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Celebrating World IP Day 2022

(image) IP AND YOUTH - INNOVATING FOR A BETTER FUTURE - World Intellectual Property Day 2022 April 26
Source: WIPO website

About World IP Day

Every year we celebrate World Intellectual Property (IP) Day on April 26, the date on which the convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entered into force in 1970. WIPO established this commemorative day in 2000, so this year marks the 22nd time that we are observing it.

Since 2001, World IP Day has been observed by holding a variety of events and activities worldwide to increase people's awareness and understanding of the important role that IP rights play in promoting innovations. This year is no exception, with public awareness-raising activities scheduled to be held in many parts of the world based on this year's theme of "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future".

In celebrating World IP Day 2022, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) is highlighting the contributions it has made to WIPO, emphasizing the cooperative relationship between itself and WIPO, ID5 and TM5 joint messages, and the initiatives and contents of the JPO's support for youth.

Contributions to WIPO under the Support of Voluntary Contributions

The JPO has enhanced its cooperative relationship with WIPO over the years through a wide variety of initiatives. Japan has made voluntary contributions to WIPO each year since 1987, based upon which it has operated a trust fund called "Funds-in-Trust Japan Industrial Property Global (FIT Japan IP Global)". During the 35 years since the fund was set up, Japan has contributed a total of CHF 90 million, and has provided support to more than 100 countries. The JPO has implemented a variety of assistance activities for developing countries in Asia, Africa and other regions, for which it has welcomed more than 1,800 trainees from 61 countries and 4 regional organizations since 1987. These initiatives have included holding various workshops and seminars, sending more than 400 JPO experts to 39 countries, and supporting the digitalization and upgrading of the IT infrastructure at IP offices in developing countries.

In addition, the JPO has been working to support youth by financing FIT Japan IP Global. Through financing from FIT Japan IP Global, the WIPO Academy and WIPO Japan Office (WJO) held a workshop in June 2021 titled the "IP4Youth & Teachers Workshop" on how to teach intellectual property to young people. The workshop focused on the importance of teaching IP to youth from the perspective of promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in order to foster a knowledgeable future generation of IP users and producers. The workshop was attended by a total of 44 participants, including policymakers, faculty, and practitioners from Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Receiving financing from FIT Japan IP Global, WJO additionally published an educational booklet titled 'How to Explore Ideas' to illustrate the importance of creativity and respect for innovative ideas using an easy-to-learn approach. It explains the importance of creative thinking, as well as the role of IP therein, through the example of instant noodles invented by Momofuku Ando, which is now an internationally-consumed product.

"How to Explore Ideas" is designed for IP beginners, and for students and educators who bring creativity and IP into classrooms. Also available are a guidebook and teaching notes created for educators and lecturers to use along with this material in classes. The English version of "How to Explore Ideas", and the Japanese and English versions of the teaching notes, are available for a complimentary download.

Cooperation with the WIPO Japan Office

The WIPO Japan Office (WJO) (external link) was established in 2006 as an external office of WIPO. WJO's functions include providing information on the significance and role of the intellectual property system in Japan; liaising between WIPO and concerned ministries, agencies, and courts in Japan; and disseminating international applications and registration systems for patents, trademarks, and designs under WIPO's jurisdiction. In addition, WJO contributes to various SDG initiatives initiated by WIPO to address global issues, including WIPO GREEN (external link). Furthermore, WJO implements capacity building for developing countries through IP Advantage (External link) and other funding programs via FIT Japan IP Global, and also conducts research-based studies to promote utilization of the IP system.

Finally, in disseminating information on the IP system and international applications/registration systems under WIPO's jurisdiction, WJO conducts seminars and makes individual visits to users, as well as provides various types of information and support to users in Japanese.

Through these public awareness campaigns, responses to global issues, and assistance-related initiatives using the FIT Japan IP Global, the JPO has been advancing its cooperative relationship with WJO.

The JPO has launched a web page that provides the details of its cooperation with WJO. We hope you will visit in order to take a look.

(photo) Workshop through the FIT Japan IP Global
Workshop through the FIT Japan IP Global
(Photo courtesy of the WIPO Japan Office)

ID5 and TM5 joint messages

ID5 and TM5 are frameworks established in 2015 and 2011, respectively, by the IP Offices of Japan, the United States, Europe, China, and Korea to promote international cooperation in the field of industrial designs and trademarks.

ID5 and TM5 have released a joint message for World IP Day 2022 expressing their warm support for this year's World IP Day theme of "IP and Youth: Innovation for a Better Future," and affirming that the further empowerment of the world's youth is essential for a robust global IP system.

JPO Initiatives and Content for Supporting Youth

Children’s Tour Day in Kasumigaseki

This event is jointly organized by various ministries and agencies with the hope of providing opportunities for children to learn about society-at-large, and to deepen their understanding of governmental policies during their school summer vacation.

