period is about 2 years shorter than the United States patent validity period,
including the extension period.
Many companies now have patent-specific departments that function as part of
their strategy, but Japanese academia does not have such strategic departments or
such departments have weak, if any, functions with a few exceptions. Other issues
about patent strategy even after filing are also present. Some patent issues include:
• What if the paper was given priority and published before the first application?
• What if the first application is a little late?
• What if I do not make any extra comments after applying?
• What if I do not make an effort to find out what the other party is saying?
• What if a small amount of useful data is added early?
• What if the patent was not granted early?
The problem is that, except for a small number of universities, many local
universities (mostly small, private universities) and research institutions do not
have any information or knowledge about intellectual property. Many researchers
do not know who is available for consulting with them about these issues. The
certificate (below) shows that the study cited in this chapter has been fortunate in
terms of patent filing. The following patent gazettes of patent applications related to
this research are shown as samples (Fig. 2). On the other hand, for companies that
put patents into practical use, especially small- and medium-sized venture companies, a business model has not been established as they do not have any pipeline with
the universities (Asano et al., 2018).
6 Discussion
Even in this case of bridging research, actual product development has not yet been
achieved. We must consider what constitutes real barriers in this respect. In this case,
development has proceeded to the stage of stable gene disruption and gene insertion
for ringworm, but the developers pointed out the following barriers to commercialization: (1) no platform exists as an R&D tool and (2) drug development of a specific
candidate has not been decided. For practical use, discovery and narrowing down of
Fig. 1 Japanese patent application system for drugs and other chemicals
146
K. Fujitani et al.
including the extension period.
Many companies now have patent-specific departments that function as part of
their strategy, but Japanese academia does not have such strategic departments or
such departments have weak, if any, functions with a few exceptions. Other issues
about patent strategy even after filing are also present. Some patent issues include:
• What if the paper was given priority and published before the first application?
• What if the first application is a little late?
• What if I do not make any extra comments after applying?
• What if I do not make an effort to find out what the other party is saying?
• What if a small amount of useful data is added early?
• What if the patent was not granted early?
The problem is that, except for a small number of universities, many local
universities (mostly small, private universities) and research institutions do not
have any information or knowledge about intellectual property. Many researchers
do not know who is available for consulting with them about these issues. The
certificate (below) shows that the study cited in this chapter has been fortunate in
terms of patent filing. The following patent gazettes of patent applications related to
this research are shown as samples (Fig. 2). On the other hand, for companies that
put patents into practical use, especially small- and medium-sized venture companies, a business model has not been established as they do not have any pipeline with
the universities (Asano et al., 2018).
6 Discussion
Even in this case of bridging research, actual product development has not yet been
achieved. We must consider what constitutes real barriers in this respect. In this case,
development has proceeded to the stage of stable gene disruption and gene insertion
for ringworm, but the developers pointed out the following barriers to commercialization: (1) no platform exists as an R&D tool and (2) drug development of a specific
candidate has not been decided. For practical use, discovery and narrowing down of
Fig. 1 Japanese patent application system for drugs and other chemicals
146
K. Fujitani et al.