From October 31 through November 6, Harness IP attorney Robert (Bob) Siminski traveled to China and Japan on an intellectual property rights fact finding trip. Mr. Siminski traveled as part of a group of delegates representing The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). Among the group of delegates traveling, includes the President of the IPO and numerous chief patent counsel from various Fortune 500 companies. The group traveled to Beijing for three days and then finished the trip off in Tokyo for the last three days.

One of the highlights of the trip was the meeting held with the Japanese Intellectual Property Association (JIPA). Bob Siminski led this meeting, which began with a presentation by JIPA about “employee invention” developments, identifying several problems with the current system and proposals from industry. JIPA and IPO delegates discussed legislative activities related to trade secret protection in Japan and the U.S. In Japan the revised Unfair Competition Prevention Action will become effective in early 2016. IPO highlighted the pending legislation for federal trade secret protection, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015. JIPA also explained the status of certain procedural harmonization efforts and research they are conducting regarding written description/sufficiency of disclosure in the IP5 countries.

Throughout the duration of the trip, the delegation met with several other organizations including: Beijing Intellectual Property Court, Supreme’s People’s Court, State Intellectual Property’s Office, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) AML Division, Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council P.R. China , National People’s Congress Legislative Affairs Commission, Japanese Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), Tokyo High Court/Intellectual Property High Court, and the Committee on Intellectual Property (Japan Business Federation). The delegation and each organization discussed a number of topics such as Intellectual Property rights, laws, legislation, and litigation in China and Tokyo.