Recent Trend In Japanese Patent Litigation Alarms Plaintiffs

IPLaw360 is reporting that patent plaintiffs in Japan are becoming frustrated over the state of litigation in the newly-created Tokyo and Osaka patent courts of Japan. Recent procedural reforms were enacted to speed up litigation, and one of the reforms empowered judges to invalidate patents during litigation, rather than simply dismissing claims over a concurrent invalidation proceeding.

After a brief uptick in the number of patent cases filed, patent holders have been taken aback by recent rulings that have gone sharply against the plaintiff - one estimate speculated that the success rate for plaintiffs is currently at 15%. Similar criticisms were voiced against courts in South Korea, where the success rate at getting preliminary injunctions is "less than 20%."