Kuri-kinton (Sweet chestnut paste)

  • 2020年09月28日
#trademark

It’s September and it feels like it’s finally autumn. Kuri-kinton is what you want to eat in this season. The other day, I bought it for the first time this year at a Japanese sweets shop “Yoshihara-Suzume” near our firm.

There are some famous Kuri-kinton shops in Nakatsugawa, Gifu prefecture.When I checked it with J-PlatPat, it was registered as a regional group registered trademark in 2019 (JP Trademark Registration No. 6190590).

The depressing days will continue, but why not enjoy the delicious taste of autumn? (Marigold)

“Tokuno” Ken-chan

  • 2020年09月23日
#trademark

I feel like eating cold food when it’s hot.
In such a time, it would be great to have a cold tofu that is easy and nutritious.

When I look through tofu section in a supermarket, my eyes always find a certain product.
It is a tofu by Otokomae (Handsome guy) Tofu.
The graphic illustrations of the package are unique and totally different from other tofu packages, and it is a product that you cannot miss seeing even if you do not buy it.

As for the taste, it seems that it is rich and has a good reputation as advertised as “Tokuno” i.e. super rich and creamy. It also has a unique, long and thin shape. Depending on how you arrange it, it could become a gem food that is like a flower to the dining table. (time)

“Ken-chan” is registered as the standard character for “Tokuno Ken-chan” for ” Otokomae Tofu”.
● “Ken-chan” trademark registration number: 5345081

Men’s tofu store https://otokomae.jp/

Oi Ocha (a product name of Japanese green tea)

  • 2020年09月08日
#trademark

Sota Fujii won the crown title in one of the eight major title matches in the shogi world, with 4 wins and 0 losses, and became the two-crown holder.
I often saw ITO EN’s “Oi Ocha” in the video of the matches and press conferences.
I looked up about this and found out that Itoen sponsored the crown title match and provided “Oi Ocha” to the players. I’m not sure of a fact, but I wonder if the reason for the sponsorship is because the names of both the title match and the tea product are similar, “Ohi”(meaning throne/crown in Japanese) and “Oi.”

By searching J-PlatPat for this “Oi Ocha” trademark, not only the well-known logo trademark but also the sound trademark “Oi Ocha” in 2015 was designated as “Ocha”, Tea drink” (Registration No. 5805757).
You can play the sound on J-PlatPat, so if you are interested, please search and listen to the sound. (Sakura Mochi)

Chicken Ramen

  • 2020年09月07日
#patent #trademark

Today, August 25th is the day of the birth of chicken ramen and the anniversary of instant ramen. Invented by Momofuku Ando, the founder of NISSIN FOODS, the world’s first instant noodle “Chicken Ramen” was launched on August 25, 1958.

Initially, it seemed that sales were not active due to the high price setting, but when similar products and counterfeit products began to appear in the early 1960s, Nissin Foods tried to maintain their brand by causing a lawsuit for their trademark and patent registration.
At the same time, the licensing of the acquired patent was described in the NHK morning drama “Manpuku” broadcast from 2018 to 2019.

In the simple search of J-PlatPat, if you search for “Chicken Ramen” as a keyword, 2 patents and 16 trademarks will come up.
Also, try searching for keywords such as “instant noodles”. (Syszo)

J-Platpat
https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/
Wikipedia: Chicken Ramen (English)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissin_Chikin_Ramen
Wikipedia: Momofuku Ando (English)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momofuku_Ando

Moisturizing lip balm

  • 2020年08月13日
#trademark

We use lip balm to care for our lips. The other day, I found “Curél” lip balm, which had a trademark written on the package.

When I checked it on J-plat pat, it was registered Japanese trademark registration number 6085488 under cosmetics. This company has branded products in cosmetics, skin care/hair care, human health care, etc. Curél is a brand of Kao that is designed for dry and sensitive skin. Based on Kao’s 30 years of dermatological research, they focused on “ceramide” as the cause of dry and sensitive skin for their products. They keep skin moisturized.

See below for details.

https://www.kao.co.jp/curel/ (Japanese website)
https://www.curel.com/en-us/japanskincare/ (English version of the website)

(raspberry)

U.F.O. and UFO

  • 2020年08月11日
#patent #trademark

[U.F.O.=Product name of Nisshin Yakisoba]
“U.F.O.” is the brand name for cup fried noodles, which has been a huge hit since its release in Japan in 1976. U is for “umai” which means delicious, F is for “futoi(thick) noodles”, and O is for “ookii(big) container”. The logo on the container is registered under Japanese Trademark Registration No. 5971287 (designated product: printed matter, calendar).

