Overview of Intellectual Property High Court Case 2021 (Administrative Litigation) No. 10052
Case Overview
Case: Intellectual Property High Court Case Reiwa 3 (Gyo-Ke) No. 10052 (“Method for Analyzing Cutting Techniques” case)
Parties Involved:
Plaintiff/Patent Holder: Applicant of Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-160189
Defendant(s): Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office (respondent in the trial judgment)
Key Issue: Whether the subject of the amended claim constitutes an “invention” under Article 2(1) of the Patent Act—specifically, whether the claimed method, composed solely of mental steps carried out by a human, can be considered a “creation of technical ideas by utilizing natural laws,” and thus patent-eligible.
Summarization of the case
This is an appeal against a decision refusing a patent on “Method for Analyzing Cutting Techniques” on the ground that the claimed process did not constitute a patent-eligible “invention.”
The method has four steps, all of which involving only human mental activity: estimating hairstyle using hair knowledge (Step 1), selecting a head area for analysis (Step 2), classifying the hairstyle into categories (Step 3), and choosing cutting technique analysis corresponding to that classification (Step 4).
The Intellectual Property High Court held that, even if these steps employ knowledge or experience about hair, they are entirely human mental processes. Therefore, the claimed invention does not constitute “technical ideas utilizing natural laws” and therefore fall outside the scope of Article 2(1) “invention” under Japanese Patent Law. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed and the JPO’s decision was upheld.
Significance of the Case
This case re-affirms that mental processes (regardless of sophistication or relevance to technical domains) are not patentable subject matter under Japanese law.
