Japan's first modern trade mark law was enacted in 1884.
The current Trademark Act was enacted in 1958, and has been amended several times since then.
On the other hand, the protection for unregistered trademarks is provided by the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (不正競争防止法, Fusei kyōsō bōshi-hō).
In addition, J-PlatPat offers the public access to IP Gazettes of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) free of charge through internet.
Reliable information on Japanese IP law in English is also provided by the websites of Intellectual Property High Court,[2] Japan Patent Office,[3] "Transparency of Japanese Law Project",[4] European Patent Office,[5] and Institute of Intellectual Property (IIP) of Japan.