[UFO=unidentified flying object]
 Let’s change the story and introduce a case of the Intellectual Property High Court concerning “UFO”.
The “detailed description of the invention” in the patent specification must be clearly and sufficiently described so that a person skilled in the art can carry out the invention. This is called “enablement requirement”. A patent application (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-145675) having “UFO flight device based on UFO flight principle” as the title of the invention describes in detail description of the invention by those skilled in the art to produce “UFO flight device”. In addition, it received a decision of refusal in the examination as it was not clearly and sufficiently described so that it could be used. On the other hand, the applicant has filed a lawsuit for canceling the trial decision (case number of filing of action JP2019-10122), but the Intellectual Property High Court rejected the request based on the following judgment (decision made on February 4, 2020 ). “… The “UFO flight device” of the present invention can change its speed without receiving any external force or changing its mass… Momentum… It violates the law of conservation, and also violates the law of action-reaction. “

In modern science and technology, it can be said that it is impossible to produce and use a “UFO flight device”. (Conan)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba-related trademark application

  • 2020年07月23日
#trademark

Like many people nowadays are absorbed in the big boom of manga and animation “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”, my child is not an exception. The other day, she heard from a friend of hers that a Kimetsu-ish cloths were on sale in the handicraft store in our neighborhood, and she asked me to take her there, so we went.

It is an old-fashioned handicraft store, but they were very busy because of the boom of handmade masks. As my daughter had been told, several types of Kimetsu-ish cloths were being sold near the entrance. A few years ago, it only looked like a lattice pattern, but now when you look at the green and black lattice patterns, it reminds you of Tanjiro, one of the characters from the manga. I think it is a wonder of human brains’ perception to associate things that way.

My child likes Shinobu Kocho, another character, but I could not find Shinobu-motif cloth, so I asked the shop assistant and she said, “we have classic patterns, but something with a characteristic pattern probably won’t come in due to copyright issues”. My child was disappointed. In the end, she bought a cloth with a pattern with the look of Nezuko-motif with her own pocket money, and she’s been playing with it by putting them on. (See photo)

The publisher, Shueisha, has recently applied for a series of Kimetsu-related trademarks such as character names and phrases that appear in manga. In addition, the trademark applications for patterns used on jackets and kimonos of six characters, Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, Shinobu, and Rengoku are registered. (Applications filed on June 24, 2020)

These can be seen by searching for the applicant “Shueisha Co., Ltd.” in the “Trademark Search” of J-PlatPat. Due to the time lag, only the gazette is currently available, but within a few weeks you will be able to see it in the application and registration information search. It is easier by narrowing it down with application date or publication date.

Personally, I expect that the application for the six pattern designs will be divided by the JPO. I would like to pay attention to the future of the examination.

By the way, I like Giyu-san and Zenitsu-kun. (Marron)

* ” Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba ” is a trademark of Shueisha.

What is intellectual property?

  • 2020年07月16日
#intellectual property #patent #trademark

Many people may have heard the words “patent” and “trademark”, but I think not many people actually get a sense of “intellectual property”. On the Japan Patent Attorneys Association website (https://www.jpaa.or.jp/intellectual-property/), intellectual property is explained; “For ideas and creations created by human intellectual activities, there is something that has a wealth of value, and those things are collectively called “intellectual property.” Patents and trademarks are included in intellectual property.
If you are interested, please see the link above for more detailed explanations with examples. (Runner)

E-book

  • 2020年07月10日
#trademark

Recently, I heard on the news that the memoir “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” by Mr. Bolton, a former presidential aide of the Trump administration, has been released recently, so I searched for it.
On amazon.co.jp, a paperback cost about 3600 yen and an electronic book cost about 1900 yen.
I thought that it would be easy to read and cheap, but I ended up reading the free sample on e-book without buying it (laugh).
In addition, it seems that paper books are currently short on stock (as of 2020/6/24).

To read e-books, I use amazon kindle.
I think many people already know, but I read it on my iPhone with the amazon kindle app.
Unlike paper books, it is useful because you can easily look up words you don’t know by using the dictionary function.

The logo of amazon kindle is a Japanese trademark registration number 5169216, classes of goods and services and designated goods or designated services “reception of a text, an image, and a sound, the portable electronic information terminal for reading, electronic publications and the portable electronic information terminal used for the inspection of a text in addition to this, computer hardware, computer software, other electronic machines [apparatus and their parts]s, telecommunication machines and apparatus”, etc. are registered as trademarks.
(Blink)

Patent Office’s Patent

  • 2020年06月25日
#patent #trademark

In May, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced that it had acquired a patent right for a patent document search system.
The Patent Office has obtained a patent!? I was personally very surprised.
The inventors are seven examiners of the JPO, and the applicant is the Commissioner of the JPO because it is an employee invention.
There was no precedent of the patent right by the Patent Office.
A trademark application (domestic/international) has also been made for the system “ADPAS”, and it has already been registered internationally.
However, there were precedents for trademark rights by the Japan Patent Office.

We hope that this system will be used to efficiently search the vast number of patent documents in the world and to ensure stable and speedy and high-quality examination.
If you are interested in what kind of invention the ADPAS is, search on J-PlatPat! (Cacao)

[Title] Management system and management method
[PATENT NUMBER] Patent No. 6691280
[Patent holder] Commissioner of the Patent Office


(This picture was quoted from the website of the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Tourism.)