Hinoki Patent Office, Aspiring for Business Expansion at the Turn of 50th Anniversary
The Hinoki Patent Office (Taito Ward, Tokyo) is a patent firm of four patent attorneys, located within one-minute walk from Kuramae Station on the Asakusa line of Tokyo subway. Although its scale is not large, it celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. On December 7th, they applied to the Legal Affairs Bureau for the registration as a patent professional corporation and are aspiring for business expansion through incorporation. Patent attorney Chikafusa Mizizaki (72), who had served as president until December 2015, said, "Since our establishment, we have concentrated on the filing of patent applications of a major electric company. While adhering to this attitude, we will respond to a wide range of customer needs as a patent corporation. "
The characteristic of this firm is that all the patent attorneys belonging thereto have been working as patent examiners and administrative judges of Japan Patent Office in the field of precision machinery, electronics and information technology. Even if the examiners present a view that they are not going to grant a patent, they are said to infer through experience how to best amend patent applications against examiners’ rejection. An experienced patent attorney, Asami Yasuo attorney (69) said,", we have been discussing over patent prosecution, just as examiners do at examination department of JPO. Since we have appeared at court many times as administrative judges, we are also strong in intellectual property lawsuit."
Current president Hiroshi Nishiwaki (54) is one of the JPO former executives, who framed patent distribution adviser system which was the prototype of the current intellectual property support system, and has many experiences of support for universities and small and medium enterprises. Vice president Shoji Hamada Attorney (50) is proficient in English and Chinese, and had engaged in international policy of JPO. He is also a translator of a famous book in US, "Patent Failure", and knowledgeable about patent troll problem.
Regarding the future goals as a patent corporation, President Nishiwaki said, "I would like to strengthen overseas filings work first, and I am considering changing the name to Hinoki International Patent Office." Hamada, patent attorney, is confident that he can "negotiate directly with patent examiners of national patent offices as well as writing patent specifications in their national languages". Besides this, they are preparing consulting work, responding to big companies with small intellectual property departments, mid-sized enterprises, or university laboratories.
President Nishiwaki said, "I have no intention of publicizing that I am a former patent examiner or administrative judge. I am planning to expand our business while tackling seriously for our customers, considering what we can do and what we cannot do, using the capabilities that we have been acquired from our experience and knowledge”. (December 15, 2017, Fuji Sankei Business i)