Masahiko MATSUNO (Mr.) is an attorney at law and patent attorney, and a partner at Nakamura & Partners. His main areas of practice are patent law, trademark law, design law (including trade dress), unfair competition prevention law, international trade law, litigation, trial for invalidation, arbitration, and dispute resolution. He has a particular expertise in the area of litigation, including a successful case before the Supreme Court of Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law and the University of Tokyo School of Law before passing the Japanese Bar Examination. After a six-year career at Nakamura & Partners, he studied abroad at the UCLA School of Law where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and passed the New York Bar. Then, after seven-months of training at Baker & Hostetler LLP in their Washington, D.C. office and 17 months of working for a global apparel company, he returned to Nakamura & Partners. He has been a part-time lecturer (Design Law) at the University of Tsukuba since 2022 and has also written articles and given seminars in the areas of patent law, design law, and litigation.
Membership and Activities:
Daini Tokyo Bar Association (2010-)
Legal Training and Law School Committee (2011-)
Member of the Assembly at Daini Tokyo Bar Association (2021-2022)
Counsellor at the Legal Counseling Center (2024-)
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (2010-)
Japan Trademark Association (2011-)
Design Law Committee (2011-)
Japan Patent Attorneys Association (2016-)
International Activities Center (2022-)
Japan Information Dissemination Dept. (2022-)
Consultant at the IP Consultation Office of the Kanto Branch (2023-)
Japan In-House Lawyers Association (JILA) (2019-)
AIPPI JAPAN (2020-)
IP Lawyers Network Japan (2022-)
Expert in the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (INPIT) (2024-)
"'Anchored Drilling Rig' Case" (joint authorship) , Present Intellectual Property Litigation by Yuhikaku (2014)
"Examination of precedents that have determined the benefit of confirmation in litigations for confirmation of non-existence of obligation concerning Infringement of IP rights, focusing on the Supreme Court decision on September 7, 2020 (Heisei 31 (Ju) No. 619)", AIPPI Vol. 66, No. 6, p. 34 (2021).
"Handling Patent Infringement Litigations in Light of Recent Court and Japan Patent Office Trends", Asian Legal Business (2021)
AIPPI 194th Case Study "Examination of precedents that have determined the benefit of confirmation in litigations for confirmation of non-existence of obligation due to patent infringement, etc., focusing on the Supreme Court decision on September 7, 2020 (Heisei 31 (Ju) No. 619" (2020)
Patent Attorney Shunjukai Seminar "Boundaries of Product Design Protection Learned from the Latest Precedents - Unfair Competition Prevention Act and Copyright Act" (2022)
Japan Intellectual Property Association, Kansai Metal and Machinery Division, Lecture "Enforceability and Limits of Patent right against Cross-border Services and Transactions" (2024)
Japan Patent Attorneys Association, Kanto Branch, Seminar "Protection of Product Designs under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and Copyright Act" (2024)
