Recent Trend On Business Method Patents In Japan

A new concept of digital transformation (DX) wherein information and communication technology (ICT) is improved in all facets of life has been penetrating society at an exponential rate. Industries have been witnessing a great shift in consumer demand from the era of high quality and user-friendly products to a new era of valuable new services which are generated from collected data utilizing ICT, resulting in more and more companies across different industries venturing into new business territories and creating new businesses in collaboration with companies from different industries. Looking at this change from an intellectual property view point, there has been a growing number of patent application filings related to so-called business methods (business-related inventions) which are patents granted for new business models or services. Amazon's One-Click patent is one example of well-known business method patents. (Japanese Patent Numbers 4937434/4959817