General introduction

Purpose and outline of intellectual property laws

Industrial property and economic development

When Japan was forced to open up to the West in the 1860s, it became apparent that the medieval state of Japan's technology was no match for the West. In 1868, Emperor Meiji decreed that ‘knowledge shall be brought from all over the world’, so as to attain the goals of a rich country, a strong army and an increase in industrial productivity. While most civil and criminal law in Japan was subsequently enacted in order to repeal the so-called unequal treaties and thus put Japan on an equal footing with other major powers, industrial property laws were enacted out of self-interest: it was perceived from early on that industrial property laws were the motor of industrial development, as was clearly stated by the first President of the Japanese Patent Office, Korekiyo Takahashi, when visiting the US Patent Office: ‘We have looked about us to see what nations are the greatest, so that we can be like them. We said, “What is it that makes the United States such a great nation?” and we investigated and we found it was patents, and so we will have patents.’

Practically all industrial property laws date back to the nineteenth century: the Trade Mark Act of 1884, the Patent Act of 1871/1885, the Design Act of 1888, and, modelled after the German Utility Model Act, the Japanese Utility Model Act 1905.