The firm has significant experience in handling infringement cases regarding intellectual property rights involving patents, trademarks and copyrights, and litigation involving patent invalidation claims and employee inventions in Japan. Whether the matter is large or small, the firm works on a wide range of cases through flexible team organization.

With the evolution of the Internet and the globalization of corporate business activities, intellectual property disputes are often international in nature. Attorneys at the firm with both an abundance of experience in IP litigation in Japan and specialized knowledge and know-how obtained from training abroad are frequently involved in complex, multi-jurisdictional proceedings, working closely with other international law firms, with a view to achieving the best possible result for the client.

The firm's IP transactional practice group represents clients in a wide range of licensing matters, including preparing and negotiating joint research contracts for technology and technology transfer, contracts regarding manufacture of content and software, and licensing contracts for intellectual property, both in Japanese and English. Recently, the firm has been handling increasingly complex structured finance transactions where intellectual property rights are used as collateral. The firm's IP practice group draws on its extensive litigation experience to provide effective representation in the drafting and negotiation of transactional documentation.

Recent court cases in Japan have made it increasingly important for both large and small companies to pay careful attention to the management of intellectual property rights generated in the course of day-to-day operations. Mori Hamada & Matsumoto provides advice both to startup ventures and large corporations, as well as universities that handle technology transfer, in connection with internal policies and procedures to control, protect and acquire intellectual property rights. The firm also advises on control systems for corporate trade secrets and customer information, which has become increasingly important given recent legislation focusing on protection of the privacy of personal information maintained by companies. The firm often sponsors IP-related seminars or lectures for the benefit of clients and encourages its lawyers to publish articles on topics of current legal interest in the intellectual property field.

The firm's entertainment law practice group offers services for each phase of the production, acquisition and distribution of commercial content, such as animated cartoons, motion pictures, games, photographs, books and music. The firm provides similar services in connection with performances and other events such as sporting events, art exhibitions, music festivals and theatrical performances. Attorneys with practical experience overseas cooperate with our office in China and international law firms to acquire content from abroad and develop Japanese content in foreign markets.

The IP practice group holds workshops every week to actively study the latest relevant judicial precedents, and share knowledge and know-how obtained through the experience of each attorney to improve level of the practice group as a whole.