Chapter 3
Japan's Economic Diplomacy to Promote National and Global Interests
4 Intellectual Property Protection
Strengthening intellectual property protections is extremely important for the promotion of technological innovation and eventually for economic development. Japan has actively participated in multilateral consultations such as APEC, the WTO (TRIPS),11 and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and is working to improve an environment for ensuring that Japanese intellectual property is appropriately protected and utilized overseas. During bilateral talks, Japan also calls on other countries to proactively strengthen intellectual property protections. For EPAs as well, Japan strives to establish regulations on intellectual property rights to ensure the adequate and effective protection of intellectual property. Following the TPP11 Agreement and the Japan-EU EPA, both the Japan-UK CEPA and the RCEP Agreement have incorporated contents on further promotion of the protection and use of intellectual property. Moreover, for the purpose of rapidly and efficiently providing assistance for Japanese companies that are facing problems such as counterfeit and pirated goods, MOFA appoints Intellectual Property Officers at almost all of Japan's diplomatic missions overseas so that they can advise Japanese companies and make inquiries with or requests to their counterpart governments. Japan is also engaged in efforts to improve the capacity of government officials in developing countries to counter the spread of counterfeit and pirated goods, and to strengthen the protection of intellectual property, by dispatching experts through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and providing other assistance.
11 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)