News & Blog

June 9, 2022

International Inheritance in Japan

International inheritance in Japan can be a very difficult process to navigate. Generally, inheritance procedures in Japan are subject to the law’s of the deceased person’s home country. However, Japanese laws may apply in exceptional cases.
June 3, 2022

Contract Payment Clauses In Japan

Contract payment clauses in Japan are similar to those in contracts of other jurisdictions. The payment clause in a contract determines how much one party will pay the other and under what conditions.  While this seems simple enough, it is all too easy to simply list the price of the contract and forget to include other important details that, if ignored, may result in disputes at a later date. For example, in international contracts the two parties often use different currencies, so picking the currency to be used for payment, or at least specifying the exchange rate, will ensure that […]
June 2, 2022

Mandatory Provisions for Contracts in Japan

For the most part, parties have freedom of contract in Japan and are allowed to include, or not include, whatever they want in their contract.  However, there are exceptions to this generally lenient rule and the mandatory provisions for contracts in Japan included in the Japan Civil Code are one exception. These are mandatory provisions for contracts in Japan that are automatically inserted into the contract by law.  One example is for contracts governing the lease of land for the purpose of owning a building.  The Land Lease and House Lease Act provides that these contracts shall have a minimum […]
January 19, 2022

Exclusive Licenses in Japan

Exclusive licenses in Japan for intellectual property are, similar to other jurisdiction, exclusive to everyone as set forth by the licensee.  That includes the patent or trademark owner and therefore, patent or trademark owners who choose to enter into an exclusive license agreement give up their own right to use the patent for the extent of the license. However, a recent trend in intellectual property licensing has been to grant a license to a party while, at the same time, promise not to grant any further licenses to other third parties.  Therefore, this type of license agreement has two main […]