“Tokkyo Tawan Ningen Hoshiki” -Unno Juza

  • 2023年09月13日

#copyright #patent #patent attorney

 I would like to introduce a novel in which a patent attorney is the main character. The title is “Tokkyo Tawan Ningen Hoshiki (Patent Multi-Armed Human Method)” and it is a novel written by “Unno Juza” (海野十三), a writer in the early Showa period.

 Unno Juza (real name: Sano Shoichi) published many mystery and science fiction novels and is called the “father of Japanese science fiction novels”. After his debut as a writer, in 1936, at the age of 39, Mr. Unno qualified as a patent attorney, and two years later, he opened “Sano Electric Patent Office.

 The “Tokkyo Tawan Ningen Hoshiki” was published in 1941, when Mr. Unno was 44 years old. The story begins when an inventor visits a patent attorney who runs a patent office and requests a patent application for a “third arm”. A humorous and surreal scene appears in which the patent attorney writes the specification for the application while interacting (playing two roles) with the 100-yen bill (a large sum of money in those days) received from the inventor as the application fee and the application stamp fee. There is also a scene in which the patent attorney shows off his skills as a patent attorney by using the expression “at least” in the description of the claims, claiming that he has expanded the scope of the patent (scope of rights), and another scene in which he receives a notice of reasons for refusal after filing an application, meets with the examiner, and struggles to resolve the reasons for refusal. I feel that this is a story that is also relevant to the current practice of patent attorneys.

Tokkyo Tawan Ningen Hoshiki (Patent Multi-Armed Human Method)

 There is a lot of humor scattered throughout, and the punchline is quite good. Because it is a short novel, I finished reading it in no time.
 Since more than 50 years have passed since Mr. Unno’s death and the copyright protection period has expired, this work can be freely read at Aozora Bunko and other libraries (Hiro).

Tokkyo Tawan Ningen Hoshiki (Aozora Bunko) (only available in Japanese)

The Age of AI Painting?

  • 2022年09月14日

#copyright #design

This is Swimmer.
These days, the social networking sites are talking about an app that lets AI learn and draw pictures.

AI

To make it learn, you have to change the approach many times and make adjustments, and you need to have a good artistic sense to make a proper work. It seems to be very easy to complete a picture if you are not concerned about the final result. It is very interesting.
If the original material to be studied is something to which you own the rights, there is no problem. However, if you use someone else’s work, what happens to the design rights and copyrights of the material? What are the terms and conditions of the app?

We will continue to keep a close eye on the evolution of AI, which has both pros and cons, including the rights to the resulting pictures.

Hamanako Garden Park

  • 2022年08月24日

#copyright #trademark

I visited Hamanako Garden Park. There were six characters in the Garden Park: “Notane,” “Papa Hula,” “Mama Hula,” “Kyutan,” “Joron,” and “Hatchie,” which were created during the Hamanako Flower Expo and were based on lyricist Yasushi Akimoto’s works.

Hamanako Garden Park

As I walked around the park, I noticed that only “Notane” had a copyright mark.

Notane

I wondered why, and when I looked at the official website, it seemed that all six characters were copyrighted as part of the “NOTANE” series. I wondered about the trademark, and found that only “Notane” was registered here as well (the right holder is Shizuoka Prefecture).

The days are still hot, but I want to visit again to see different flowers when the weather gets a little better.

Hamanako Garden Park “Notane” Website(Japanese)
https://www.hamanako-gardenpark.jp/notane/

Importance of checking properly

  • 2021年10月13日

#copyright #intellectual property

I saw illustrations in which the interesting image processing application was used, were shared on SNS that I use personally. The app is free to use and looks very fun so I wanted to try and use it. However, when I looked at the privacy section of the application store and the reputation on the internet, the terms said that the copyright, intellectual property rights, other rights of the pictures and images you drew are given to the sales company and the affiliated companies of the app so I decided not to download it.

This kind of wording can be seen in other apps, and it may be an unnecessary worry, but I think it’s best to be careful because the data you created may be used by third parties. (Swimmer)