If your company intends to file a patent application in Japan, hiring us to handle your case will benefit your company in many ways.
Why is this? Because we at Willfort International Patent Firm have the following strengths that distinguish us from other patent firms in Japan and Asia.
Exploiting Idiosyncrasies of Japanese Practice to Obtain Patents Cheaply and Quickly
Using Willfort, you can achieve a 20% - 30% reduction in cost, and in a best-case scenario we can obtain issuance of your patent in as little as two months (from the time you engage our firm until the time that your patent is granted by the JPO).
We are able to lower OA-related cost by reducing the number of office actions (OAs) received during examination at the Japan Patent Office (JPO). Before drafting a patent application, we conduct a prior art search to find relevant Japanese (JP) patent documents. Our goal in doing so is to find the art that the examiner is likely to see, since we know from experience that JPO examiners primarily cite JP patent documents as references when issuing OAs. By proactively drafting claims which distinguish over the JP patent documents likely to be found by the examiner, we are able to generate an application that is less likely to trigger a rejection or other response-requiring OA. |
Our ability to obtain protection for your intellectual property is among the best that you will find anywhere in Japan. Our intellectual property skills are the result of 20 years of practical experience in providing a sophisticated range of professional services to major Japanese corporations renowned for their extremely stringent requirements.
High Allowance Rate
Patent Allowance Rate Comparison
| Willfort International Patent Firm |
73.0% |
| Japan overall |
59.4% |
（Based on data for 2010）
Willfort’s patent allowance rate is much higher than the Japanese average. This is a good indicator which reflects our superior skill in obtaining patents.
Our major Japanese clients include Hitachi, Komatsu, and Seiko Epson. We have handled a large number of applications for some of the best companies in the world. |
We Obtain Patents that Truly Serve Our Clients’ Business Goals We always keep in mind that the patents we obtain must serve the real business needs of our clients.
It is not enough to merely have a high allowance rate; it is also important to continuously ask whether the patents being obtained serve real business needs. It is an obvious but easily forgotten fact that a patent only has value to the extent that it has practical application in the context of the patent owner’s business goals. At Willfort, we make it a point to never forget this. As a result of many years of prosecuting applications while adhering to this policy of keeping our clients’ business interests foremost in mind, we have received awards and letters from our clients in recognition of the significant contributions we have made to their business successes.
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We handle every case with appropriate attention-to-detail and clear communication.
Communication skills gained from many years of international experience allow our patent attorneys and patent technicians to attend to the details of patent prosecution while clearly communicating what needs to be communicated with foreign clients and associates.
Many non-Japanese companies prosecuting patent applications in Japan are perplexed by inability to understand why the Examiner rejected their application, how the rejection might be overcome, and the likelihood that attempts to overcome the rejection will be successful. We believe that one reason for this is inadequate ability on the part of Japanese patent attorneys to properly communicate with their non-Japanese clients. We therefore always try to communicate in a clear and direct style that we have found is especially appreciated by our non-Japanese clients. One example of this is that upon receipt of an office action from the Japan Patent Office it is our practice at Willfort International Patent Firm to first analyze the office action in light of our knowledge and experience and then propose various possible courses of action. On the basis of this frank and honest discussion, we then choose the best course of action in consultation with the client.
Asian Global IP Management Service
your company intends to file patent applications in multiple Asian countries, hiring us to handle all of the related cases together saves you the trouble of having to deal with local counsel in each individual country and also allows us to coordinate prosecutions so that the claims of the patents obtained in the various countries best serve your business needs.
Using Willfort as Your Gateway to Asia
Willfort can handle your patent applications throughout Asia by overseeing work done by foreign agents in China, India, Korea, Southeast Asia, and any other part of Asia in which you are interested. By taking advantage of Willfort’s Asian Global IP Management Service, you can have Willfort manage local counsel in various Asian countries in the context of a comprehensive and coordinated program that is consistent with your overall patent prosecution strategy. Willfort will report to you regularly to let you know the status of your application in each country and give you an overview of intellectual property rights obtained. You are saved the inconvenience of corresponding with local counsel in many different countries in many different time zones, since all you need to do is communicate your wishes to Willfort and we will do the rest.
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