Q) I own a kitchen utensil design company based in
Norway and I am about to sign an agreement to have a new product I
have invented manufactured by a Japanese business partner. The
product will be exported back to Europe but will not be sold in
Japan. This being the case, should I worry about protecting my
brand name in Japan, and are there any other IP-related issues I
should be concerned about?
A) The short answer is 'yes'.
On the issue of your brand name, merely applying it to products
manufactured in Japan for export purposes could well land you in
trouble in certain circumstances. Even if the goods are not
intended for sale in Japan, such use may still be deemed to
infringe conflicting third-party rights on the Japanese trade mark
register. As well as the risk of being sued for infringement, your
goods could be seized by customs when you try to export them.
