2023.07.01

Contents regarding IP (知財がテーマのコンテンツ)

Today, July 1, is the Patent Attorney Day in Japan.  Dokugaku, one of the veteran Japanese patent attorneys, organizes a blog event on this day every year.  As a participant in this year’s event, I am writing this article on July 1, 2023.

The theme for this year is “Contents regarding IP“. Recently, an IP-based drama series had been broadcasted during the evening when many people in Japan watch TV.  In the drama series “Sore Te Pakuri Ja Nai Desu Ka?” which means “Isn’t that plagiarism?”, the employees of a drink manufacturer improve themselves by solving various IP troubles they face.  The most important thing is that the second main character is a patent attorney.   Since there had been no such dramas, many Japanese patent attorneys became happy and interested in this drama.

In dramas where attorneys-at-law take the spotlight, there are often many dramatic moments, such as intense courtroom battles.  This makes it easier to create engaging scenes.  On the other hand, the work of patent attorneys (who cannot argue in a civil litigation without attorneys-at-law) would be more unfancy and complicated.  This makes it challenging to adapt into a drama.  This is my speculation on why it has been difficult to depict the work of patent attorneys in television dramas.

In fact, Japanese patent attorneys have low recognition for general people, and even the term “弁理士” (benri-shi) itself is sometimes mocked due to the similarity to the word “便利屋 (benri-ya)”, which means handyman.  That is also why I think many Japanese patent attorneys had deep interests in this drama series.  We expected that the low recognition would change higher one.

During the drama series, I have had a lot of fun!!  For this period, our firm “brandesign” gave our opinions and explanations regarding the IP issues of this drama series via our YouTube channel “Yurukawa Trademark Radio” five times.   We will post the sixth video with Dokugaku as a guest this July.