Owning an invention, patents or a trade mark leads to protect intellectual property. Once protected, the owner becomes the only person with the right to use or to produce the protected good. Others cannot copy or reproduce what you have done without permission. When an invention is protected, the quality of the product is guaranteed and its origin is clear.
The EU-Japan EPA offers important market access opportunities for EU products, especially through the recognition of several geographical indications. The EPA also covers many different aspects of intellectual property protection, from patents to copyright, trade secrets, and common measures built on the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
The complete text of the EPA, and Annexes, incorporating the Articles on IPR, can be found on the following website of the European Commission:
A factsheet has been published on this topic. Please click here to get access.
In addition, a webinar was organised on this topic. To access the recording, please click here.
This website and related activities are managed by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, a joint venture between the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and the Japanese Government's Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI).
This support is available for EU companies only. Please note that the validation process may take up to a couple of days and will be confirmed to you by email.
Hundreds of web pages with up-to-date information on Japan, more than 400 market reports and recorded webinars available as well as a lot of detailed information on Japanese business culture.