Attorney at Law / Patent Attorney

Yukio NagasawaPartner

Yukio Nagasawa is widely considered as one of Japan’s leading intellectual property litigators.
Yukio spent the first 20 years of his career as a judge. He served as a judge in the Intellectual Property Division of the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court. Yukio also spent five years as a Research Judge at the Supreme Court of Japan where he was responsible for IP cases and assisted the justices by researching the issues, writing bench memoranda and preparing initial drafts of final judgments. All told, Yukio personally handled 2,000 IP cases as a judge.
Since joining private practice, Yukio has represented companies in a variety of intellectual property and other commercial disputes, including a number of high-profile IP cases for some of the largest companies in the world. Yukio is also an expert of cross-border IP disputes, leveraging his skills and experiences as a former visiting scholar at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Background

1982
University of Tokyo (LL.B.)

1984
Associate Judge

1989-
1992
Judge, Tokyo District Court (Intellectual Property Division)

1992-
1993
Research Fellow, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Chambers of Chief Judge Nies, Judge Rich and Judge Rader), The George Washington University Law School, and law firms (as part of Overseas Research Program for the Judges)

1995-
2000
Research Judge, Supreme Court of Japan (responsible for intellectual property litigations)

2000-
2003
Judge, Tokyo High Court (Intellectual Property Division)

2003
Retired as Judge
Visiting Scholar, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and The George Washington University Law School

2004
Professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo (~2007), Visiting Professor at Beijing University Law School and Intellectual Property School (~2005), Visiting Professor at Seoul National University Law School (~2005), Lecturer & Visiting Scholar of Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law (~2005)

2005-
Head of Asian Intellectual Property Strategy Research Division, Institute of Promotion for Intellectual Property

2007-
2012
Professor, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering, Study of Technology Management for Innovation

Qualifications

2004
Admitted as attorney at law and patent attorney in Japan

Publications

Commentary on the Act on the Partial Revision of the Court Law (Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation, 2005).

Enforcing Patents in China, Japan and the United States: A Comparison (AIPPI Journal Vol.30 No.5 2005).

Settlement Conferences at Japanese Courts (AIPPI Journal Vol.32 No.1 2007).

Approach to the Appeal Practice over Decisions of Board of Appeals at Patent Office (Minjihokenkyukai Co., Ltd. 2007)

The Doctrine of Equivalent in Various Patent Regimes: Does Anybody Have it Right? (11 Yale J.L. & Tech. 261, 2009).

Looking at China from the Perspective of Intellectual Property Law (Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation, 2009).

The Examination of Technical Issues in Patent Litigation (Patent Practice in Japan and Europe: Liber Amicorum for Guntram Rahn, 2011).

Seminars

Lecture on Intellectual Property Law in Japan and Comparative Patent Law (Lecture at Intellectual Property School, Beijing University, 2004).
Intellectual Property Law in Japan (Lecture at Seoul National University Law School, 2004).
Institution of Intellectual Property Law in China and the Future of Comparative Study of Intellectual Property Law (Intellectual Property Forum, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 2004).
Practice of Intellectual Property Law (Lecture at Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 2004).
Patent Litigation in Various Countries – Insights into the Japanese perspectives (International Judges Conference on Intellectual Property Law, 2005).
International Jurisdiction of Intellectual Property Litigation in Japan (Co-hosted by the University of Tokyo and Seoul University, Japan-China-Korea Symposium of Intellectual Property, 2005).
Interview with Former Tokyo High Court Judge, Yukio Nagasawa (Joint interview of Japan Intellectual Property Association’s Journal Publication Committee and Japan Patent Attorneys Association’s Editorial Committee, 2006).
Law of Evidence in Intellectual Property Litigation in Japan (Hosted by Supreme People’s Court of People’s Republic of China, Panelist at “International Symposium for Protection of the Intellectual Property Judiciary,” 2006).
Study on International Intellectual Property Strategy (Lecture at International Intellectual Property Management Program, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, 2010).
Comparison between Japan and China of Litigation on the Constitution (Special Lecture at The Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2010).
Comparison between Japan and Korea of Protection of Trade Secrets (Special Lecture at Seoul National University Law School, 2010).