The chance of winning patent litigation in Japan is not so low – 44%!
It had been said that “the rate of success for a patentee in winning patent litigation in Japan is only about 20%”. However, the Supreme Court in Japan has recently surveyed the statistical data regarding patent litigation cases. According to the Supreme Court, the rate of success for a patentee in “substantially” winning patent litigation goes beyond 40%.
According to a surveillance study in 2015, the chance of winning patent litigation for the patentee was around 50-70% in the U. S. and around 60% in Germany. In contrast, the chance of winning patent litigation in Japan appeared to be very low, around 14%.
However, as you may know, many infringement suits in Japan end in out-of-court settlements. According to the Supreme Court, the previous statistical data did not reflect the results of the out-of-court settlements. Meanwhile, in the recent survey considering the results of such settlements, it was found that the patentee “substantially” won in most of the patent litigation cases ended in such settlements to achieve injunction and/or recover damage. As shown in the above graph, the rate of success for a patentee in “substantially” winning patent litigation is actually 44%, which is still not so high but is not so bad compared to those of the foreign countries.