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- Negotiation and Litigation in Japan
Whether or not an infringement had occurred needs to be judged legally and technical, so that it is necessary to ask an attorney at law or a patent attorney for a simple opinion. Such an opinion (judgment) is no more than an assertion of one party and has no influence on the calculation of the amount of damages etc. in litigation.
A negotiation process begins when an attorney at law starts acting as a counsel and sends a warning letter. In the case of Japan, companies strongly desire to avoid lawsuits as much as possible, however, many cases involve difficulties in proving the fact before filing a lawsuit.
Therefore, in the stages of negotiation, it is often difficult to reach a settlement with a large amount of settlement money.
A principle that a plaintiff is responsible to the claim and proof of the infringement is applied comparatively strictly. A collection of evidence that is conducted for the preservation of evidence or following an order to submit a document is limited, so in general, the case in which the evidence has to be sought cannot go into litigation.