Trademarks

From first consultation to enforcement, we combine the native clarity you’d expect from a top-tier Western law firm with expertise in Japanese practice to ensure your trademarks achieve their full market potential — in Japan and worldwide.

Effective trademarks & branding are often key to an organization’s identity and commercial success. Our trademark attorneys have the necessary international and local market know-how to ensure your trademark is fully protected and achieves its maximum financial potential.

KIPB - Your Bridge to Brand Protection in Japan

Trademarks help consumers distinguish the goods or services of one organisation from another. They may consist of words or letters, logos, product shapes, colours, sounds, or even scents. Many globally recognised brands — Apple, Sony and Burberry, for instance — rely on trademark protection. These intangible IP assets are fundamental to a company’s identity, reputation, and commercial success.


In Japan, however, trademark rules, examination standards, and enforcement practices can differ significantly from those in other jurisdictions. Our trademark attorneys have the necessary international perspective and local market insight to help you secure reliable protection in Japan and abroad, aligned with your broader brand objectives.

Comprehensive TM Coverage

Global Strategy

Comprehensive TM Coverage

We offer a broad range of trademark services, including: domestic and international registrations and enforcement; strategic advice on distinctive aspects of Japanese practice; portfolio management; registrability and infringement searches; licensing agreements;  and disputes, cancellations and oppositions.

Global Strategy

We recognize that your brand strategy often involves securing and managing trademark rights across multiple IP jurisdictions worldwide. To support this, we have cultivated long-standing professional relations with trusted IP attorneys and firms in advanced and emerging markets alike — a network you can leverage for coordinated, timely, and effective global protection..

Our trademark services encompass domestic and international registrations, strategic guidance on Japanese trademark practice, portfolio management, clearance and registrability searches, licensing advice, and opposition and non-use cancellation proceedings.

Our trademark related services include »

  • Filing, prosecution and registration in Japan and overseas
  • Registrability, clearance and infringement searches
  • Opposition, invalidation and cancellation actions
  • Rights transfers/assignments 
  • Trademark enforcement and defence
  • Cease-and-desist letters, consent agreements
  • Infringement investigations and actions
  • Market monitoring
  • Renewals and portfolio management
  • Madrid Protocol Provisional Refusal responses
  • Licensing agreements and disputes
  • Navigating bad faith filings
  • Domain name disputes
  • Collaboration with Asia-Pacific and global partner firms
  • Name and/or address changes
  • Office Action translation and analysis

Key KIPB Contacts for Trademark Law »

Masahito Shibata
Sayuri Saito
Steve Denney
Contact Us