Our People
Director
JP Registered Patent Attorney
Masayoshi's practice includes providing advice concerning trademark, patent and design filing strategies and infringements, and anti-unfair competition, to clients. He is one of the few present patent attorneys with a broad experience in anti-unfair competition, trademark, and patent-related litigation.
He studied at the Faculty of Law at Waseda University and graduated in 1975. He then entered YASUHARA as an assistant to patent attorneys and attorneys-at-law, and qualified as a patent attorney in 1980. He became the Director of OLINASU ASSOCIATES in 2008.
Masayoshi is currently a Deputy Director General of the Central Research Institute of Intellectual Property, an affiliated organization of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association ("JPAA"), and a member of the Executive Board of the following associations: Japan Trademark Association ("JPTA"); and Japan Association of Industrial Property Law. Also, he is a member of the Copyright Law Association of Japan.
In addition, he is the author of several theses on IPR and a co-author of several books, such as "Various Issues on Intellectual Property (1996)" and "Commentary on Court Decisions in Trademark, Design and Unfair Competition Cases (2007)."
Ikuko OHNISHI
Doctor of Business Law (Hitotsubashi University , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Tokyo, Japan )
JP Registered Patent Attorney specializing in Trademark
Vice Director
Ikuko specializes in trademark, anti-unfair competition relating to marks including trademarks, trade name, and domain names.
She graduated from Kwansei Gakuin University with a Bachelor's degree in Literature. She then worked for a patent firm in Osaka as a secretary and assistant to a Patent Attorney specializing in trademark. Since qualifying as a Patent Attorney in 1996, she represented many domestic and overseas clients at one of the biggest patent firms in Japan and a medium-sized patent firm specializing in trademark for a span of 12 years. After having a broad and in-depth experience in handling trademark cases for the two firms, she joined YASUHARA in 2007.
Ikuko obtained her Doctorate degree in Business Law from Hitotsubashi University in 2010. Her doctoral dissertation was on trademark use. She is likewise a co-author of several theses and commentaries, including, Trademark Registrant's Rights and Theory for Trademark Functions (2004, with Prof. Kazufumi DOHI); and Trademark Commentary (Dr. Shoen ONO, ed., 2005). In addition, she is a translator of Dr. Christopher Heath, for his theses on The Protection of Aesthetic Creations as Three-Dimensional Marks, Designs, Copyright or under Unfair Competition Prevention Law of Contemporary Issues in the Design Act and Its Peripheral Regulation from English to Japanese (2005, Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation).
Presently, she is a researcher of the Central Research Institute of Intellectual Property, an affiliated organization of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association ("JPAA"). In addition, she is a member of the following associations: the Japan Association of Industrial Property Law, the Copyright Law Association of Japan, the Japan Trademark Association ("JPTA"), the International Trademark Association ("INTA") and the Asian Patent Attorneys Association ("APAA").
Ikuko speaks Japanese and English.
Kenichi Osawa
Counsel
JP Registered Patent Attorney, US Attorney registered in NY and DC
Kenichi Osawa's practice concentrates patent preparation, patent prosecution, opinion work, patent enforcement matters, and client consulting in all areas of patent law including patent strategy and licensing. He has impressive experiences in patent practices focused on pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical areas as a U.S. attorney and a Japanese patent attorney. He acquired first-hand experiences in managing patent strategy, patent portfolio and successful litigation for company's expanding business served as the head of Intellectual Property department of Banyu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Merck Co. and Inc.) as well as Eisai Co., Ltd
Mr. Osawa also practiced as a US patent attorney at Morgan & Finnegan in NY, and as a Japanese patent attorney at Soei Patent & Law Firm and Matsui & Associates in Japan.
Mr. Osawa earned his Juris Doctor degree (cum laude) from University of Dayton School of Law in the U.S. He also earned Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees from Saitama University.
Mr. Osawa is licensed to practice before the Japanese Patent Office and Japanese courts with IP matters. He is admitted to the New York State Bar, the District Columbia Bar, U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is a member of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association and the American Bar Association. He is a visiting professor of Tohoku University Translational Research Center in Japan. He is currently the Chairman of the Bio-Life Science Committee of Japan Patent Attorney Association.
Mr. Osawa is Japanese/English bilingual.