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Research on the harmonization of intellectual property systems from the point of view of Japanese inventors

As a result of globalization and increasing numbers of application filings around the world, the harmonization of intellectual property systems has become a key global issue. Many previous studies have examined the issue of harmonization, from industrial, IP policy, and enterprise perspectives, but have not taken inventors' points of view into consideration. Therefore, we have administered a questionnaire survey to inventors to investigate their views on harmonization in terms of promoting invention. The aim of this study is to provide fundamental insights into harmonization from the point of view of inventors. The majority of the survey subjects positively evaluated the areas of “Grace Period,” “Inventive Step,” “Strength of Patent Protection,” “Unitary Patent System,” and “Globally Harmonized Patent System.” For “Duration of Patent Protection,” most responded positively, but some answered that patent protection durations were too long. This can be assumed to be due to the special circumstances of the software industry. The results indicated the acceptance of harmonization by inventors. Moving forward with harmonization as well as patent promotion efforts appears to be warranted, and further discussion is expected on these issues.