Kenshi TAKENAKA
“Legal Precision Meets Engineer’s Ingenuity”
As a former Judicial Research Official of the Intellectual Property High Court, Kenshi TAKENAKA witnessed the reality in numerous patent disputes: many outstanding inventions are patented in ways that prevent them from realizing their true values.
A single word in a claim, a single sentence in the specification, a choice made in a response during the examination—these small decisions critically determine how a patent right will be interpreted in the future. With a deep understanding of both the court's interpretative approaches and competitors' circumvention tactics, Mr. Takenaka designs strategies that maximize the protection and value of clients’ inventions.
“Legal Precision Meets Engineer’s Ingenuity”
As a former Judicial Research Official of the Intellectual Property High Court, Kenshi TAKENAKA witnessed the reality in numerous patent disputes: many outstanding inventions are patented in ways that prevent them from realizing their true values.
A single word in a claim, a single sentence in the specification, a choice made in a response during the examination—these small decisions critically determine how a patent right will be interpreted in the future. With a deep understanding of both the court's interpretative approaches and competitors' circumvention tactics, Mr. Takenaka designs strategies that maximize the protection and value of clients’ inventions.
Educational/Professional Background
1995 Nagoya Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Production System Engineering (B.Eng.)
1995 Paloma Co., Ltd.
2000 Adachi International Patent Office (now Nagoya International IP Firm)
2003 Registered as a patent and trademark attorney
2005 Qualified as an IP infringement litigator
2022 Intellectual Property High Court (Judicial Research Official)
2025 Rejoined Nagoya International IP Firm
Areas of Expertise
In patent practice, Mr. Takenaka specializes in control engineering, information and telecommunication, mechatronics, and business method. In particular, he is experienced in vehicle control (motion characteristic control, autonomous driving etc.), image processing, and communication system. In addition to his extensive practice as a litigation counsel in infringement lawsuits and appeals against trial decisions, he has served as a Judicial Research Official of the Intellectual Property High Court, participating in numerous such proceedings. He is well-versed in determination of patent validity and scope of rights, which includes determination of novelty, inventive step, and description requirements and interpretation of technical scope.
Membership of Associations
–Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA)
–International Trademark Association (INTA)
Memberships & Committees
Japan Patent Attorneys Association
-Patent Committee, Vice Chair (2019-2021)
-Patent Committee, Member (2016-2018)
Japan Patent Attorneys Association Tokai Branch
-Organization for Cooperation with Educational Institutions (2016-2017)
Lectures & Speeches
-“Briefing Session on Amendments to the Patent Law in 2019”, Patent Attorney Association Member Training Course (February 2020)
-“Briefing Session on Amendments to the Patent Law in 2018” Patent Attorney Association Member Training Course (December 2018, May and June 2019)
-“Key Points on Writing Patent Specifications Based on Analysis of Recent Court Cases and Recent Verdicts: From the Perspective of Patent Requirements and Sufficiency Theory”, Japan Patent Attorneys Association Patent Committee Open Forum in Fiscal Year 2017 (February 2018)
-“Points to Be Examined for Revision and Improvement of the Japanese Patent System Based on a Comparison of Patent Systems in Other Countries”, Fiscal Year 2016 Japan Patent Attorneys Association Patent Committee Open Forum (February 2017)
Publications
-“Consideration on logic of inventive step useful for invalidation trial practice”, co-author, Patent 2022 Vol. 75 (March 2022)
-“Consideration on discrepancy between Examination Guidelines and Court’s rulings — in terms of inventive step –“, co-author, Patent 2022 Vol. 75 (March 2022)
-“How to Respond to Office Actions: Analysis Based on Court Cases”, co-author, Patent 2020 Vol.73 (September 2020)
-“Deciding Whether an Invention Meets Patent Requirements by Examining Problems to Be Solved by the Invention Section of Patent Specification”, co-author, Patent 2020 Vol.73 (May 2020)
-”Trend Analysis of Recent Court Cases on Inventive Steps”, co-author, Patent 2019 Vol.72 (June 2019)
-“Points to Be Revised and Improved in the Japanese Patent and Utility Model Systems: With a Comparison of Patent Systems in Other Countries”, Patent 2017 Vol.70, co-author (October 2017)
International Conferences
-APAA 2017 in Auckland
-APAA 2016 in Bali
-INTA 2016 in Orlando
-APAA 2015 in Okinawa