Notification of Firm Name Change

September 2022

Dear Sirs,

We trust you are well and prosperous. We would like to thank you for your continuous support.

We have decided to change our firm name to MM & A, P.C., using initials of the former name, Matsubara, Muraki & Associates, P.C., under the revised Patent Attorneys Act, which requires name change from Patent Professional Corporation to Patent Attorneys Corporation.

Please be informed that as from October 13, 2022, we will start business in the new name of MM & A, P.C. (f/k/a Matsubara, Muraki & Associates, P.C.).

We highly appreciate your further support and patronage.

Sincerely yours,

Matsubara,Muraki & Associates, P.C.
Kiyoshi Muraki, Representative Partner

Note:
■ New Firm Name
MM & A, P.C.
(f/k/a Matsubara, Muraki & Associates, P.C.)


Ichibancho SQUARE
6, Ichiban-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102-0082, Japan
TEL +81-3-3263-7676 / FAX +81-3-3263-7679
E-mail: mandm@ip-mandm.com
Website: https://www.ip-mandm.com
*Our firm’s address, telephone/facsimile number, e-mail address and website’s URL remain unchanged.

 

Firm Profile   


  Our Firm was established in April, 1973

Our firm was established in April 1973, by Mr. Nobuyuki Matsubara and Mr. Kiyoshi Muraki, as founding partners, with a view to providing high-quality and speedy legal services meeting with the needs of our clients.

For a long time of more than 40 years, we have been providing domestic and foreign clients with our high-quality legal services regarding intellectual property on worldwide basis by taking the benefit of the networks we have established in more than 200 countries.

Our office is located in the center of Tokyo and we can easily make a direct contact with the Japan Patent Office whenever it is necessary.

 

Our Firm specializes mainly in the areas of trademarks and designs.

We have been making our best efforts in providing legitimate and suitable services meeting with the needs of the domestic and foreign clients mainly in the fields of trademarks and designs.

 

Our Firm is also standing strong in the fields of anti-counterfeit and unfair competition prevention.

With the development of international business transactions and the increased needs of our clients, we have been making efforts on anti-counterfeit measures through the Customs and Courts, and we have achieved actual consequent results that we have successfully barred many counterfeit products from being flowed into domestic markets at the waterfront.

Our Firm is also handling domain names. We have been dealing with domain name disputes, which have become problematic as the Internet has become more and more popularized and also has been representing our clients before the Arbitration Center of WIPO against cyber-squatting.

 

 

Additional Information:

Our Firm has recently been strengthening our patent division. Mr. Hideharu Ouchi, who is a patent attorney, has recently joined our patent team. We believe that he will be successful mainly in the field of patents.

 

 

 

Main Practices 


 TRADEMARK          FlowChart→ FAQ→    Our Examples→         

A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights. If a well-known brand name is used as a name of shop and so on, we demand changing their names on the ground of infringement of trademark right or violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. In the case of nightclubs, we have successfully made them change their names in cooperation with our colleague lawyers.

The major international system for facilitating the registration of trademarks in multiple jurisdictions is commonly known as the “Madrid system”. Madrid provides a centrally administered system for securing trademark registrations in member jurisdictions by extending the protection of an “international registration” obtained through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This international registration is in turn based upon an application or registration obtained by a trade mark applicant in its home jurisdiction.

 

 DESIGN            FlowChart→ FAQ→

An industrial design right is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three-dimensional form containing aesthetic value. Under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, a WIPO-administered treaty, a procedure for an international registration exists. To qualify for registration, the national laws of most member states of WIPO require the design to be novel. An applicant can file for a single international deposit with WIPO or with the national office in a country party to the treaty. The design will then be protected in as many member countries of the treaty as desired.

 

 PATENT            FlowChart→ FAQ→ 

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application.

 

 Anti-Counterfeit & Unfair Competition Prevention 

A trademark holder is able to request a customs to stop someone from importing   infringing counterfeit goods into Japan.  A trademark holder may request a customs superintendent for surveillance on the import of infringing counterfeit goods.

A holder of a famous unregistered trademark is able to stop someone from using the trademark under the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, but it is more difficult and requires more evidence than if the trademark is registered.

 

 

Attorneys 


Kiyoshi MURAKI - Representative Partner
Admitted to practice as a Japanese Patent Attorney in 1966, worked for Kyowa Patent & Law Office. In 1973, co-established the present firm with Mr. Matsubara, Representative Partner.

Education: Keio University, Tokyo (B.A.; Law, 1964, M.A.; Law, 1967)
Member:
     ◆Japan Patent Attorneys Association (President, 2000; Vice President, 1987-1988, 1999)
     ◆lecturer for New Members (1988-1997, 2002 ~ )
     ◆Japan Trademark Association
     ◆International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI )
     ◆Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA, Council )
     ◆INTA (International Trademark Association)
     ◆CIPIC (Customs Intellectual Property Information Center)
Legal Adviser: Director of Education committee of Intellectual Property
Lecturer: Guest professor at graduate school of Kanazawa Technology University, etc.
Language: English

Kazuhide SEKIGUCHI
Admitted to practice as a Japanese Patent Attorney in 2005.

