Masahito Imai

Attorney-at-Law, Patent Attorney

Partner
TEL: +81-3-6452-9285
Email: imai@kubota-law.com

Mr. Masahito Imai is an attorney-at-law and a patent attorney qualified in Japan.

Mr. Imai graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo in 2001, and registered as an attorney-at-law in Japan in 2004. Mr. Imai joined Kubota Law Office established by Mr. Kubota in 2006 and has been working at Hogan Lovells from 2008 to 2015. Mr. Imai obtained an LL.M. degree after studying at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre (MIPLC) in 2011. In the same year, Mr. Imai worked as an intern at the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM, currently the European Union Intellectual Property Office or the EUIPO) engaging in trademark examination. Since starting his career as an attorney-at-law, Mr. Imai specializes in IP cases (e.g. patents and trademarks) in various industries such as telecommunication, household products, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. In addition, Mr. Imai's legal service covers an extensive range of general commercial matters (contentious and non-contentious), especially, matters relating to bankruptcy, regulatory (e.g. pharmaceutical area and automotive area), product liability, labelling and labour.

Mr. Imai speaks English and Japanese. Mr. Imai is a member of AIPPI Japan and the Tokyo Bar Association's IP group, and has served as a lecturer on Patent Act for a training course of Japanese Patent Attorneys Association from 2013 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2020.

Bibliography:

Registration of Three-Dimensional Trademark (The Coca-Cola Company v. Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office) (AIPPI Vol.33 No.6 2008)

A case where a restriction on maximum production and sales volume in a license agreement was regarded as not violating Antitrust Law, hence not invalid (PATENT September 2008)

Review of Recent Patent Infringement Cases in Japan (PATENT March 2011) (co-authored)

Latest case review (Kureha K.K. v. Nichiiko Pharma K.K., “Kyucal”) (vol.7, 2011 IIC (International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law)) (co-authored)

Product-By-Process Claims In Japan (May edition, 2012, Who's Who Legal) (co-authored)

Asking a Patent Examiner - Machine (Chizaiken Forum Vol.99 Autumn 2014)

Overview of Lawsutis for Revocation of Decisions on Patents in 2017 (PATENT August 2018)(co-authored)

Overview of Lawsutis for Revocation of Decisions on Patents in 2018 (PATENT August 2019)(co-authored)

Employees' Inventions - Reasonable Remuneration for Profits Made Abroad
Damage Calculation - Presumption of Damages (Max Planck Series on Asian Intellectual Property Law: Japanese Patent Law Cases and Comments)(Walter Kluwer, 2019)