurisdictional patent litigation as well. In multi-jurisdiction patent litigations, the attorneys of AOYAMA closely and uncompromisingly communicate with attorneys in each jurisdiction to ensure that arguments and constructions are consistent and to achieve the best results for its clients.

Drafting and negotiating contracts related to IP rights:
In drafting and negotiating contracts, it is very important to interview with client to confirm what is the main emphasis of the client. In addition, in the IP contracts involving technology matters, appropriate protection of technology owned by the client is most prioritised. Taking these into account, the attorneys of AOYAMA carefully communicate with clients for better understanding of the technology, and draft the contract, utilizing its expertise in both technology and legal affairs. Drafting often involves the team work of patent attorneys and lawyers in AOYAMA. Furthermore, considering one of the most important purposes of the contract is preventing disputes, the attorneys of AOYAMA always pay attention from the viewpoints of dispute prevention in drafting or reviewing the contract, taking into account the teachings from the firm’s experienced numerous lawsuits.