Japan: Unusually High Damages In Japanese Infringement Suit For Massage Chairs

Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 21^st 2022

On October 21^st, the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun reported on the outcome of a patent infringement law suit between Fuji Medical Devices and Family Inada. The companies hold respectively the largest and 3^rd largest share of Japan's massage chair market, and the case centered on the infringement of several patents related to the structure of the massage chair.

The companies have been facing off in several lawsuits, switching roles between plaintiff and defendant. On the 15^th of December, the Osaka District court first ruled on the lawsuit filed by Family Inada. In its ruling, it decided that 2 out of the 3 patents in question were infringed, and ordered Fuji Medica Devices to pay over 2.77 billion yen (or over 20 million USD) in compensation to Family Inada. As neither party appealed, the ruling became final in early October.

In another infringement suit at Japan's IP High Court, Fuji Medical Devices was the plaintiff and Family Inada the defendant. Here the court ruled in favour of Fuji Medical Devices and on the 20^th of October ordered Family Inada to pay 390 million yen (or about 2.8 million USD).

Commenting in particular on the first case, the newspaper quoted several patent attorneys stating that this is an exceptionally high amount of compensation for a case where a judgement became final without a settlement being reached.

In their rulings, the courts calculated the damages looking the estimated profits of the infringing party and adding an amount assuming that the patent would have been licensed.

It is believed to have been based on a 2019 amendment of Japanese patent law, which stipulated that in damage calculations the amount equivalent to the license fee can be added to the profit that the patentee would have earned.

More information can be found here (in Japanese)

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUF141570U2A011C2000000/

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