The JPO held an online event with the theme of "Rotation" during the 2021 Children's Tour Day in Kasumigaseki in order to foster creativity. The event was titled "Junior Innovation Fest -Open the Gateway for Creativity-". More than 170 people participated in the two-day event, and 95.6% of them indicated in a follow-up survey that they would like to attend the event again.

Patent Contest and Design Patent Contest

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has been implementing a Patent Contest and Design Patent Contest every year in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA), and the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (INPIT).

The future leaders of Japan—i.e., students in high schools, technical colleges, and specialized training college and universities throughout Japan—are invited to submit their own inventions and designs for the contest. Awards are given to the most outstanding entries, and those that receive an award for excellence are eligible for support including guidance and assistance from members of the JPAA when writing application documents. In addition to the Excellence Award, the competition also includes the JPO Commissioner's Awards and the WIPO Award.

Concours of Schoolchildren's Inventions

The Concours of Schoolchildren's Inventions aims to encourage young people, as those who will pave the way to the next generation, to understand the joys of creation and the satisfaction of inventions and applications—as well as to grow up into individuals full of creativity through having been recognized for their high-quality inventions.

This program is implemented by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation (JIII), a public interest incorporated association. The JPO sponsors this initiative together with WIPO, and has established the JPO Commissioner's Award and the WIPO Prize, respectively.

The latest award-winning entries are available at the following link on the JIII website.

Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign

The JPO has been holding a campaign against counterfeit products in order to foster awareness that people should not purchase them; as well as to widely disseminate the importance of IP protection.

Model education classes on the prevention of IPR infringement were held at four schools in FY2021: Tokyo Metropolitan Nishi High School, Tokyo Metropolitan Chihaya High School, Kanto Daiichi High School, and Toyo University Keihoku Senior High School. In the model class, personnel from private companies were invited to give lectures on the topics of how to spot counterfeit products, the dangers of counterfeit products, and the importance of brand protection.

As part of this campaign, the JPO also created a study guidance plan to help teachers conduct classes on IPR prevention education in order to provide students with correct knowledge about counterfeit products. Videos of the model classes and study guidance plan are available at the following webpage dedicated to the Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign:

  • "Don't Buy, Sell, or Allow Your Friends to Buy Counterfeit Products!" (Japanese only)

Examination Guidelines in Manga

The JPO has created examination guidelines in manga format as one of its initiatives to encourage a wide range of users, including youth, to become familiarized with the IP system.

Examination Guidelines are used not only for examiners to apply the Patent Act and/or other laws when examining applications, but also to help users deepen their understanding of examination practices at the JPO.

Hoping to encourage more people to become interested in examination guidelines, the JPO has created a manga version of the basic concepts of examination guidelines in both Japanese and English—an attempt that is unprecedented anywhere in the world.

The examination guidelines in manga format are available on the JPO webpage below, featuring AI/IoT-related technologies that are of great social interest.

JPO Kids Page, IP Materials and Reference Books

The JPO website includes the "JPO Kids Page," which provides child-friendly information to raise awareness of JPO operations, patents, designs and trademarks.

In addition, the JPO works on creating and disseminating IP educational and reference materials tailored to the target audience with the aim of fostering IP human resources and improving IP mindsets. It also offers past IP educational and reference books/materials on its website free of charge.

JPO Channel

The JPO provides information via its JPO Channel on YouTube in order to effectively disseminate information to a wide range of users, including young people.

The JPO Channel features video clips that have been created to promote understanding of IP among a wide range of audiences. These include "Shohyo-ken," an action-style video aimed at spreading the message that "trademark rights are fundamental to business"; as well as "BUZZ MAFF v.s. JPO!? We shared our passion for IP with Mr. Shiraishi and Mr. Noda!", which was produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in order to introduce intellectual property through the lens of agriculture. Finally, patent examiners comically introduce episodes of the ten greatest inventors in Japan in "Here's the amazing part! Ten Japanese Great Inventors".

The JPO Channel videos are available for viewing at the following link:

Events

Under the 2022 World IP Day Theme of "IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future", the WIPO Japan Office will hold an online commemorative event. This will consist of lectures and panel discussions by distinguished guests from various fields, young inventors and entrepreneurs, and students, and will be delivered on World IP Day. JPO Commissioner MORI will also deliver a speech at the event.

Content Distribution by WIPO

WIPO has created a video clip featuring young inventors and creators under the theme "IP and Youth: Innovation for a Better Future" on the occasion of the World IP Day 2022 commemorations. The JPO has cooperated in creating video clips with financing from FIT Japan IP Global, featuring young inventors and creators who have been nominated from around the world as changemakers working to build a better future. Several Japanese inventors and creators are also featured in the Youth Gallery.

Video clips and youth galleries are available at the following links.

[Last updated 19 February 2024]

Contact Information

For inquiries on WIPO Japan Funds-in-Trust and related projects:
Developing Country Cooperation Section
International Cooperation Division
E-mail: PA0870@jpo.go.jp


For any other inquiries:
International Organization Section
International Policy Division
E-mail: PA0800@jpo.go.jp


Policy Planning and Coordination Department
Japan Patent Office

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