Patent Laws in Japan

Japanese patent law is chiefly given force by the Patent Act of Japan which consists of 204 articles. This is based on the first to file principle. Article 2 defines an invention as "the highly advanced creation of technical ideas by which a law of nature is utilized". Other important Articles include Article 196 that states patent infringement is a crime and Article 2, paragraph 3, which, from 2002 states that a computer program is a product and therefore those patents can be granted for computer programs.