Nishimura & Asahi

Does patent information disclosure under Japan’s patent linkage system violate the Unfair Competition Prevention Act? The Tokyo District Court recently clarified the scope of Japan's patent linkage system in a case involving Samsung Bioepis and Bayer, shedding light on the legal implications of providing patent information to regulatory authorities. This ruling highlights key questions around transparency, fairness, and the potential for unfair competition claims in the generics/biosimilars approval process. Read the full newsletter on our website: https://lnkd.in/gcRbdU_u Authors: Yoko Kasai and Dai Ibuka

We are proud to kick off 2025 with the addition of 23 partners and 10 counsel. These accomplished members represesnt our fundamental mission to contribute to the realization of an affluent and fair society based on the rule of law. Congratulations to those newly promoted! Partners: Tran Nghia Cao, Anh Nguyen Tuan, Seita Kinoshita, Yohei Omata, Bonso Morimoto, SHOGO EGUCHI, Daichi Iinaga, Tomonori Maezawa, Keiichi Masayasu, Isao Takahashi, Tatsuya Tsunoda, Takanori Ueshima, Akira Arimatsu, Junko Watanabe, Kenta Ogata, Nobuko Ikeda, Toru Konishi, Satoshi Inami, Kaedeko Takagi, Yukiko Tomimatsu, Gai Matsushita, Keisuke Kamiya, and Yuko Ogawa Counsel: Dr. Maximilian Lentz, Eugene Lee, Toshihiro Suzuki, Takahiro Sugauchi, Kazuki Takada, Satoshi Tanabe, Fumihiko Sawada, Kyle Johnson, Wenxian Cai, and Sang-Kyun (Rafael) Bong

The protection of children's personal information online is an ongoing discussion, with regulations popping up across the EU, UK, California, and some other US states. Japan currently has no specific rules, but there are general personal information protections and public comment procedures. Read our latest newsletter to dive deeper into Japan's current situation: https://lnkd.in/gMfUjzRH Authored by: Yuko Kawai and Matthew Ono

Our Brussels office officially opened on January 1, 2025. The office will be led by partner Kojiro Fujii, who specializes in antitrust law/competition law, international trade law, digital regulation, and public policy. Given Brussels position at the center of EU policies and regulations, this location will serve as a base for matters relating to EU competition law, international trade law, sustainability, digital, and related public policies. We aim to meet the growing demand for legal services from our clients in the region, reacting quickly to legislative policies and regulatory trends. Read more about our Brussels location on our website: https://lnkd.in/gp5Z8hez

On January 1, 2025, our Hong Kong office officially opened. We have registered with The Law Society of Hong Kong as a foreign law firm, the first registration of its sort granted to a major Japanese firm.   Partner Ryuichi Sakamoto is assigned to the Hong Kong office. Later on, Saori Okada will join the team. Establishing this office allows us to expand our support to the inbound and outbound legal needs of companies in Japan, Hong Kong, and other countries around the world. Find more details about our Hong Kong location on our website: https://lnkd.in/gFqX5zeR

We are thrilled to announce that Victor Crochet joined Nishimura & Asahi as partner from January 1, 2025. Find his full profile on our website: https://lnkd.in/gpwWEkSK

We are wishing you a prosperous and healthy 2025.  Happy New Year!

Find the Q3 Asia legal update on our website: https://lnkd.in/gqRmQedJ Contributors include Miriam Andreta, Hans Adiputra Kurniawan, Wan May Leong, Ryan Heng, Michelle Marie F. Villarica, Steffi Sales, Melissa Tan, Su Xian Chin, Jirapong Sriwat, Apinya Sarntikasem, Le Bang VU, Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Taeko Suzuki, Isha Shah, Saw Nyan Htun, Sheng-Chieh Chang (Jeffrey), Ryuichi Sakamoto, Masao Morishita, Akihiro Hanoshima, Hiroki Kaga, Aya Okada, Varsha Bhattacharya, Akihiro Kawashima, Taro Hirosawa, Cuiping Zhang and Zhiyuan CHEN

Nishimura & Asahi advised Krosaki Harima Corporation, a producer of refractory and ceramic products, on the establishment of a joint venture in Brazil with Indústrias Brasileiras de Artigos Refratários-IBAR Ltda., which will focus on the production of taphole clay for blast furnaces. The team advising Krosaki Harima was led by partner Makoto Shimizu. Read more on our website: https://lnkd.in/gMuNTFYR

On January 21, 2020, a group of representatives in the lower chamber of the Chilean Congress submitted a motion to systematize economic and environmental crimes, arguing that the then-existing Chilean criminal law was inadequate to address this specific time of criminal activity. According to the proponents of the new law, the fight against “white collar” crimes, which normally are committed by persons with relatively higher education and social position, required modernization of the weak Chilean law, specifically, strengthening of various matters, such as the applicability and likelihood of custodial sanctions, the amount of fines, the method of holding legal entities criminally liable. This newsletter briefly explains some of the main features of this law, in particular the changes to the Corporate Criminal Liability Law that came into effect recently, and emphasizes the importance of companies investing in strong crime prevention programs to safeguard their businesses in Chile’s increasingly stringent legal environment. Read more on our summary of the new law here: https://lnkd.in/gfAn8HjA Authors: Makoto Shimizu, Umeda Masaru, Kaori Hirose, and Daniel Moris Orellana