Member: 
   ◆Japan Patent Attorneys Association
   ◆Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA )
   ◆INTA (International Trademark Association)
Language: English 

Kayoko KAWABATA
Admitted to Practice as a Japanese Patent Attorney in 1999. Joined Matsubara, Muraki & Associates, P.C. in January of 2017.

Education: Waseda University, Tokyo
Member: 
   ◆Japan Patent Attorneys Association
   ◆Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA )
   ◆INTA (International Trademark Association)
Language: English

Hideharu OUCHI
Admitted to Practice as a Japanese Patent Attorney in 2006. Joined Matsubara, Muraki & Associates, P.C. in 2018.

Licenses: Chief Telecommunications Engineer 

Areas of Practice: Patent matters including specification drafting,
         translation, prior-art search, expert opinion and litigation.

                                  Design matters
Technical Fields:
   ◆Automobiles including various controls (ex. autonomous driving),
   numerous structures (ex. electric motors and seats), engineering and maintenance;
   ◆ Industrial and service robots;
   ◆ Video games;
   ◆ Telecommunications including IoT and edge computing;
   ◆ Business models including financial technology;
   ◆ Medical devices, equipment and apparatus and;
   ◆ Various sensors and measurement instruments
Member:
   ◆Japan Patent Attorneys Association
   ◆Robotics Society of Japan
Language: English

Satoshi WATANABE - Counsellor, Attorney-at-Law
Admitted to practice as a Japanese Attorney-at-Law, 2004.

Education: 
     ◆1961-1965 Keio University, Faculty of Law (Bachelor of Laws)
     ◆1965-1969 Graduate School of Law, Keio University (LL.M)
     ◆1976-1977 Visiting research fellow, University of Cologne(Germany)
Positions: 
     ◆1969-1970 Assistant, Shimane University, Faculty of Literal and Natural Science, Department of Law
     ◆1970-1973 Lecturer, Shimane University, Faculty of Literal and Natural Science, Department of Law
     ◆1973-1980 Associate Professor, Shimane University, Faculty of Legal and Literal Science
     ◆1980-1990 Associate Professor, Osaka University, Faculty of Law
     ◆1990-2004 Professor of Law, Graduate School of Law, Osaka University
     ◆2004- Professor of Law, Law School, Ritsumeikan University
     ◆2004- Attorney at Law
Academic Publications: Only main articles after 1995(all are written in Japanese)
     ◆’International jurisdiction of the Japanese Courts for the attachment’
         in “Commentaries on the transnational civil cases 3rd. ed.” (1995)
     ◆’Problems of the cumulatively pending actions before the foreign court’
         in “On the Japanese case law for the civil procedure in Honor for Hon. Prof. Nakano “(1995)
     ◆’Legal proceedings for the resolutions of the transnational business disputes’
         in “Lectures on the contemporary law of transnational business transactions” edited by Prof. Matsuoka (1996)
     ◆’The criteria of the japanese international jurisdiction in the transnational business cases’
         in “The issues in the civil procedure law new edition’ (1996)
     ◆’Comments on the recent supreme court case,
         The jurisdiction for divorce with the foreign defendant’ Hogakukyoushitsu No.195 (1996)
     ◆’Article 118 (2) of New Japanese Civil Procedure Code on the Recognition of Foreign Judgment’
         Handai Hogaku Vol.47 No.4-5(1997)
     ◆’International jurisdiction Malaysia Air Line case’ in “Hundred cases on the Civil Procedure Law”(1998)
     ◆”An Introduction to Private International Law” 3rd ed. (1998) (in collaboration with Prof. Kitana and Prof. Matuoka)
     ◆’The conditions for the jurisdiction of the japanese courts for the international divorce case
         in which the foreign divorce decree has not recognised in Japan’
         in “Questions and Answers in the International Family Law”(1998)
     ◆’Jurisdiction and applicable law for the international contracts through Internet’
         in “Internet and Law” edited by Matui (1999)
     ◆’The Applicable law on the validity and the effects of the international arbitration agreement’
         ChizaikannriVol49 No.5(1999)
     ◆’Japanese Patent Attorney and the Attorney-Client Privilege in U.S Litigation’ Patent Vol.51-52 (1998-1999)
     ◆’The function of the Patent Attorney in the Infringement Suit and the Assistant
         under Article 69 of the Japanese Civil Procedure Law’ Patent Nov. 1999
     ◆’International Infringement Suits and the Hague Preliminary Draft Convention’ Tokugikonn Jan. 2001
     ◆’Should the jurisdiction for the international patent-infringement suit exclusive?’ Chizaikenn Forum Vol.44

 

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