Future issues of the intellectual property system in Japan in consideration of a decade of pro-patent policy

In Japan, the Intellectual Property Basic Act entered into force in March 2003. Over the last decade, a pro-patent policy has begun to be rapidly promoted in accordance with the principles of the Basic Act with the objective of creating an intellectual property-based nation. In particular, reforms of the legal system such as the Patent Act have been promoted, while regulations have been enhanced and strengthened with respect to the creation, protection, and utilization of intellectual property. Many issues remain, however, and it will be necessary in the future to promote legal system reforms in order to strengthen competitiveness and achieve international harmonization. Japan has been advancing several intellectual property policies as pro-patent policies for past ten years as above. However, in other countries, there are some trends against pro-patent policies. In this paper, two cases (India and U.S.A.) are focused as trends against pro-patent policies, and discussed as comparative study. In the future, Japan should internationally advance pro-patent policies in consideration of those trends against pro-patent policies.