26 May, 2016
Until 2014, Japan's Manufactured Imports and Investment Promotion Organization ("MIPRO") published an annual "Directory of Foreign Brand Right Holders" (the "Directory"). The Directory was used by various enforcement agencies, and contained key information about foreign businesses' trademarks as well as the contact details of brand owners. While MIPRO was unable to issue the Directory in 2015 due to internal database complications, we are pleased to inform that this year a new and updated version of its industry-standard reference book will be released.
Getting your brands listed in the Directory is a simple and cost-effective way to protect your brands in Japan. Over 150 companies have recently done so, listing more than 850 trademarks in a range of sectors, including luxury goods, fashion, electronics, entertainment and automotive. Japanese Customs and the police receive the Directory for free and use the information in it to expedite import suspension and crackdown measures to the benefit of the listed brand owners.
In particular, for enforcement agency officers who handle an overwhelming amount of goods every day, the Directory is a powerful, user-friendly supplement to the Trademark Registry and databases – the Directory is in a simple, elegant book format, with trademarks and contact details clearly set out. For brand owners, listing key trademarks in the Directory increases the prospects of being notified about potential infringement at an early stage.
Registration is open through June
Applications to list your brands in the forthcoming issue of the Directory can be made until the end of June 2016.
Eligibility
The Directory will list only registered trademarks of products or services owned by foreign businesses (but including cases where the current right holder is a Japanese company).
For further information, please contact:
Chikako Hashimoto, Hogan Lovells
chikako.hashimoto@hoganlovells.com
