Some New Japanese Cases on Remedies

The November 2018 issue of A.I.P.P.I.--Journal of the Japanese Group of AIPPI includes an article by Yasufumi Shiroyama titled Overview of Intellectual Property Judgments by Japanese Courts in the First Half of 2018.  The article itself includes brief write-ups of, among other matters, three cases on patent remedies issued in early 2018:

1.  Judgment of the Osaka District Court, 21st Division, March 22, 2018:  The court found that 61% of the defendant's air duster products contain absorbers with an ash content within the infringing range of 1 to 20% by weight, and thus (1) enjoined the defendant from marketing products with absorbers falling within that range, and (2) awarded damages under article 102(2) comprising 61% of the defendant's profit from sales of air dusters.

2.  Judgment of the Tokyo District Court, 40th Division, March 2, 2018.  The court found that the plaintiff had obtained a patent on an invention made by the defendant, and then sued the defendant for infringement; the defendant counterclaimed in tort.  The court dismissed the plaintiff's complaint and awarded the defendant ¥5.5 million (about US$50,000).

3.  Judgment of the Osaka District Court, 21st Division, Feb. 15, 2018.  The court recognized that, where an infringing product owes some of its success to the defendant's improvements to the patented invention, it may be appropriate to reduce the plaintiff's damages award; but in this case, only of the products added any inventive element, and it was of minor significance.  The court awarded the defendant's profit, reduced by only 5% for the product embodying the minor improvement.