Our Firm
Akiyama& Associates
Akiyama & Associates was established by Mr. Atsushi AKIYAMA in Tokyo in 1982, soon after he became a member of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA). Since its establishment, our firm has successfully grown to its present size of over thirty employees, with two offices and an affiliate company.
We provide our clients with a variety of services in the field of intellectual property (also known as 'IP'). These include patent search, patent procurement, patent validity and infringement analysis, invalidating competitors' claims, patent mapping, and drafting agreements related to intellectual property. We also have extensive experience in helping our clients develop effective IP strategies that are strategically tailored to fit in to their overall business strategies and objectives.
Our affiliate company is Technology Transfer Service Corporation (TTS) and they specialize in IP searches. We have developed a close working relationship with them, which has enabled us to excel in many areas related to patent searches, including for example patent validity and infringement analysis, invalidating competitors' claims and patent mapping.
Firm Profile
Introduction
We at Akiyama & Associates are more than just your traditional patent firm. We don’t only draft and file patent applications. We do much more. We offer a comprehensive range of intellectual property (IP) services, from prior art search and patent analysis to IP evaluation and brand strategy consultation, that can help you build a strong and competitive IP portfolio.
Our patent attorneys and engineers are all multi-disciplined experts. They will work with you to find the best solutions to your IP needs. We do this by getting to understand your business, your industry and your competitive environment. Then we apply our expertise to identify the right IP strategy that not only works to protect your investments but also fits in with your overall corporate strategies and objectives.
Expert IP Search Services
We always strive to provide the best services to our clients and this is why we teamed up from the start with our affiliate company Technology Transfer Service Corporation (TTS) to provide additional professional expert IP search services, including patent, utility model, design and trademark searches. We recognize the importance of efficiently obtaining accurate and credible information since it forms the basis for other IP services, including the creating and exploiting of IP portfolios.
TTS have gained a very high reputation in their field for the work they have done, and in June of 2006 were granted ‘Registered Search Organization’ status by the Japan Patent Office *.
*In order to improve patent examination efficiency, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) introduced the ‘Registered Search Organization System’ in 2004. Under this new system, patent search companies have to meet certain strict standards in order to be granted ‘Registered Search Organization’ status. These include needing to have a minimum of ten staff members pass the Registered Search Organization professional exams. As of May 2024, only TTS and 8 other organizations had been granted Registered Search Organization status. This is significant because the JPO only outsources prior art searches for patent examination to Registered Search Organizations.
How We Apply Our Search Expertise
All our patent attorneys and engineers have search expertise and they can efficiently apply these skills to analyzing the registrability of designs and trademarks and to the drafting of patent specifications to gain an understanding of prior arts and the technological standards of inventions.
We also offer patent publication and literature search services at the business planning stage, at the product development stage and prior to patent filing. Through these services, our clients can obtain valuable information for patent filing and technology development. In addition, as we do in-house searches, we can promptly offer a full range of services from patent invalidation search and opinions to infringement analysis and opinions on infringement cases.
A Global Network for a Global Market
As technologies have become globalized, the need for a global IP strategy has become even more crucial for technology-orientated companies. As a result, we have moved away from the ‘American-focused’ model to a ‘non-American-focused’ global network that will allow us to provide truly global IP services.
To give us direct coverage in Europe, we have formed a strategic alliance with the patent law firm in Munich, Germany and have opened a liaison office there. We chose Munich as our center of operations in Europe because the European Patent Office and the German Patent Office are both headquartered there.
In recognition of China’s importance in the global economy and concerns about IP protection, one of our professional patent attorneys has been working in a liaison office in Beijing since 2011. This allows us to directly monitor the market for any patent infringements and collect market information that will help us protect and exploit our client’s intellectual property in China.
Our Security Policy
Our business is all about trust and security. We go out of our way to ensure the confidentiality and security of our clients’ IP information. We recognize that this information is a key management resource and is vitally important to our client's company. We, therefore, have up-to-date security systems in place, and all IP Information is handled with the utmost care.
Our Philosophy
To become one of the world’s best IP-specialized service providers offering not only reliable and effective solutions to our clients’ IP needs, but also peace of mind. This we achieve through having experienced and expert staff, working hard and being dedicated, using sound theories and our wealth of experience, being committed to excellence, endeavouring to understand our clients’ needs, and seeing the world from their point of view. We see success as not only seeing ourselves grow, but more importantly seeing our clients grow too.